Photo via The New York Times

I’ve been reading a lot of articles lately about text messages sent from people’s new and refurbished cell phones being used as evidence in court, especially in divorce cases. Text messages can now be used to prove infidelity, which can lead to the loss of some serious cash so if you’re a cheater, watch what and to whom you text.

If you are sending incriminating texts, there are some things you should know about how your phone works, especially if your carrier uses GSM and SIM cards. Apparently, when you delete a text message, it doesn’t actually delete the message from your SIM. Instead, it frees up the space used to store the message so until that space is actually replaced with new data, the text message can still be retrieved from your SIM.

In addition to your SIM card, text messages (even if deleted from your phone) are stored with your carrier for up to a few weeks. An article from The New York Times shows that AT&T stores text messages for seventy-two hours and Verizon stores messages for five to ten days.