Basic Trope: A throwaway cell phone or VoIP number used by someone engaged in illegal activities (drug dealing, prostitution, illegal computer hacking, terrorism, etc.).
- Straight: Alice, a prostitute, uses a prepaid cell phone to set up meetings with clients. It can easily be disposed of and replaced if necessary.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice uses a throwaway VoIP number, which she changes daily.
- Alice has engineered her phone to explode as soon as she's done with it. Since she meets with several clients per day, she has multiples of these phones.
- Downplayed:
- Justified:
- Prostitution is illegal where Alice lives; giving out a phone number tied to her name and address makes it easier for law enforcement to find her.
- The Oldest Profession is a dangerous one; giving out a phone number tied to her name and address puts her in danger of stalking, harassment, or worse.
- Inverted:
- Alice gives out a landline phone billed to her home address to set up meetings with clients.
- Alice is not engaged in illegal activities, but gives away a throwaway Skype number for some other reason (preventing harassment, a preference for Skype over a regular phone, etc.).
- Subverted:
- Alice has two cell phones: one for work, and one for personal use.
- Alice gives out the number of a local payphone.
- Double Subverted:
- The work she does is escort work, and she uses a throwaway prepaid phone for setting up meetings with clients.
- The phone has been "hacked" somehow to ring her phone at home.
- Parodied: Bob The Aggressive Drug Dealer's phone rings, and it's his mother. Who is calling to ask if he's wearing clean underwear and eating properly, or if he's seeing anyone, or to talk about her problems ... and to buy some ecstasy.Bob: Mom, I told you not to call me on this number!
- Bob takes calls from his mom on burner phones and does his drug deals on his own personal phone because for his species, Your Normal Isour Taboo and vice versa.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Alice gives her home phone number, her legitimate cell number, a VoIP number, and a fake number to various people.
- Alice gives clients a burner phone number, but she's found out, so she switches to another burner number.
- Averted:
- Alice is not engaged in any illegal activities.
- Alice does not have a phone.
- Enforced: The show is based on an earlier book series Burning the Trace — all about people who evade surveillance and monitoring in various ways. Not having them would be Adaptation Defilement.
- Lampshaded:Bob: Alice, what's with the prepaid phone? I thought you had a smartphone.Alice: Oh, yeah. That's my, er … work phone.
- Invoked: Alice wants to be able to set up meetings with clients more easily, and knows she shouldn't use her personal phone(s) to do that.
- Exploited: Bob decides to get rich off people doing less than squeaky-clean business by selling these.
- Defied: Cellphone registration laws crack down on burner phones and make any sold useless. Cellphone companies can't register SIM cards without verifying them and any stolen phones wind up invalidated quickly.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Burner Phones
