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Newbie Help - 911- Spyware - Mom at risk :(

S

Survive2012

Lurker
I hope someone out there can help me, My ex is in jail for domestic violence & robbery....and yes I was the target. He will stop at nothing to find me when he gets out.
I am pretty sure he put spyware on my phone, when I call certain numbers the GPS signal goes off & transmits... same with text messages - he knew details of converations that I had - and he wasnt home - he knew where I was and in a rage it slipped out that he had done something to the phone. I wiped my phone, and poof with days it started again, My sim card gives out an error when I try to instal trapcall or even google voice and the phone lights up random for no reason. Its used a months worth of data in 2 days...!
I purchased a new cell, and you guessed it... within days it all started again. I really need help, I cant afford another phone I have 2 droids (google g2x and a zte 768) and a net 10 LG gpl 900. I am moving soon and I need to stay safe! I do need a smart phone, but right now I am scared to switch it on!
He has a non smart phone, a basic lg metro pcs flip phone- memory is full, reboots every time u try to open image gallery...
Can anyone help?
 
Have you tried using a different SIM card? Using a different Google account for games/apps? You said you changed your phone so what do you have on the new one that came from the old one?

And if the phone has used months worth of data, maybe you should remove the data plan completely and just use the phone to make calls. Also, your carrier shouldn't really allow it to go past the data limit on your plan without notifying you.
 
first thing change your google password! If he knows the password he can install apps from the app store without having to be near the phone.
 
Pookeysgirl said:
Have you tried using a different SIM card? Using a different Google account for games/apps? You said you changed your phone so what do you have on the new one that came from the old one?

We lived together, so he got to my brand new phone within a couple days.Cant afford to replace it

And if the phone has used months worth of data, maybe you should remove the data plan completely and just use the phone to make calls. Also, your carrier shouldn't really allow it to go past the data limit on your plan without notifying you.
Click to expand...
They didnt...
Dieselbud said:
first thing change your google password! If he knows the password he can install apps from the app store without having to be near the phone.
Click to expand...
Will do! Ty.... I just need to find out how to clean up my phone and sim card!
 
ExtremeNerd said:
There have been some amazing paranoia stories recently on this site. Its amazing what people think others do. If you're legit concerned, go to the police instead of a web forum. This isn't something people should take lightly, but this is a fake. I'll debunk it. Please don't start spam like this again.
Click to expand...

1) There is no such thing as readily available spyware. You basically need to build it yourself.
google it, they are out there

2) Your "boyfriend" has a dumbphone, which usually translates to no technical knowledge or android programming background.
maybe he has friends who own a smart phones? and there is an app that uses a computer browser https://play.google.com/store/apps/...sMSwxLDEsImNvbS5naXptb3F1aXAuc21zdHJhY2tlciJd

3) The "Spyware" wouldnt follow you across devices. Switch devices and whatever you had in the ROM is gone.
have you ever installed an app from google play? all you need is a password. I bought a new phone and as soon as I logged into google it showed up in the app store on my account. Anyone with that password can download any app to my phone.

4) Wouldn't the first thing any sane person in this situation would do is change their number?

change your number a thousand times, change the SIM whatever, if he has your google password it won't help matters.

5) There is more than one way to drastically increase your data usage.
 
With the Google password, someone can only load apps from the Google Play store, correct? Otherwise, this is an easy way to bypass the "Unknown sources" protection that is the default setting...

If my assumption is correct, which apps are available on the Google Play store that could be used as spyware like the OP reports?
 
I guess I should read a little closer instead of scanning... interesting comments on that app too.

OP, you should look at play.google.com to see what is installed after you change your password. You should be able to uninstall.
 
To the OP or anyone else who may find this of use:

1) If you haven't contact the police
2) If you haven't find a domestic violence support group
3) Talk with your carrier and change any all security checks they use to verify you when they talk with you.
4) If you have a PC have someone throughly check it out (actually you would be best of having them format it and reinstalling what you need)
4) Change the password on your current Google Account. Do it from a friends computer and consider the account dead (better yet figure out if you can cancel the Google Account)
5) Set up a new Google Account - do not use the old account to distribute new contact information
6) Do a factory data reset on your phone (you'll have to research how to do this but it will reset your phone to factory defaults and erase your data), also format the SD card if you have one
7) Consider getting a new phone number
8) Associate phone with the new Google Account
 
she's new to android, it pops up once and if she doesn't know what to look for she might pass over it.

Common sense would be to heed my advice and change any all and all passwords and do a factory reset, then there would be very little to worry about, unless someone that shouldn't, gets their hands on her phone.
 
fdbryant3 said:
To the OP or anyone else who may find this of use:

1) If you haven't contact the police
2) If you haven't find a domestic violence support group
3) Talk with your carrier and change any all security checks they use to verify you when they talk with you.
4) If you have a PC have someone throughly check it out (actually you would be best of having them format it and reinstalling what you need)
4) Change the password on your current Google Account. Do it from a friends computer and consider the account dead (better yet figure out if you can cancel the Google Account)
5) Set up a new Google Account - do not use the old account to distribute new contact information
6) Do a factory data reset on your phone (you'll have to research how to do this but it will reset your phone to factory defaults and erase your data), also format the SD card if you have one
7) Consider getting a new phone number
8) Associate phone with the new Google Account
Click to expand...

IMO, some of these are a bit extreme, but if you really think that you're (meaning the OP) are being tracked, it wouldn't be a bad thing to be a bit paranoid about it.

Also, there are alternative ways of installing apps onto a phone. If the person has access to her Google account, it is possible that he has access to any wifi network or computer she owns. ADB and USB Debugging then comes into play. There is wireless ADB, as well. IIRC, if you install an app through ADB (which is a very, very simple command), I don't think the install notification is displayed.

So OP, go into Settings > Apps > Development and make sure USB Debugging is unchecked. It may be under Settings > Development, too. Depending on your Android version.
 
Thread cleaned up a bit.

OP, your options are rather clear overall -

- reset the device(s) to remove all added apps (see your carrier or ask here for details)

- change your Gmail/Google password

- let law enforcement know what you're up against

Survive2012, click my name, drop me a private message if there are further personal attacks against you.

We really don't go for that around here, cheers, thanks.
 
fdbryant3 said:
Except your wrong in your assumptions and your statements.



Try searching the Play store for SPY PHONE. You'll come up with such gems as SMS Tracker which bills itself as "The most complete remote phone tracking and monitoring system for Android phones
Remotely track and monitor all SMS, MMS, text messages, calls, and GPS location"



Or it translates to someone who can't afford better or even for his own purposes wants to keep a low profile and is savvy enough to know that a dumbphone serves that purpose better. However it really doesn't take that much technical know-how (and no programming at all) to install an app.



True it wouldn't follow unless he still has access to the associated Google account that allows him to push apps to it.



Nothing says she hasn't. However if he has access to her account that wouldn't matter.

To the OP or anyone else who may find this of use:

1) If you haven't contact the police
2) If you haven't find a domestic violence support group
3) Talk with your carrier and change any all security checks they use to verify you when they talk with you.
4) If you have a PC have someone throughly check it out (actually you would be best of having them format it and reinstalling what you need)
4) Change the password on your current Google Account. Do it from a friends computer and consider the account dead (better yet figure out if you can cancel the Google Account)
5) Set up a new Google Account - do not use the old account to distribute new contact information
6) Do a factory data reset on your phone (you'll have to research how to do this but it will reset your phone to factory defaults and erase your data), also format the SD card if you have one
7) Consider getting a new phone number
8) Associate phone with the new Google Account
Click to expand...


Thank you so much, I formatted my computer last night, I have opened a new gmail account and transferred everything there.
I think I will just cut my losses - put the phones on ebay, and use the money to get yet ANOTHER phone and switch carriers to boot....
Thats going to take time.... I dont have the funds right now for things like this, he wiped me out and I have a daughter to take care of.... thats why I wanted to clean at least one of the 3 phones up so I could be safe.
Is an SD card listener a safe proccess?
 
There is no reason you can't continue using one of the phones you have after you do a hard wipe. Another option since you mention getting a new phone is if your within a return for refund period (and who knows maybe even if your not) is to exchange it. You might also want to talk to them about setting up an entirely new account.

Finally one more piece of advice I would give is set up 2-factor authentication on your Google Account and any other account that will let you especially social networking accounts like Facebook.
 
Survive2012 said:
Thank you so much, I formatted my computer last night, I have opened a new gmail account and transferred everything there.
I think I will just cut my losses - put the phones on ebay, and use the money to get yet ANOTHER phone and switch carriers to boot....
Thats going to take time.... I dont have the funds right now for things like this, he wiped me out and I have a daughter to take care of.... thats why I wanted to clean at least one of the 3 phones up so I could be safe.
Is an SD card listener a safe proccess?
Click to expand...

I don't think you need to sell the one you want to keep. Google has some extra layers of security you can get, as well. It's called 2-step verification. It's good for securing your Google account. It's fairly easy to set up, too. Check it out here: How it works - Accounts Help

Also change all your passwords. Use hard to break passwords (using special characters and such). Don't use names of your family or pets. I used to go to dictionary.com and look up a random word of the day, then change it to be more secure. Like let's say the word paper came up. I would make it into P4p3r and then add a few extra characters. Like the middle 3 numbers of your phone number (or middle two of your SSN), and then use the shift key to make them into special characters. So, let's say your middle 3 numbers of your phone is 358, it would then be #%* and your complete password would be P4p3r#%*

It would take a brute force attack a very long time to crack that. It is also 8 characters long, which is generally the minimum for a decent strength password. Just don't use that one, as it's now on a public forum and likely to get added to a brute force program.

Now I use KeePass. It randomly generates strings of characters to the criteria you specify and supplies you with a password. You just simply have to remember one password to decrypt the database. There are windows and android builds of the app. Info on that is here: http://keepass.info/ The downside is if someone was to get your password to decrypt your database (and had your database file), they could access everything. But it beats having to create new passwords you have to remember.
 
Probably already mentioned - if you access your carrier bill online - change that password, along with any others for anything critical or that you use often (twitter, Facebook) - the whole bit.
 
The wifi comment was interesting. If you originally lived together, he would have the password to your wireless router at home and possibly your computer network.

So you should change your wireless router and any network passwords as well.

For all your passwords, don't choose easy to remember ones. I use Keepass.info to create hard to break passwords and maintain them.

Security questions are often used by your carriers, banks, and other services you use. The problem is that many security questions would also be known by someone you lived with such as mothers maiden name, what city you were born in, etc.

You should set new security questions on all these to things he would not know.

And please never use passwords from things like pet names, kids names, favourite books, movies, etc. These are easy to figure out.
 
Hi, I have experience with this and will post about it in a few moments. Am I allowed to suggest a licence to carry, or is that a bit much?
 
Hi, I am new to the forum but I have to post on this subject. I have an experience with spy software being loaded onto my cell phone as well as two of my daughters by a not quite right in the head husband. When I first considered there might be some sort of surveillance on my phone, I did a search for the symptoms I was encountering; beeps, clicking, heavy battery usage, and lighting up for no reason. I did some research into the surveillance apps themselves. They are incredibly stealthy and easily loaded; they can be loaded through email, a text sent to phone, a call or by download. I thought I was being paranoid but I also know what a whack job my ex is so I did a full factory reset. It worked for a bit, phone appeared to run as it should with no odd or unusual behavior then I got a few unknown calls and odd texts. Phone started acting funny again, reset again. Now I wanted to post this because I was correct in my assumptions, he quoted a conversation to me that happened between myself and my daughter as I was driving her home from school one day, a very private conversation. He. Quoted It. Verbatim.
If you think you are being monitored, do the research, and make the sacrifice of convenience. Better to lose some phone numbers and random data than your privacy and peace of mind. Please, please contact a local domestic abuse shelter, they have many resources so you don’t have to go this alone, remember he is counting on you to behave in the future as you have in the past. So don’t.

Anyways, best of luck to you and here is a nice little bit of info on the subject, some of it almost funny, except for how serious it is in the wrong hands. I also use Avast, great little tool.
Page 1 of many… https://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&tbo=d&q=cell+phone+surveillance+software&revid=893745975&sa=X&ei=Fu-dUIb-NZDg8ASbt4DgCQ&ved=0CJgBENUCKAI&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=e66486b5a95e0619&bpcl=38093640&biw=1280&bih=701 these are great for understanding what the software may look like on your android.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_detect_and_remove_spyware_on_your_cell_phone
 
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