Telephone Attack

Here's the situation: I am on the receiving end of calls from some unknown type of device that can make my phone ring - or something ring in my room - possibly the computer - even when the phone is totally disconnected from the line. That's right. I can disconnect the handset and pull the phone line from the computer (I have a T-splitter) and I still get a ring. It doesn't sound like a true ring, more like a cell phone twitter.

These attacks come in the wee a.m. hours. They are one ring (maybe on the theory that one ring is not a tracable call), and they usually wake me up, as seems to be the intended purpose. The only thing that stops them cold or any phone activity, is when I'm on the Net. I have a single line dialup.

It looks like eventually I may have to go to the authorities and get a court order to find out who is doing this (the attacker has blocked his line so *70 or whatever doesn't work) and what kind of equipment is capable of doing this. The phone company says there might be a bug in my apartment, which I doubt. They also hint at some kind of transmitter but are not forthcoming about this level of security info.

Please, if you have any idea what kind of police, spy or military hardware can do this diabolical thing, which costs me sleep nearly every night, reply to this post. Thanks.

if its not connected to the wall then i think its eaither a phone fault or some on has put somthing in your phone but what i dont know i would get a new phone that would solve all your problems

Uhm... I'm having trouble visualizing this... Basically, you're getting noises at night, which are only preventable by being connected to the net? And they happen with your phone or computer unplugged from the wall socket?

Uhm... lousy modem drivers, the modem speaker doing it? Or even your main speakers? Does this still happen if your computer is turned off? Does it still happen when it is unplugged from the power socket? (For ATX motherboards, "off" is not truly off unless you unplug it from the wall.) I have a scanner which has some software for managing the bulb in an energy-efficient manner which occasionally makes odd noises (not often)...

PC speaker... could that be doing it? (not the same as speakers from your sound card, the PC speaker is the one which ONLY does beeps, it's inside your computer.) If you're computer is in some sort of standby mode or something... Rebooting noises? Faulty power supply? Internal temperature warning?

Could you elaborate somewhat?

Terr's onto something. Is your puter on while this happens? And what type of phone - this is needed, is it a pot, or a remote type with base you can carry around?

because the phone draws power from the actual telephone line, it really *can't* be possible for it to be making any noise on it's own, unless there is something foreign inside of it. . .

however, if it is a cordless phone, such as I have, the handset may beep occasionally when the base is unplugged. .

the computer piece sounds the most promising, I would suggest running with that.

I agree with RiOtEr - just get a new phone.

Although if you are like me, you're thinking that getting a new phone is toooooo easy. You just HAVE to figure out what the heck is going on!!

Is there something you're not telling us - like being involved in some questionable circles, doing things that give reason for you to be watched - little ILLEGAL activities.....??

:D

Just kidding bout that last line, but it would make a great story!!

My first step would be to figure out if it's your phone or your pc. I would guess your pc, because that is more easily explained. Find this out by unhooking your pc one for awhile to see if it happens. Another few nights leave it on, see if you can find a pattern that way.

It's gotta be your pc. Can't imagine why you'd have a bug, or transmitter or whatever in your phone that beeps when it's unhooked.

This is unquestionably a form of phone harrassment, not an accident. It's been going on in different forms for a long time. What is recent is the ability of the attacker to jingle something in my room with the corded phone unplugged from everything. The computer is off, the lights are out and I am in bed. That has been the case thus far. The one ring comes and goes before I can locate the source of the sound. All I can do is try to describe it.

The computer is not unplugged from the outlet. I had not thought of that. I'll see what happens when I pull that plug. The attacker definitely has insider information. He managed to get my unlisted phone number years ago before the Internet and all the info available on it. He also seems to have hacked my email. To protect that I have installed Ontrack and ZoneAlarm (the free download) and I change my password more often.

In one phone conversation with MCI phone intelligence people, when I asked if there was a piece of equipment that could do this, I received the reply, "Yea, if you want to spend ten grand." Unfortunately, the call ended before I could get further info. So I know the hardware exists. What is it? Who makes it? And how do I defend against it?

Thanks for your help.

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Originally posted here by listener
And how do I defend against it?

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Easy....Disconnect your phone and get a prepaid cell phone...........Problem solved. :rolleyes:

No offense, but if you're serious I;d look into some psycho counseling and some medication for sure. A good anti-psychotic will make your stalker go away.

sound like some funny **** to me
id like to know so i can do it too
why dont u give me ur # so i can try

just kidding

At this stage, I'd like to refer to a post I made in another thread....

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Originally posted here by Matty_Cross
Rioter's got a poltergiest, Rioter's got a poltergiest!!!

That is my usefull contribution to this post...

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Please Change Rioter to Listener, to suit this thread.. I'm too lazy to do so....

Could I be any lazier.. Yes....

hehe. . .this is true humor.

My parents once had this old phone when I was little that used to ring (well a half a ring) at the same time every night- kinda weird- we never did figure out what it was. I think the phone was just screwy.

My parents once had this old phone when I was little that used to ring (well a half a ring) at the same time every night- kinda weird- we never did figure out what it was. I think the phone was just screwy.

I tried shutting off power to the computer to stop these calls, as was suggested on this board, and unfortunately that didn't work. The calls continue unabated, robbing me of sleep. As for changing phones, this has happened first with my new cordless phone - which I no longer use - and now with my old corded phone.

Some of you seem to think this is funny. All I can say is, I'm not posting this as a joke.

So the question remains: what type of equipment is causing this nightmare? Do any of you have contacts with the police or the military or spyware equipment dealers?

Listener,
All I have to say is it sounds bogus, completely not legit but it was a good laugh, at your misfortune if it was but, I cannot help you. Sorry.

This is a possible senario, do the rings happen at the sametime every night? If so, it may be your CO (central office) running a test called an MLT, I know that in the Bellsouth "yeah! a baby bell" they run the test every night at about midnight-1am. As far as what the actual ringer is, there is a possibility you have a ringer (yeah, just a ringer) that was installed before you owned the house, (some older houses have them).

If it is an MLT being ran, there is nothign you can do to stop it (although it shouldn't make your actual phone ring, but the ringer set wouldn't have the ringer equiv to stop it from ringing).

In this senario you can call ALL the cops you want, the call isn't really a call and will not generate a ANI, and doesn't really have a source for you to trace.

Just as a side note an MLT is called a Multiple Line Test, it is used to test for shorts, high resistence, low resistance, cap and cat balances, and you length of the loop F1 and F2 pairs from your home to the SLC. It is basically a maintence test that allows the telephone company to find a problem before it turns into one.

Just a thought...:)
Cheeseball

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what type of equipment is causing this nightmare?

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the only thing that comes to mind is a remote noise eminator, that is it. but that would have to be planted. otherwise there is NOTHING that can make this happen as far as i am aware (and i know alot about this stuff)... otherwise, mayber your walls are thin and it is from another room. are you puter speakers on? if they are it could be magnetic fields reacting with them... other wise i have no ideas

Try this out one night, but be VERY, VERY careful, ring voltage can surprise you:

If you have access to the point where the phone lines enter the house, go there and check the box out. This is called the demarcation point, and has a module inside to allow the telco to remote test your line(s). There should be a modular plug just like the ones inside your house, and a pair of terminals with wires attached. Some older units just have the terminals, and there should be a pair for each phone line. Disconnect the line by either unplugging the mod plug, or loosen the terminals slightly and lift the wire(s). If you have more than one phone jack, you may have more than just the one pair of wires. Pay attention to how things are hooked up, and make a drawing if necessary (recommended).

Now go to bed. If you are not wakened by the ring, you know that there is something inside the dwelling that is hooked up to the line. You can try to trace the wires (good luck!) or just reconnect one pair at a time, test the phones to see which jacks work, and label the wires. If you find a pair of wires that don't go to anything, leave them off for now, and see if the phantom ring goes away.

If you are sure you have disconnected your line(s) and the ring still occurs, I will have to scratch my head some more. Are you in a house or condo or townhome or apartment? Is the building old or new or had recent work done? More data is useful.

I think the line test is the most probable, but with the phone unplugged, you shouldn't be able to hear it.

Good luck!

from what i understand your saying everything is unplugged from the phone lines, the phone, and the computer. if there is no coneection at all to the outside world and you still here it, i beleive CheeseBall is right there is a ringer built into your house, you should bother the phone company a lot so they will check it out, they are probly running tests on the lines, that or someones running an old war dialer in the area but defintly get the phone company to come check it out. figure out exactly where in the wall its coming from maybe one night decide to stay awake and wait for it. Good Luck, if its condo or apratment check with landlord about ringers installed.

wardialing now is kinda on the risky side, DSS5 did a wonderful job of killing it (some people still do it with a random number generation), DSS5 actually logs people that make a large number of calls in a short period of time. (it isn't totally dead, but quite useless).

How about an old, forgotten, doorbell that someone could hook up a 12v timer to, or how about a remote controlled wireless bell that could be activated (briefly/intermittently/pre-programmed time like at night when you're trying to sleep), from remote by a battery powered timer, or how about your *real* doorbell? I know of one case where the people complained about neighborhood kids ringing their doorbell at night, we set up remote observation and guess what? The bell was ringing by itself, no kids on the porch at any time. Maybe you could buy-borrow-rent a small bug-detector and if the "bell" had a magnetic field or power supply it would probably find it. Otherwise, "white music" might get you past the interruption. Kind of interesting. I was going to say something like "when I take my medicine the bells don't bother me anymore"..... But decided to be serious instead of my usual tacky sense of humor. :D

What is a remote noise eminator, a "bug?" Also, what is a war dialer? My local service provider wants $160 to check the room for bugs. I'm not ready to fork over that kind of dough just yet. Would a bug be stopped when I'm on the Internet? If so, it can't be that because being online (I have single line dial-up) is the one thing that prevents phone ringing of any variety, and I assume that at times these calls are attempted while I'm online--sometimes very late am hours. Supposing there were a bug or eminator of some sort in my room, what kind of device would be on the other end making the call? I don't have the tools or the expertise to mess around with the outside phone lines. Thanks for your suggestions.