ICE uses this device to surveil cell phones. You can buy one for $50,000
A device that law enforcement agencies use to secretly track cell phone users was offered this week to anyone on eBay — anyone with $50,000, and perhaps anyone with ulterior motives for using it.
The device — known as a cell site simulator, but commonly referred to as a Stingray or IMSI-catcher — mimics a cell phone tower to obtain identifying information from nearby mobile devices.
A similar tool was apparently deployed during protests last year outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in Seattle and in Portland. At both locations, on-site analysis of cellular signals by Straight Arrow News found that a Stingray may have been collecting identifying information from cell phones at the protest sites.
The specific model being sold — known as the Hailstorm — was discovered online Monday by electronic surveillance consultant Daniel Rigmaiden.
He told SAN that the device could be used for nefarious purposes if it fell into the wrong hands.
While the $50,000 price tag may keep everyday criminals from obtaining the Hailstorm, he said, “a well-funded enemy of the United States” could easily purchase it.
“A nation-state engaged in active combat with the U.S. military could purchase the Hailstorm, have it shipped out of the United States, then study it to defeat its surveillance capabilities or develop methods to geolocate the device on the battlefield,” Rigmaiden said.
The seller, Texas-based Boodar International, did not respond to inquiries regarding how it came into possession of the surveillance device. Rigmaiden, who spoke last year at the Know For One security conference in Chile about the private sale of surveillance technology online, says similar devices have been sold as surplus by the federal government in the past.
“A Hailstorm ending up on eBay is a good sign that it’s been discontinued and replaced with something newer and more sophisticated,” he said.
Rigmaiden was the first to publicly reveal the existence of cell site simulators after the FBI arrested him in 2008 on fraud and identity theft charges. Skeptical that the FBI had located him through traditional means, Rigmaiden dug through discovery material and public records while in prison, determining that agents had tracked him using the then-unknown tool.
Device used by military, law enforcement
The Hailstorm, developed by Florida-based defense contractor L3Harris, works by forcing a connection with mobile devices in its radius. Connected devices are then tricked into giving up, among other things, a unique 15-digit code tied to their SIM card known as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity, or IMSI.
Cell site simulators, which are primarily used by law enforcement and the military, can identify all cell phones in a specific area or triangulate the location of a specific mobile device. The surveillance technology is often affixed to buildings, vehicles or airplanes but can be handheld as well.
Rigmaiden said that although the Hailstorm offered for sale on eBay did not come with the necessary components to make it operational, such as antennas, amplifiers and proprietary software, a knowledgeable purchaser could likely fill in the gaps.
“You could conceivably use it with your own custom software if the components inside the Hailstorm are generic enough,” he said. “Someone would want to buy the Hailstorm to figure out how it works, either for purely research purposes or to thwart the cell phone surveillance technology it offers.”
Boodar International also offered an amplifier and directional antenna from L3Harris, both of which are compatible with the Hailstorm, Rigmaiden said.
While less sophisticated cell site simulators can be built by those with technical know-how, commercial-grade devices are largely shrouded in secrecy. For years, manufacturers like L3Harris required law enforcement agencies to sign non-disclosure agreements that kept the public, and even the courts, from learning about the technology’s use.
L3Harris did not respond to SAN’s request for comment.
Although it’s unclear whether reselling the device violates the manufacturer’s policies, eBay explicitly bars the sale of such surveillance tools under its Electronic Equipment Policy. After SAN reached out to eBay about the listing, it removed the Hailstorm, antenna and amplifier from the platform.
“We do not permit the listing of most electronic equipment used to transmit or receive signals or for surveillance on our platform,” an eBay spokesperson told SAN. “We have removed the listing and have conducted further sweeps of our site to remove any similar listings.”
When a model from L3Harris, the Stingray, was offered for $100,000 in 2024, eBay removed the listing as well. Rigmaiden said devices like the Hailstorm appear on eBay roughly once or twice every year.
ICE used tracking technology hundreds of times
It remains unclear how often law enforcement uses the technology. Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2020, however, showed that ICE used cellphone-tracking technology at least 466 times from 2017 to 2019.
Contract records also show that ICE purchased $825,000 worth of “cell-site simulator vehicles” in May and has an active $4.4 million contract for “equipment to determine the location of targeted mobile handsets” with L3Harris.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
