Send us a news tip • The Jersey Vindicator

Do You Have a Tip for The Jersey Vindicator? Here’s how to contact us securely

Our job is to hold people and institutions in New Jersey accountable. This requires evidence.

Have you seen something that troubles you? Do you think you have information that should be a story? Do you see a problem that can be fixed? Do you have a tip we should be investigating? Do you have documents or other materials we should review?

Advice on sending us tips

We read every tip, but must make choices about which ones we pursue. To help us understand why your tip could be a story, please do the following:

Tell us why your story is an accountability story. Is anyone being harmed? What is happening? How can we follow up?
Our stories are generally about systemic, not individual, harm in the state of New Jersey. If you think your story is part of a pattern, help us understand the context.
Include any evidence you have. That includes text messages, emails, documents, receipts, photos, videos, letters, reports and more.
If an issue is time-sensitive, note that in your subject line or near the top of your text or email.
Please be as specific, detailed, and clear as you can. We read everything you submit, but our organization is still too small to send a personal response to everyone. All documentation helps us follow up on tips.

Most news tips can be sent to us by filling out our online tip form.

If you are concerned about privacy or your tip is sensitive in nature

We take privacy seriously. There is no third-party tracking on this page. However, please consider who else may be able to see what you’re doing on your electronic devices. If you are a whistleblower or are concerned about any ramifications from your identity being traced, or are sending us very sensitive information, please connect with us via U.S. postal mail or encrypted electronic channels.

U.S. Mail

U.S. postal mail without a return address is one of the most secure ways to communicate. Authorities would need a warrant to intercept and open mail in transit.

For better security, you can mail your package or envelope from an unfamiliar sidewalk box instead of your company or agency mailroom. You can mail us paper materials or digital files on, for example, a thumb drive.

Our mailing address: The Jersey Vindicator, P.O. Box 423, Princeton, NJ 08542

Reach out using the Signal app

Our Signal app user name is jerseyvindicator.07‬. Call or text us via Signal.

Signal does not collect metadata regarding who you are messaging. The service only retains your phone number and the last time you accessed the app.
If you’re concerned about someone knowing that you have contacted a journalist, you can enter the reporter’s Signal number directly into the app without adding it to your address book.
Messaging us on Signal does reveal your phone number to The Jersey Vindicator. In some very sensitive situations, using a separate phone number for Signal communications will be more secure.
We have our Signal account set up to make all messages disappear after a short period in the rare event that someone gains access to our dedicated tipline phone.
To protect your privacy and security, we do not save numbers and names in our address book on Signal. We also delete recent call history.

Phone anonymity using a separate phone number

The above contact methods should protect your identity from others. But if you are in a situation where you are very concerned about your identity being revealed, for example, if you are a whistleblower with a tip about government or corporate corruption, the following are tips for setting up an anonymous phone number and an untraceable, encrypted email address.

Buy a prepaid SIM card – Use cash to buy a phone SIM card and a used cell phone. Mint Mobile cards can be bought at BestBuy and are easy to activate without providing personal details. Stores like Target also carry SIM cards for prepaid phone carriers. Make sure to use cash.

Buy an Apple Store gift card or Android gift card – Use cash to buy a gift card for $10 to take the phone off the grid.

Wipe the phone – Buy a used phone with cash. Wipe the phone back to its factory setting and make sure there is no preexisting SIM card inside the phone. You can double-wipe the phone for safety by putting the phone in recovery mode and connecting it to an old computer to reformat it again. Don’t use an Apple ID.

Set up accounts – Never connect to your personal home Wi-Fi. Companies and the government can match home addresses with IP addresses. Go to a location with public Wi-fi, such a your local library or cafe, and set up accounts with Mint (or an alternative pre-paid call provider, Proton Mail, and Apple or Google/Android. You want to use public Wifi so that there is no personal IP address or personal location data attached to your accounts. Proton Mail is a popular email service based in Switzerland. It is free and easy to set up your secure Proton Mail address. Use the Proton Mail address to set up an Apple ID using your Apple Gift Card, or a Google/Android ID using your Google gift card. If you are prompted to provide a billing address, input a random, unrelated location. In all these steps, don’t input any information that can be tied to your identity.

Security codes – Choose security codes that are hard to guess! Don’t use Face ID or Touch ID.

Turn off Wi-Fi and disable Bluetooth – Once your accounts are set up, turn off the Wi-Fi. Make sure Bluetooth is disabled too. Third parties within range of your device can intercept sensitive information such as messages and contact info.

Use your phone’s data plan and Proton VPN to connect to the Internet – Always make sure your VPN is on. Proton Mail also acts as a gateway to access Proton, a virtual private network (VPN) that masks all phone application traffic. Only download apps if the VPN is on. Download only the apps you need. Remove all other apps from the device. Don’t store notes on the phone or use unnecessary apps.

Forget public networks – After using public Wi-Fi, go into network settings and “forget” the network, so you don’t leave a digital footprint.

Pay bills with gift cards – Add more data to your SIM card and pay your phone bill with gift cards. Do not use credit cards or your bank info.

Prevent overlap between phone network connections – When traveling with your off-the-grid phone and another phone, turn Wi-Fi off on one phone if you’re using it on the other. Better yet, turn off your off-the-grid phone entirely and only turn it back on when you’re at your destination.