Catch Me If You Scan

The storyline

Meet Waldo. Globe-trotter, show-off, and as of this week, your problem.

Waldo loves to disappear. He loves even more to let you know he's disappeared, which is why he keeps mailing postcards: a photo from wherever he's landed, a caption that gives away just a little more than he thinks, and the same two words at the bottom, find me.

His first postcard slides under the door. No return address. Waldo would never. Just a scrawled note on the back:

"You'll never keep up. But I'll be sporting about it: I'll always send a picture. Everything you need to find me is right there in it. Catch me if you can. W"

He's not bluffing. Everything you need really is in the pictures. The trick is knowing how to look. So let's find him.

What is OSINT

OSINT, Open-Source Intelligence, is the craft of figuring things out using only public information. No hacking, no break-ins. Just photos, maps, public records, and the details people leave lying around. A webcam frame says which city it overlooks. A street sign says which country you're in. A photo file quietly remembers where it was taken. You'll use all of it.

One ground rule

These are real skills, and real skills come with responsibility. OSINT uses only public information, and here you practice it on Waldo, who is invented. Never point these techniques at real people without their consent. Curiosity is the job; respecting privacy is the discipline.

Postcard one is waiting below. Find him.