Someone tapping into my phone...is this possible?

anthony4335

The easiest thing to do ,would be for your boyfriend to report the calls, to both the Gardai and his mobile phone operator. just because his handset says that the number is private, it really isn't . As far as I know blocking your number only block the public number from been sent along with the call, however there is a second number sent which can be seen by the operator. This is the easiest way to get to the route of the problem.

ibarelycare

Sully wrote: »

Could it be possible your being followed? I assume its unlikely that the mechanic may have a connection with someone who knows you well enough (or your bf) to pass on the info and get the new number?

I'm 99.99% sure that this isn't the case. There'd be no reason for either ex to act in this way, all ended on good terms and all that and I know them well enough to know that they wouldn't do it. The mechanic wouldn't really know any of my current friends and the other guy wouldn't have contact with any of my friends anymore. Neither of them have even seen my bf, we even have things like bebo pages and FB pages on private.

Gillo wrote: »

Just an idea (and thinking about it, it sounds a bit conspiracy theory like), at a guess it has to be someone known to both you and your boyfriend, chances it you can narrow it down to a relatively small group of people.
What if you started giving out misinformation to specific people and seeing if it comes back. Say for example you told one group of friends that you have a doctors appointment next week (just mention it in passing), if your boyfriend gets a call about this fictitious doctors visit you can start narrowing it down to who it is.

At the start, we tried narrowing it down but we really can't think of anyone. We both have very separate groups of friends, we didn't know each other for long before getting together so there'd be no history with friends on either side. I have a couple of close friends who I've known all my life and I know it wouldn't be them. In my wider group of friends, I wouldn't see them that much, they're more "drinking buddies" and wouldn't know much about the small details of my life. I've only told one close friend about these calls.

jordainius wrote: »

To be honest I think you should go to the gardai about this because its very obvious that something sinister is going on here. I have a feeling that this is the work of a "friend".

Also, is there an ex of either yours or your boyfriends who is trying to stir things up between you two? Or is there anyone you can think of who has designs on your fella?

I don't think you should change your number on a point of principle. The perpetrator would be the one who wins if you did that and the personal nature of what this person seems to know about you would in my opinion indicate that this person would probably get your new number fairly quickly.

Gardai would be a lot of hassle for you, but its the most likely way to stop this happening to you.

I do have a psycho ex who was the first person who I thought of when this all started. However, he's been living up the north for the past 3 years. He does have my number and I still get the odd call and text off him. He's the reason both myself & my boyfriend's bebo pages are on private. The calls are coming from Dublin accents though and he's a northie. At this stage, I don't really care about not changing my number because of the principle, I just want it all to end!

anthony4335 wrote: »

The easiest thing to do ,would be for your boyfriend to report the calls, to both the Gardai and his mobile phone operator. just because his handset says that the number is private, it really isn't . As far as I know blocking your number only block the public number from been sent along with the call, however there is a second number sent which can be seen by the operator. This is the easiest way to get to the route of the problem.

He's going to start keeping a note of the calls for a couple of weeks, and is going to try and record them, then we're going to go to the police with the information we have.

I really appreciate everyone's help here! I've actually started to see that it's a lot more serious than I was thinking. I know most of you probably think either my bf is making the calls up and that he's not being completely honest with me. I do trust him and he's a very trusting person too. We're together a year and I feel I know him well enough to know he wouldn't do something like this. This afternoon it kind of blew up between us and I ended up accusing him of lying about it all. We obviously had a big argument about it and I ended up feeling terrible afterwards. To an outsider though I can see that's the way it looks, but there's stuff that he was told on those calls that he couldn't have just got from reading my texts, like stories about my past so I do believe him. The fact that we actually had to have this argument shows that whoever's doing all this is achieving what they want so we're going to start being more proactive in trying to get to the bottom of it.

shelly.m

to be honest i think its someone reading your messages:o

Gillo

From what you're saying, it sounds like it's one of your good friends who you've know for quite a while.
How long have you been going out with him? (sorry I thought you said a year but I can't find it now)
Perhaps if things have been getting serious one of your friends is getting jealous of that (spending more time with him etc).

I also wouldn't bother changing numbers since you said you boyfriend already had done that and it's still happening.

EDIT: what phone do you have?
Most phone can have a password put on them which you need to enter when you go to use the phone (seperate to a pin- imagine a password portected screensaver), if you phone can do it it'll help rule out someone physically accessing your phone. Post the model and there's a fair few pretty techy people here who'll tell you how to put the password on.

Rsaeire

chrislad wrote: »

I don't think this is the case. Call records are held for 3 years, but from speaking to tech teams in a couple of the companies, there's no records kept of the actual content of the messages, same way all phone calls aren't recorded, and even if there were records of the messages, it'd be fairly easy to narrow it down. It wouldn't be someone who works in a phone shop, it'd be someone working much higher up in terms of IT infrastructure.

There are departments within the mobile operators that are generally in charge of such content. It is available, but not everybody is aware of how and in what circumstances. The technical support teams you mention are within a customer care environment and are, therefore, kept out of the loop in instances where it concerns criminal investigations.

gnxx

Somebody close to you is playing a very nasty game with you.

I suggest going directly to the Gardai. Do this tomorrow.

I would be very worried if somebody was tracking me in such a manner.

radiospan

Could someone know the pin number for your online Meteor account?

That lists all the numbers you've dialled/texted.

Mr. Frost

chrislad wrote: »

I don't think this is the case. Call records are held for 3 years, but from speaking to tech teams in a couple of the companies, there's no records kept of the actual content of the messages, same way all phone calls aren't recorded, and even if there were records of the messages, it'd be fairly easy to narrow it down. It wouldn't be someone who works in a phone shop, it'd be someone working much higher up in terms of IT infrastructure.

There a millions of SMS' sent a day. Records of SMS aren't kept that long. Take it from someone who knows - it is possible to read the contents of an SMS however from what I understand it's difficult enough. Nobody I know does it anyway.

DamoKen

OP contact the Gardai. The fact your boyfriend has started keeping records really helps. I had a somewhat similar problem a few years back though nothing as severe as yours. Just kept getting calls from a withheld number and the caller would hang up each time I answered. Decided I'd had enough when I started getting in excess of 30 calls a day, sometimes in the middle of the night. Started taking a note of the times of calls and reported it to the Guards.

Granted it took a while, two months if I remember correctly but they tracked the number of the caller. Turned out it was a girl I'd been seeing for a short period, suspected as much and she recieved a warning. Never got another call. In your case I think due to the nature and content of the calls it could go a lot further than just a warning. The sooner you report it though the sooner they can contact Meteor with the info you've given. Do it now!

Sully

ibarelycare wrote: »

I'm 99.99% sure that this isn't the case. There'd be no reason for either ex to act in this way, all ended on good terms and all that and I know them well enough to know that they wouldn't do it. The mechanic wouldn't really know any of my current friends and the other guy wouldn't have contact with any of my friends anymore. Neither of them have even seen my bf, we even have things like bebo pages and FB pages on private.

From what you say, how could it be the bf? Like, he knew of certain events before you got home and had a chance to look at your phone I assume? As in, while you were out visiting the ex or whoever a caller rang your bf tipping him off. That rules out your bf looking at your phone. So unless for each of these visits you met up with the same person before the call was made, this rules out anybody reading your messages.

The whole hacker theroy doesnt wash. Anybody who is doing that would be technical minded to pull that off so well and it cant be via bluetooth it would seem. Its also hardly likely that someone in the network is watching your texts. Its unlikely someone could get clearance to do that so easy.

That leaves us with someone watching you. Scary thought and hard to believe but its the most plausable. Firstly; it seems we ruled out someone getting access to your phone and passing on the dirt. Secondly; Unless you meet these people, then meet some other group and someone in that group passes the word on each time to your bf. Thirdly; Phone hacking is unlikely as is monitoring. Finally; Its a conspiracy(!) and these people are telling the guy rining your bf that ye just met up. Hardly likely now is it!

Changing your number wont get you anywhere - they got your bfs new number so they will get yours. Plus, whats it going to achieve? Whoever knows what your doing doesnt know it by use of your phone number to be fair!

Its also worth considering that either someone on you or your bf side is jealous and is trying to split ye up. So it would have to be someone close to you who knew what you were doing, passed the info on or made the call themselves. Afterall, whoever is making the calls got your bfs new number easily enough.

To conclude.. you simply cant ignore this and try switch phone/sim. You need to make a report to the Guards with everything we have all discussed here and see what they think. I dont think its a phone issue.

kaimera

to actually read the contents of the sms you would have to be capable of accessing the core network of 085.

a trace/snoop application running and a bit of know how and anything is possible.

report it to both meteor and the guards if meteor don't do anything.

then change op to any of the other 3 ops

bcmf

But no-where as serious.
I got in contact with my phone operator and told them all the details.I put it an e-mail and asked them to keep a log of it.They told me that in reality there was very little I/they could do as any incoming calls/txts cannot be acccessed as it would violate Privacy and Data protection.
They told me to inform the Gardai and tell them that you have informed the Mobile provider and also supply the Gardai with a copy/printout of the e-mail.
Now afaik there is a way to legally get the number if the person's number is "private"/"withheld".I havent tried it so I cant confirm it and I also believe that you need to be a billpay customer.
You need to divert the fone that is recieving the calls to another fone.This effectivley means that you are making a call from ,lets say you OH, to the diverted number and so you OH will be billed for this call and AFAIK the original (stalker's) number will show up on the bill.Someone more in the know may clarify this 'cause as I said I didnt do it.
But I honestly believe that it is a work colleague/friend listening in to your conversations.
Either way do something about it now.

DamoKen

bcmf wrote: »

But no-where as serious.
I got in contact with my phone operator and told them all the details.I put it an e-mail and asked them to keep a log of it.They told me that in reality there was very little I/they could do as any incoming calls/txts cannot be acccessed as it would violate Privacy and Data protection.
They told me to inform the Gardai and tell them that you have informed the Mobile provider and also supply the Gardai with a copy/printout of the e-mail.
Now afaik there is a way to legally get the number if the person's number is "private"/"withheld".I havent tried it so I cant confirm it and I also believe that you need to be a billpay customer.

no this isn't correct. granted the mobile provider cannot give out the details at your request which is why you need to go through the Guards. They can and will if there is a valid complaint get this information. And you don't need to be a bill pay customer, I was ready to go and it made no difference.

bcmf

Thanks DamoKen.
Yes I believe that they only way the providers can access/give out this info is through official lines (criminal ivestagation???).
About the diverting.So does it work whether you are PAYG or Billpay.
I know I was told that it can work as I was given this info when trying to sort this problem.Although it may be a slightly different but more convoluted way.

builditwell

Hello ibarelycare

This is a terrible problem and from what i read the solution is in there somewhere,

1. Your boyfriend is reading your texts
2. your boyfriend is logging into your meteor account and seeing your text and call records and obviously knowing the numbers he is putting 2+2 = 5
3. Your boyfriend has swapped your handset for a legally sold spy phone (no jokes). Most nokia and big brands are available where all calls and texts are duplicated to the other handset .This does not appear on your bill as a duplicated message.They cost approx 5 to 600 per pair.
4. Someone you trust is feeding this to someone you dont and in turn feeding it to your boyfriend. Why would he not report tha calls before now. I think cause it was to his advantage to b the one with the information on you.

If you really want to fix this replace your phone and create a new pin number stay off bluetooth. You must urge your boyfriend to log all these bad calls to the gardai,you would be supprised how efficient they are getting. It might seem like a drop in the ocean but if you get the right guy hopefully it will be resolved.

Regards
B

brendanuk

bcmf wrote: »

Thanks DamoKen.
Yes I believe that they only way the providers can access/give out this info is through official lines (criminal ivestagation???).

You are getting nuisance calls. Its just a bit of paperwork to get the gaurds to make the request to the operator. Operators get loads of requests like this.

Its up to the guards then what to do. I am pretty sure the phone calls will stop once the guards give them a ring.

smokingman

Hey girl,

Firstly, that is the most horrible thing I've heard in a long time. My heart goes out to you.

Secondly, as a professional hacker (white hat before anyone goes off on one) and someone who spent many years working in a major network operator, I'll give you my two cents on the matter:

a) The information gained cannot be gathered from one source so the wierdo that is doing this obviously has contact with your friends or someone that knows you. Texts can be read by anyone in the messaging department of IT in meteor - they can just tail the sms gateway log - most normal techies would be too lazy and self important to do this unless they're looking for a specific customer problem.
Voice is different and usually managed by a seperate department but it's highly unlikely someone in there is listening to your calls as it just takes too much hassle to set up and it's easily seen by other admins.
One good way of reducing the possibilities is to only use the free webtext when you're organising something or telling friends about stuff...and make sure to change your password to the account as well first.
Those systems have nothing to do with your phone - no interaction whatsoever - so if something that you sent via that comes back in a call to your OH, then someone in meteor is deffo the source. Otherwise....

b) The bluetooth hack couldn't possibly be responsible for this. Trust me on that one, if it doesn't turn up on your bill and you have bluetooth off then that's not it.

c) The only other things I can think of besides your OH/friends/anyone with physical access to the phone is maybe someone has a clone of your sim and turns it on late at night when you have yours turned off. Check with meteor to make sure they don't have a duplicate and keep your phone on at all times to make sure your sim is the one registered on the network at all times.

I hope you get to the bottom of this...let us know what happens anyway.

Best of luck.

ibarelycare

Jeez! I've been reading all your posts but haven't replied because I feel a bit overwhelmed with what I've been reading.

There isn't anyone close to me that would have known all of this information to pass it onto my bf. 100% certain that is the case. It's not that I'm keeping secrets, it's just that the fact that I'm texting certain people doesn't seem significant enough to call my friends and tell them!

I highly doubt I'm being followed I hope not anyway! That's quite alarming to fathom! I work full-time and go to college in the evenings, I'm always busy and in different places.

There is a small possibilty that someone would know my PIN I suppose, they could have seen me typing it into my phone, but even so, if they went onto my online account they still wouldn't know the content of the texts being sent.

I really have to stress again that I am pretty sure that it's not anyone reading my messages. I rarely leave my phone out of sight, it's usually in my bag or pocket. If I do go to the loo or something and leave it out of sight, I'd know if someone had been looking at it because it takes a couple of minutes for the screen to go blank after locking it. I had issues with a jealous ex-bf and because of that I subconsciously am careful about leaving my phone lying around; not because I think my current bf is going to look through it, but because I was used to it for so long with someone else.

As I said, we're going to keep a log of these calls. There haven't been any in over a week but the next time they happen we're going to go to the police after that. I just want to make sure we have the exact details written down. The call memory in my bf's phone only stores the last 20 calls or something so we can't go back and check all the calls received from private number.

Hopefully we'll get it all sorted soon anyway. I'll let you all know if anything happens! Cheers

ibarelycare

smokingman wrote: »

Hey girl,



c) The only other things I can think of besides your OH/friends/anyone with physical access to the phone is maybe someone has a clone of your sim and turns it on late at night when you have yours turned off. Check with meteor to make sure they don't have a duplicate and keep your phone on at all times to make sure your sim is the one registered on the network at all times.

I always turn my phone off at night and also when I'm charging it. Maybe I should keep it switched on the whole time. If I have it turned on and someone turns on another phone with my sim in it will their's not work?

cast_iron

I'm not sure it's the text messages either, but according to the OP, there is at least 2 people involved in making the calls. So it could be 2 sources in cohorts with each other.

Points to someone reading the texts / accessing phone somehow: The fact that the OP text the mechanic and the bf got a call that afternoon. OP, did you tell ANYONE else in any form (email, voice call, person at work) that you text him about the car. If you did, you can narrow it to that small circle.
If you told no one, then you're not being followed.

The fact that the caller knew something about your past means it must be someone YOU know, or did you ever mention those details in front of anyone at work/college?

Another possibility is that if you text from laptop/work computer at work (via webtext), that a keylogger virus is on the machine and records everything you type...and can send the details to any email account very easily. So, how did you send the text to the mechanic? That way, someone you know, could be getting those details fairly readily.

As some of the other examples state that the calls were "later in the week", you may have mentioned those details to over the few days preceeding the call to the bf to someone close to you / who works with you. That may be why it took a few days for the call to come.

Until the OP can clarify some of the above details, I'm going with a "friend" and a keylogger virus.
In fairness, nothing too sinister (threats, etc.) has happened yet, so I wouldn't be too worried, OP. But it definitely needs addressing asap before it escalates.

Henne220

OP Can you tell us the exact make and model of your phone please? With that ill try help you a bit so you can rule out the hacking side of things.

The_Hustler

cast_iron wrote: »

Points to someone reading the texts / accessing phone somehow: The fact that the OP text the mechanic and the bf got a call that afternoon. OP, did you tell ANYONE else in any form (email, voice call, person at work) that you text him about the car. If you did, you can narrow it to that small circle.
If you told no one, then you're not being followed.

Don't rule out that the mechanic could be a jealous ex-boyfriend and is involved. Much less sinister

ibarelycare

Henne220 wrote: »

OP Can you tell us the exact make and model of your phone please? With that ill try help you a bit so you can rule out the hacking side of things.

It's a Nokia 5310

ibarelycare

cast_iron wrote: »

I'm not sure it's the text messages either, but according to the OP, there is at least 2 people involved in making the calls. So it could be 2 sources in cohorts with each other.

Points to someone reading the texts / accessing phone somehow: The fact that the OP text the mechanic and the bf got a call that afternoon. OP, did you tell ANYONE else in any form (email, voice call, person at work) that you text him about the car. If you did, you can narrow it to that small circle.
If you told no one, then you're not being followed.

Nope, definitely told no one. My workplace is very quiet and I don't have much interaction with my colleagues.

The fact that the caller knew something about your past means it must be someone YOU know, or did you ever mention those details in front of anyone at work/college?

The stuff that was said to him though wasn't exactly very personal stuff, just some wild and embarrassing stories that a good few people would have known

Another possibility is that if you text from laptop/work computer at work (via webtext), that a keylogger virus is on the machine and records everything you type...and can send the details to any email account very easily. So, how did you send the text to the mechanic? That way, someone you know, could be getting those details fairly readily.

I practically never use my webtexts, they were all sent from my phone.

As some of the other examples state that the calls were "later in the week", you may have mentioned those details to over the few days preceeding the call to the bf to someone close to you / who works with you. That may be why it took a few days for the call to come.

Yeah, he got the call a few days after I met my ex in Navan, and obviously the group of friends I was with knew this but they would have no connections to any of the rest of it, I don't see them much anymore, they've only met my bf once or twice, they never even met the mechanic guy. I told a closer friend that I met him too but she's my best friend and I trust her completely. Even so, she wouldn't have known about my texting the mechanic, that's the most confusing part!

Henne220

Ok OP, So heres what you do to help stop the calls because I have a feeling that this will help:
> Log on to your meteor and change your pin right now.
> In the settings of your phone activate the feature that you need a security code to access your menu once the keypad is locked.
> Don't tell your boyfriend the code of your security keylock or the new pin of your meteor. (no matter how much you trust him because you need to block all possibilities of these calls happening)

The fact that you have a Nokia 5310 is good because they are less susceptible to "spy software" etc. being installed.

faoilean

Hi ibarelycare, did you have any luck getting this sorted?

vector

I'm just about to buy a phone on ebay, and the thought crossed my mind... could the seller have installed a voice recorder?

not a crazy as it sounds, think about it, the seller has flashed the latest firmware and debranded the phone, so he knows what he's doing, surely he could also install a silent voice recorder/sms logger, which would send the resulting audio file to him by 3G/wifi in the background whenever a connection is established?

did you buy your phone from your operator or ebay?

120_Minutes

Henne220 wrote: »

> In the settings of your phone activate the feature that you need a security code to access your menu once the keypad is locked.

i dont think the 5310 can do this.

Henne220

120_Minutes wrote: »

i dont think the 5310 can do this.

Yes its in the Settings>Phone>Security Keyguard>set to on and put in your code.

Nowso

What phones are not as Safe? It would be good thing to know