How Your Favourite Song Can Be Used To Track You Down [VIDEO]

A Kenyan TikToker who goes by the moniker MicroTech254 uncovered a little-known trick of how internet links can be used to identify a person's exact location.

He shared this through a demonstration video on TikTok on Thursday, February 16 where he gave an example of how he was able to pinpoint an unidentified woman's exact location using the YouTube web address for Diamond Platnumz’s My Baby song.

The TikToker went on to demonstrate the entire process carried out without the woman's knowledge as he warned his viewers against clicking links sent to them, especially if they are music video/audio links.

“So guys, this is how someone can track you – maybe the police or any other person – and another good reason why you shouldn’t click on links. First, I want to track a friend of mine so this is the process. I’ll go to YouTube and copy that YouTube link (in this case, the link to Diamond’s song).

"After copying it, I will go to Grabify IP logger and paste the link to create a URL (Uniform Resource Locator- a unique web address) and here I will agree to their terms and conditions,” he explained.

Once the person gets the URL, he will transfer it to a link-shortening website and paste it there, then copy the new shortened link and send it to a friend, through WhatsApp.

Once the friend clicks it, this will enable him to get details about her including what phone she is using as well as her Internet Protocol (IP) address.

“Then if she clicks it, I will get all details about her. I went back to Grabify to check the details because she had already clicked it and here are all her details including the type of phone and her IP address.

“I copied her IP address, went to Geobytes and pasted it there. I took the latitude and longitude (information) it provided me with, copied and pasted that information on Google Earth and you can see her location is being located. To see the actual building that she is in, I used the image search on Google Earth and it took me to her pinned location,” he added.

By using StreetView, he was able to identify the exact building the friend was in as well as the live images of the surrounding neighbourhood and environment. He then found that she was a student who stays in the building he revealed during the demonstration.

Many of his viewers expressed shock that they could be tracked by clicking a link to a shared song or image while others claimed they will use the same tactics to track people of interest to them. By the time of publication, the video was viewed over 536,500 times.

“I just followed you because I want to track my future husband he’s taking too long to locate me," one user commented.

"Relax guys! All this works only when you have the live location turned on on your mobile device. Until we meet again," wrote another.

Some feared that the police could be learning such a tactic to spy on them, even though it is likely that they'll use it to track down suspected criminals. Others thought it was a warning against clicking on links in emails if one doesn’t know the source or he or she is not expecting it from anybody

Trying a similar activity does come with a drawback as one can be accused of stalking. This is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person.

In Kenyan law, it is considered harassment and as such falls under domestic violence.

Stalking, whether online or offline, can also cause fear, constant worrying, and anxiety, and if it continues for a long time, it could trigger a mental illness.

Watch the video:

@microtech254 How you can be tracked easily online #cybersecurity #cybersecurityawareness #hacker #cyberpolice #informationtechnology #cyber #pchacks #kenyantiktok???????? #kenyantiktok???????? #kenyantiktok #africantiktok #nigeriantiktok #techtok #ugandatiktok #tanzaniatiktok ♬ original sound - Micro Tech