Hello readers! Welcome to the 14th challenge in the series Where in the World is Mrs. OSINT?
It’s been a while since my last post, and I’m glad to be back with another challenge. This one sits nicely in the middle. Not exactly difficult, but not a beginner-level challenge either. It offers a solid set of clues and a satisfying trail without getting overly complex and this time we have some digital forensics involved.
I’ll go through the process step by step, highlighting the small details that make the difference and the simple techniques that help move things forward. If you’ve been practicing your OSINT skills, this is the kind of challenge that feels smooth and rewarding to solve.
Let’s get into it and see where the clues lead us.
Challenge 14
Tasks:
- What are the true coordinates of the meeting location?
- What is the name of the building shown?
- What hidden clue did you discover in the data?
- What is the proposed meeting date and time?
- What piece of data was proven false?
- How did Phantom Signal attempt to deceive investigators?
We are provided in this challenge with two heavily cropped images.
Image A shows:
- Sky background
- A light pole
- Three statues, with the center figure holding a round object
Image B shows:
- A balcony structure
- A white flagpole
- Columns with lion carvings at their bases
Together, these details suggest a monument, museum, or historically significant building.
Reverse Image Search
I began with a reverse image search using Google Lens, focusing primarily on the statues. This produced a promising match connected to a Facebook group related to the Netherlands.
Using “Netherlands” as an additional keyword, I refined the search and quickly narrowed the results to a specific landmark: Teylers Museum.
The coordinates for this location are:
52.38037241782214, 4.640373789278443
Visual Confirmation
After locating the site on satellite and street-level imagery, several architectural elements matched perfectly:
- The light pole placement
- The flag pole
- The lion carvings at the column bases
- The statue arrangement
These matching features confirmed the correct location.
Digital Forensics
To investigate further, I analyzed both images using an EXIF metadata viewer.
The metadata revealed two important details:
- A hidden message in Image B:
“The crest reveals the truth” - A user comment entry:
“1830 local” — indicating a proposed meeting time of 6:30 PM (military time)
The metadata also contained embedded GPS coordinates, however, these pointed to a different location and did not match the museum. This indicates the coordinates were intentionally falsified.
This challenge was a great example of combining visual OSINT techniques with light digital forensics. Reverse image search, architectural comparison, and metadata analysis all played a role in reaching the correct answers.
If you solved it yourself, consider writing up your process and sharing it. Comparing methodologies is one of the best ways to sharpen OSINT skills.
See you in the next challenge.
Resources
- https://www.mrsosint.com/challenge-14/
- https://earth.google.com/web/search/52.38037241782214,+4.640373789278443/@52.3803724,4.6403738,12.15854459a,614.89014385d,34.99999992y,0h,0t,0r/data=CiwiJgokCYLRef1c9CpAEf-pUeDo8ypAGRSDJ7o-GGJAISQNNH0yGGJAQgIIATIpCicKJQohMWRBcnFKUmtVeWtPYUdvTmp0TFo2a3ZIdi1ua2hmRlpoIAE6AwoBMEICCABKCAj52M2xARAB
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/aboutnl/posts/2212316815800445/
- https://exif.tools/upload.php
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