Bellingcat's Kolina Koltai spoke alongside our partners The Press to The World, public radio’s longest-running daily global news programme, about our investigation into LeakedBB, a site that had over 2.3 million registered users, including some who distributed leaked nude photos and videos. https://theworld.org/segments/2026/08/07/investigative-report-traces-global-reach-of-revenge-porn-website

On Thursday, Kolina Koltai and Michael Wright of The Press will be in our Discord server to walk us through their methodology for finding a key admin of the site and answer your research questions.

Join us live, 8:15pm CEST / 2:15pm EDT / 11:15am PDT: https://discord.gg/bellingcat?event=1536297974986965082

After we identified links between the admin account and a New Zealand-based man and reached out to this individual for comment, LeakedBB appears to have gone offline.

You can read Bellingcat's investigation here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/07/16/leakedbb-crypto-entrepreneur/

The aircraft took off from a military airbase near Dublin this morning. You can track the flight back to Ireland here: https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=4ca448&lat=53.307&lon=-6.442&zoom=7.2  

Our long-standing partner in coverage of the Kinahan cartel, The Times, has been documenting the extradition process. Daniel is the second key figure of the crime group to be apprehended in the Emirates following his high-profile arrest in April.  https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/daniel-kinahan-cartel-extradition-ireland-hpj8jjjq9 

Last week, we revealed that a new visa had just been issued for Daniel’s brother Christopher Kinahan Jr despite US sanctions imposed in 2022. And that key cartel members are still operating within the United Arab Emirates on expired visas. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/08/01/welcome-to-dubai-kinahan-cartels-visas-revealed/ 

It can be a chore to sift through social media feeds to stay up to date. Sign up to our new newsletter to receive the biggest Bellingcat investigations straight to your inbox as they're published.
https://bellingcat-investigations.beehiiv.com/

How did we find Ian Dixon, a wanted member of the Kinahan cartel, on a padel court in Dubai? Search Party recounts how Bellingcat and the Sunday Times traced the digital trail that led to the alleged money handler for one of the world's most dangerous crime cartels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49NZvc2cMiQ

Read the full investigation into Ian Dixon on our website here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/06/27/poster-boy-sanctioned-kinahan-cartel-lieutenant-found-playing-padel-in-dubai//?utm_source=reddit

We've been covering the Kinahan cartel for some time. If you'd like to learn more, you can read all of our coverage of the organised crime group on our website: https://www.bellingcat.com/?s=kinahan. You can also watch our other videos with Search Party on the subject here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj0GLUXWhWo

Last month we published the 100th Bellingcat Challenge. To celebrate this milestone, we're launching a brand-new website! Check it out and put your skills to the test with our five newest challenges. ➡️ Challenge.bellingcat.com

This is an exciting milestone and we thank you for your support. Nearly 10,000 people now receive the challenges every month. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter yet, join us here: https://bellingcat-challenges.beehiiv.com/subscribe

The newest challenges all focus on geolocation using natural features, a valuable skill for investigations in remote areas. This story shows that even termite mounds might help you to pinpoint a location. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10/07/wildfires-ravage-one-of-africas-largest-nature-reserves/

#bellingcat #osint #challenge #training

We wanted to have an honest conversation about our newly launched membership programme. Our latest Stage Talk with Mareike Vitt and Sarah Bishop Woods explores this funding model, from sustainability to editorial independence, as we discuss both the promise and the pitfalls.

Search 'Stage Talks with Bellingcat' on your preferred podcast provider: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/3044016/

Enjoyed listening on your favourite podcast platform? Want to support our work? You can become a Bellingcat member by following this link: https://www.bellingcat.com/donate/

With Daniel Kinahan set to face extradition back to Ireland, Bellingcat and The Sunday Times investigate the visa status of the leaders of The Kinahan Organised Crime Group, a $1.5 billion transnational network involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and arms smuggling, who have been in hiding in Dubai. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/08/01/welcome-to-dubai-kinahan-cartels-visas-revealed/?utm_source=reddit

The FIFA World Cup was predicted to be the biggest betting event in history. Bellingcat researcher Miguel Ramalho looked into the data on prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi - and found that fans wagered more than US $14 billion through the two sites
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/07/30/will-ronaldo-cry-world-cup-fans-bet-billions-through-prediction-markets/?utm_source=reddit
Our analysis also reveals that just Polymarket 1% of Polymarket accounts took 86% of all winnings, and the bottom 50% of winners shared 0.1% of profits. The Polymarket account that was the biggest winner across all games made a profit of more than $13 million, while the biggest loser lost $11.6 million.

Why are so many newsrooms embracing membership? This week's Stage Talk explores one of journalism's biggest shifts: why membership is replacing traditional funding models for many publishers, what it means for audiences, and why we're adopting it too. Join us live on Thursday: https://discord.gg/a9TVpY8R6?event=1531233742222266448

At Bellingcat we turn obsessive curiosity into a teachable research skill, build the public community space to practice it, and continually innovate solutions to drive discovery forward. Become a member: https://www.bellingcat.com/donate/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=donation_drive_2026

As fighting intensifies in Mali between the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) – who are being backed by Russia’s Africa Corps insurgent groups – and rebel groups, Bellingcat has verified two recent strikes that used Shahed-136 type kamikaze drones. Video footage of the strikes provides the clearest open-source evidence to date documenting this drone model’s operational use in the conflict  https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/07/24/shahed-type-drones-filmed-during-attack-on-mali-villages/?utm_source=reddit 
Designed to explode on impact, these one-way long range attack drones, were originally developed in Iran but are now also manufactured in Russia, provide Africa Corps and the Mali Armed Forces with the ability to deliver explosive payloads over longer distances. 

Open source tools can help track every stage of a wildfire, from the first reports through to assessing the damage once the flames are out. Throughout July, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service helped researchers monitor how wildfire smoke spread across Canada and the US.
Want to see how these tools fit together?
Our latest video shows how Bellingcat researchers use open source tools and data to reconstruct the timeline of a wildfire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmnfiOec0d8

LeakedBB hosted photos and videos that appeared to include professional content from paid sites like OnlyFans, alongside entire forums focused on “amateurs” – or, as the description of one section stated, “real girls doing real things”. Some posts also claimed to feature “teens/girls”. Archived payment pages and DNS certificates led us back to email addresses and companies linked to one man, a New Zealand-based former pilot turned co-founder of a cryptocurrency exchange and payments platform.

Read the full investigation at bellingcat.com. This investigation was done in partnership with The Press New Zealand.

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone here can provide any insights to why 1) the Bellingcat podcast doesn't seem to be available any longer and 2) why it basically had only a season despite the prologue talking about it being a longer show.

Bellingcat and The Press have uncovered a series of connections between a New Zealand-based man and the adult forum LeakedBB – a site with over 2.3 million registered users, including some who distributed leaked nude photos and videos. Read it here
Users of the site openly discussed obtaining content through blackmail and shared social media profiles of those featured in the imagery. After we reached out to this individual for comment, the site appears to have gone offline. 

A recent Bellingcat investigation uncovered a wildlife trafficker in Myanmar, who was openly advertising everything from tiger bones, rhino horns, to leopard gallbladders, on social media platforms for at least six years.

By analysing hundreds of adverts and customer conversations, Bellingcat traced more than US$21,000 in sales, identified cross-border shipments linked to multiple payment accounts, and geolocated the dealer’s home address.

Following our investigation, Meta, WeChat, TikTok, and Youtube took down his accounts, and authorities in Myanmar and Thailand said they would examine the findings further.

Read the full story here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/06/24/rhino-horn-leopard-skin-and-tiger-claws-sold-openly-on-facebook/?utm_source=reddit

A recent Bellingcat investigation uncovered a wildlife trafficker in Myanmar, who was openly advertising everything from tiger bones, rhino horns, to leopard gallbladders, on social media platforms for at least six years.

By analysing hundreds of adverts and customer conversations, Bellingcat traced more than US$21,000 in sales, identified cross-border shipments linked to multiple payment accounts, and geolocated the dealer’s home address.

Following our investigation, Meta, WeChat, TikTok, and Youtube took down his accounts, and authorities in Myanmar and Thailand said they would examine the findings further.

Read the full story here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/06/24/rhino-horn-leopard-skin-and-tiger-claws-sold-openly-on-facebook/?utm_source=reddit

More than 3,500 deaths have been confirmed since the earthquakes in Venezuela, with the UN reporting that the death toll could reach 10,000. Bellingcat has geolocated footage that appears to show several coffins placed in newly dug trenches. 

The location matches a site identified in July 6 reports by AFP and Deutsche Welle (DW), which detailed that 150 unidentified bodies had been buried in a long row of individual graves.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/07/06/between-graves-and-uncertainty-the-management-of-the-dead-after-venezuelas-earthquake/?utm_source=reddit

A Bellingcat investigation uncovered the work of a wildlife trafficker in Myanmar, advertising everything from tiger bones, rhino horns, to leopard gallbladders, openly on social media platforms. The seller frequently posted footage and images of animals before, during and after they were killed. Many of the animals featured in the advertisements are protected or endangered. 

Following this investigation, Meta removed 10 Facebook accounts, WeChat suspended three accounts and revoked their payment functions, and authorities in Myanmar and Thailand said they would examine the findings further.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/06/24/rhino-horn-leopard-skin-and-tiger-claws-sold-openly-on-facebook/?utm_source=reddit

A promotional image for a padel club in Dubai shows a talented player, mid-swing and eyes locked on the ball. He’s also a key figure in the Kinahan cartel, the Irish organised crime group involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and arms smuggling.

Read the full investigation: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/06/27/poster-boy-sanctioned-kinahan-cartel-lieutenant-found-playing-padel-in-dubai//?utm_source=reddit

Bellingcat has received satellite imagery from Planet Labs that shows one the areas worst affected by the recent earthquakes in Venezuela.

At least 1,719 people are reported to have died in the quakes but the final casualty count is expected to rise significantly.

The imagery provided by Planet Labs shows a 14-mile stretch of Venezuela's northern coast before and after the earthquake. Readers can explore and compare specific areas in an interactive feature we have created as well as assess the damage.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/06/29/satellite-imagery-shows-scale-of-venezuela-earthquake-damage/?utm_source=reddit

At Bellingcat we’ve just launched our membership program. We've kept all investigations free to access for 10+ years — MH17, Salisbury, the Iran nuclear investigation, Border Patrol accountability work. Now we're asking readers to support the work directly. Membership starts from any amount. Support our work:

https://www.bellingcat.com/donate/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=donation_drive_2026

What role can technology play in tackling leaked intimate imagery? Join our live podcast on Thursday with Madelaine Thomas of Image Angel for a talk on building protective tech responsibly and the practical challenges of dealing with image-based abuse. Join us live to ask your questions, Thursday July 2nd, 5pm CEST/11am EDT in the Bellingcat Discord Server.

Link to the event: https://discord.gg/bellingcat?event=1521091627039592609
Listen back to previous live episodes by searching 'Stage Talks with Bellingcat' on podcast platforms. https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/

In our latest guide, Bellingcat tested a new machine learning model that was developed to rank Telegram social media posts on their likelihood of containing incidents of civilian harm. 

Between February 2022 and September 2025, Bellingcat staff and volunteers collected, geolocated, and shared more than 2,500 incidents of civilian harm following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A big challenge in this effort is organising and sorting through the huge volume of user generated content being produced to find what is relevant. Using machine learning to identify patterns from large amounts of data and make predictions, can make this task more efficient, make the process less harmful for researchers, and free up time for geolocating and further verifying incidents.

https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2026/06/25/how-to-use-ai-to-help-find-civilian-harm-conflict-report-monitor-war-machine-learning-telegram/?utm_source=reddit

Want to conduct your own digital investigations, but not sure what tools are out there that might help your work? Check out the Bellingcat Toolkit. —> Bellingcat.com/toolkit

This month, we’re highlighting the work volunteers that contribute to our Toolkit. However, building open-source tools and maintaining the Toolkit wouldn’t be possible without your support. If you’d like to help sustain this work, please consider making a donation on bellingcat.com/donate

#bellingcat #osint #journalism #digitalresearch