History Main / BurnerPhones

* ''Film/TheBourneUltimatum'': Jason Bourne buys a prepaid cell phone, which he then smuggles into the pocket of a journalist with whom he wants to communicate. While the agents observing Bourne and the journalist are perfectly prepared beforehand to surveil the journalist's own phone, this new phone comes completely out of the blue from their perspective, and thus it takes them a while until they are able to track it down and to eavesdrop.

* In ''Series/TheBoys2019'', whenever [[MegaCorp Vought]] or their [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Supes]] get too close for comfort for the eponymous Boys, they will immediately contact the others that "I've been burned," which causes all of them to smash their phones on a wall, or stomp on them, and high tailed out of there before the cops, Vought's security team, or even someone like [[SuperSpeed A-Train]] or [[SupermanSubstitute Homelander]] gets them.

* Adam usually has these on ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'', though rather than law enforcement, it was more likely a way to keep Henry guessing about his identity.

This is TruthInTelevision[[note]]Or rather ''was'' in some countries, as after "burners" have been used for terrorist attacks, it is now mandatory there to register a phone line with an identification[[/note]], as Cellphone Surveillance is used by law enforcement agencies to monitor the movements of people from their mobile phones. Also, people cheating on their spouses or partners often use burner phones to hide their indiscretions.

When spies or criminals need to communicate while performing illegal activities, they often take the precaution of using cheap, pre-paid cellphones, commonly known as "burners". This allows them to quickly dispose of said burner if law enforcement or other criminals use it to track them.

* In ''Series/TheBoys2019'', whenever [[MegaCorp Vought]], or their [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Supes]] get too close for comfort for the eponymous Boys, they will immediately contact the others that "I've been burned," which causes all of them to smash their phones on a wall, or stomp on them, and high tailed out of there before the cops, Vought's security team, or even someone like [[SuperSpeed A-Train]] or [[SupermanSubstitute Homelander]] gets them.

* In ''Series/TheBoys2019'', whenever [[MegaCorp Vought's]], or their [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Supes]] get too close for comfort for the eponymous Boys, they will immediately contact the others that "I've been burned," which causes all of them to smash their phones on a wall, or stomp on them, and high tailed out of there before the cops, Vought's security team, or even someone like [[SuperSpeed A-Train]] or [[SupermanSubstitute Homelander]] gets them.

* In ''Series/TheBoys2019'', whenever [[MegaCorp Vouhgt's]], or their [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Supes]] get too close for comfort for the eponymous Boys, they will immediately contact the others that "I've been burned," which causes all of them to smash their phones on a wall, or stomp on them, and high tailed out of there before the cops, Vought's security team, or even someone like [[SuperSpeed A-Train]] or [[SupermanSubstitute Homelander]] gets them.

See also CuttingTheElectronicLeash. Also see AnonymousPublicPhoneCall, the older SisterTrope for when a character makes an anonymous call from a public phone, such as a phone booth. No relation to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note_7 Samsung Galaxy Note 7.]]

* Frequently used by both heroes and villains in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''. Sherlock Holmes keeps a box full of them in a closet.

* ''Hunted'' is a British reality show in which several ordinary citizens go on the run as though they were fugitives. They are being hunted by an experienced team replicating several powers of the state, including mobile phone tracking. As a result, burner phones are seen quite often being used by the fugitives when reaching out to friends and family for assistance. They often do more harm than good as the fugitives do not always use them correctly (e.g. not disposing of them immediately after their first use). The hunters are also alerted when an unknown number calls a known contact of a fugitive and quickly step up surveillance of that person.

* Adam usually has these on ''Series/{{Forever}}'', though rather than law enforcement, it was more likely a way to keep Henry guessing about his identity.

* In ''Film/TheBourneUltimatum'', we see Jason Bourne buy a prepaid cell phone, which he then smuggles into the pocket of a journalist with whom he wants to communicate. While the agents observing Bourne and the journalist are perfectly prepared beforehand to surveil the journalist's own phone, this new phone comes completely out of the blue from their perspective, and thus it takes them a while until they are able to track it down and to eavesdrop.
* In ''Film/{{Polar}}'', Duncan Vizla uses the same phone and only ever speaks for no less than 30 seconds before hanging up and breaking the sim card before putting in a new one. The only time he ever breaks this rule is when he's luring a Damocles hit squad into a trap.

* In the sixth book of ''Literature/MichaelVey'', [[spoiler:the [[HeelFaceTurn former]] [[EliteMook EGG]] Welch]] purchases and uses [[UpToEleven no less than six]] burner phones in order to avoid being tracked and caught by [[EvilInc the Elgen]].

See also CuttingTheElectronicLeash. Also see AnonymousPublicPhoneCall, the older SisterTrope for when a character makes an anonymous call from a public phone, such as a phone booth. No relation to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note_7 Samsung Note 7.]]

* In one episode of ''Series/Hustle'', Mickey has to make a phone call to initiate the final humiliation of the Con's mark. As soon as the call is over, he casually tosses the phone into the Thames.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': This is PlayedForLaughs when Lamar, [[StupidCrooks a man who makes]] [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Ryder]] [[StupidCrooks look like an honest-to-god genius]], makes a call on his personal cell phone to demand a ransom after having kidnapped a rival gang member. Franklin quickly grabs the phone away from Lamar and throws it out of the car window.
** A straighter example of this trope comes from the Prologue, as Michael uses a Celltowa cellphone to detonate a bomb and gain access to a vault. The phone itself has low-end (even for 2004 standards) specifications, the only contact is "Detonate", and it can't be used again after the explosion (implying that he either destroyed or disposed of the device).

Some ConsummateProfessional criminals even go as far as to completely destroy their burners to make sure it can't be used to track them.

See also CuttingTheElectronicLeash. No relation to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note_7 Samsung Note 7.]]

This is TruthInTelevision[[note]]Or rather ''was'' in some countries, as after "burners" have been used for terrorist attacks, it is now mandatory there to register a phone line with an identification[[/note]], as Cellphone Surveillance is used by law enforcement agencies to monitor the movements of people from their mobile phones.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': This is PlayedForLaughs when Lamar, a [[StupidCrooks dumb crook]], makes a call on his personal cell phone to demand a ransom after having kidnapped a rival gang member. Franklin quickly grabs the phone away from Lamar and throws it out of the car window.

* Frequently used by both heroes and villains in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''.

This is TruthInTelevision[[note]]Or rather ''was'' in some countries, as after "burners" having been used for terrorist attacks is now mandatory there to register a phone line with an identification[[/note]], as Cellphone Surveillance is used by law enforcement agencies to monitor the movements of people from their mobile phones.

* The "clone phones" from ''Series/OrphanBlack''. Sarah is surprised to see that Beth has two phones but quickly learns that the pink one is only for calling the other clones, Alison and Cosima. At the start of season 2, she's hacked by [[spoiler:Rachel Duncan]] and has to take other people's phones, so Felix gets new green phones for the clone club to use. Then in season 3 he replaces those with blue phones, just in case. And now in season 4 the Clone Club has purple ones.

* Burners become crucial to ''Series/TheWire'''s wiretapping cases from the second season onwards. Much of the series revolves around a surveillance and countersurveillance arms race between police and drug dealers.

* In later editions of ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' characters frequently toss their commlinks, and the [[FunWithAcronyms System Identification Numbers]] attached to them after a Run.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In "[[Recap/HomestarRunnerIKilledPomPom I Killed Pom Pom!]]", when Homestar thinks he's guilty of murder and tries to set up an alibi for himself, he hangs around the King Of Town's castle and talks on a "cell phone". The phone is actually a piece of cardboard with a screen and keypad drawn on it--and it has "BURNER" written across the screen.