Holy Phreakers - Electronic Warfare

In the past I have made a number of posts in this forum on the subject of a bizarre case of telephone harassment. I noted that the harasser was able to make phone-related sounds (not rings, exactly) even when the handset was disconnected, at odd hours in the morning, depriving me of sleep. This person got my unlisted phone number and was able to mask her own number so that traces turned up false readings. Mostly these were one ring calls, which do not show up on caller ID, but also hang-up calls that showed "out of area" on caller ID - a moot point since the traces are no good.

I went to the police, had numerous conversations with my annoyance call bureau, and sought legal counsel. The upshot of all that was, that because I didn't know the person't last name, the phone records could not be subpoened. Laws tend to favor the caller. The one limitation I observed on this person's ability to reach me was that when I was online (I had dialup then) I never heard any phone-related sounds. So I figured if I got rid of the telephone, that would be the end of the problem. I tried setting my system to stay online for 999 minutes, to leave it on all night, but it disconnects after about 40 minutes of inactivity.

I was interested in having a cell phone anyway, so I made the switch from dialup to cable and got rid of my land line and removed the telephone from my apartment. Sad to say, this morning I was awakened by the familiar one "ring," a short burst of sound about one-quarter to one-third the volume of a regular ring, but still sufficient to wake me up.

What on earth piece of equipment can do this??? There is no evidence that my apartment was broken into and a bug planted to receive signals from a radio transmitter. Estimates to sweep my digs for bugs range up to US$450, and the device itself costs US$3,000 - a bit steep for my budget. And what if a search turns up no bug? The sound comes from the same side of the room as the phone jack.

One of you dark lords and mistresses out there knows something about this forbidden world of spy equipment and electronic warfare. I did nothing to deserve this punishment. Years ago I made the mistake of befriending the wrong person.

I need your help.

Wow. Pretty scary stuff.

Have you talked to the phone company about the jack? Perhaps get them in or even rip out the wall area around the jack and look yourself.

I'd also ask about the computer being disconnected. What kind of connection do you have? Do you access your phone (cell and land line) online? What Operating System are you using?

Some cell phones have their rings start soft and then increase the tone. That may be the case with yours and it might be worthwhile looking through the manual or talking with the cell phone company.

You must have given your new contact to one of your "friends"...........they have given it to him/her?

Get yourself a new mobile (cellnet) phone. Issue the number one by one .....wait a week between each one...when you get the bite you will know the traitor? Start with people of your own age who want to go to bed with the perp?

DO NOT go to your local gunstore...............

Good luck

A little know fact about "bugs" is that they all t/x using the Frequency Modulation part of the spectrum, a cheap but not always conclusive way to search for most regular types of "bug" is to turn on your radio and tune it to around to 90-103 fm, then you can either turn your tv on or play a song not too loud but loud enough to hear it on your radio, then VERY VERY slowly start tuning your radio from the 90 range to 103, this might have changed since my day so you might want to consider starting at the beginning of the FM range and finishing at the end.

What you are tying to do is see if you can hear what ever song you are playing coming out of your stereo, if you do then you know that something is t/x ing sounds out of your appartment.

If you do find you have a "bug" leave your radio on the frequency it is on and move the source of your music around the room, when you hear it getting louder you know you are getting closer to your "bug".

You can try pulling your room apart and look for it your self but a r/x ing "bug" can be about 0.3 cm big, a t/x ing "bug" can be the same size however keep in mind it will need a speaker to make the noise, you can gauge how big this may be yourself by the quality and volume of the noise it is making.

However all of these will need a power supply, the easiest and cheapestway is to tap into you house mains supply, if this is the case and you posess a Multi-meter you can test all your cables/ plug sockets whilst playing a cd and see if there is any fluxuations or dropped in you voltage. ( A favourite method is to use a phone line for power!!!)

If they cant tap into your building power they will need a battery, this could aid you if you try to look for it yourself, look for a battery about half the size of a watch battery!

If you want to know how to go about searching a room for something like this PM me and we can set up a chat room or something and I will talk you through the very lenghty prosess!

Good Luck!

Cant you set your phone to scan/listen in on different frequencies? Also, a radio scanner would probably better, although more expensive than your radio. As for tracing it, cant you send a query(electronic) back down the line. When it rings, pick up the phone, but instead of talking, send a frequency that notifies you at every relay/end of the road that it hits and where it is? Or use your modem to try to trace, even if you dont get the beep, it should be able to monitor incoming/attempted incoming calls.

Erm.. no, on all accounts im afraid!

Damn, at least I have a good imagination :p

LOL

If you are concerned about bugs in your place there are two options:

1. the bug has a physical data line (highly unlikely and easy to find)
2. the bug is wireless (highly likely, almost as easy to find)

You have prolly received spam recently for a keychain device that scans for hidden cameras and bugs for like $60. Oddly enough these work quite well, at least they should. This device works much like I radar detector and is made up of merely a diode and antenna... very simple design, maybe $2 in parts and is highly directional.

This also works on newer bugs and even spread spectrum as it just scans for nearly all RF activity. You will need to go through your place and turn stuff off one by one (you'll be amazed at how noisy your computer is for example) until you've turned everything off and are left with only a few blips, investigate those by hand. Some may be power couplings, some may be your neighbor's TV/cordless phone base or even a thicker spot in the wiring... but if there is a bug, you will very likely find it this way.

catch

I am not so sure about how to find wire taps, but here is a tutorial on the net that looks useful.
http://www.templesecurity.com/count-help.htm

Thank you each for your posts, especially Nokia, for your first post. I'm quite certain that what is happening has nothing to do with my cell phone, which is brand new. I've not put that number out on the Net and there is no way the perp can know about it at this point, at least I don't think so.

catch: no, I haven't received any spam advertising a keychain device as you describe. Would like to hear more about that.

Is it possible there is no bug, that this weapon is even more far out that that? How can it be that that being online (via dialup) stopped all phone sounds but having no land line whatsoever now does not?

I shouldnt worry too much about "far out weapons" dood, they do exist but unless you planning to kill the president or something I shouldnt think anyone would be using them on you, they are just too expensive and require very skilled tradesmen to install, use and recover them.

You've told me you live in a dorm, so you will proberbly find that you are the victim of a practcal joke of some kind.

As far as I can work it out, you are hearing a muffled ring tone when you are tying to sleep?

Maybe someone else has hid their mobile in your dorm, or something along them lines, it could be a baby monitor, walkie talkie, or a tape recording.

If I was you I would wait until you hear it again and then rip your room apart in the place you think the noise came from, you will proberbly find your culprit!

Unless you are involved in something highly illegal I wouldnt worry too much dood.

Nokia, just a note about "bugs" .. the cheepies are as you say in the FM broadcast band..88-108Mhz.. the semi pro and pros can be anywhere and now use psk digital techniques.. I wont go into to much here..

Your methodology in checking is correct..

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Sad to say, this morning I was awakened by the familiar one "ring," a short burst of sound about one-quarter to one-third the volume of a regular ring

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I don't know of bugs making noises.. either you had a bad dream.. or some clown has a remote controle noise making device that just happens to make sounds like a ringing phone

you may even have a funny accoustic problem in the building you are in.. ie the sound could have been 2 floors up or down from you, sewerage pipes are great for the conduction of sounds..

just a few thoughts

cheers

Edit: BTW..I am stsrting to coome to grips with the fact that the majority of computer ppl (note not plain old Users) have little or no basic electronic knowledge.. if you encounter a problem ellimination of possabilities is easier with a reasonable knowledge.. but be careful that you don't close off possabilities because of that knowledge..

like did you know that 10 years ago experiments with point source sound were being conducted.. that is where you could make sound seem to be coming from a spot in a room or outside a room but not from a physical object.. this used ultrasonic audio "beams" .. not sure of the exact ref,, but that was science mag about 93/94

I know but i cant see and pro's or even semi pros trying to wake him up by making a ringing noise.

As i said, prob just a practical joke at his expense, who's going to spend £100+ just to wake someone up?

Prob just a cheap thing !

A stalker.

A person who is unstable and wants "revenge".

I've met people like this. They do exist and they are scary. They become obsessed with a single person and go all out. Personally, if it were me, I'd be freaked out. I'd also look into a restraining order (might require a bit of work on your part to find out their last name perhaps).

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I don't know of bugs making noises.. either you had a bad dream.. or some clown has a remote controle noise making device that just happens to make sounds like a ringing phone

you may even have a funny accoustic problem in the building you are in.. ie the sound could have been 2 floors up or down from you, sewerage pipes are great for the conduction of sounds..

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hey nokia.. I wasn't saying you were wrong.. just adding to what you said.. please take in context whith the rest of the text..please..hmm that is before the EDIT that is..
I agree .. my first thought is something other than the practical joke, then it would be soem thing bloody cheep if it was a joke.. But if it is some demented mind.. goodness knows what they would spend..

cheers

Ms. Mittens is right. I met this person years ago in a park. It is an obsession that has grown to monstrous proportions. In the beginning, based on what she told me, I think she had help from a cop friend who showed her how to get an unlisted phone number - this was in the 1980s. Later, she graduated to the phone company - I'm fairly certain she has insider help from someone in AT&T - won't go into that here.

I do not live in a dorm but in an apartment in a free standing dwelling. No one else has my door key other than the landlady. It's possible that someone picked the lock to gain entry to plant a bug, but I have no evidence of that, which is why I consider a bug to be an unlikely suspect although it easily comes to mind.

There is no legal remedy because I never knew her last name, her address, and I discarded her phone no. years ago. If I could open the phone record of incoming calls, going back a number of years, I could get her real number before she learned how to mask it. Because of the way the law is written, that cannot be done. That's what I've been told by legal counsel and my local police precinct.

Something just occurred to me: is whoever (assuming it's her) still calling on the cell phone? What about *69 that allows you to get the caller's number? Wouldn't you a) be able to then trace her and b) get the phone company to block any further calls from this person due to harassment?

<edit> More occurring thoughts: if she does have access to you via the phone company, then it's likely she has access to your credit report and such. You really do need to get her last name. Perhaps you should consider (no snickering) a hyponotist to get the phone number from before and get a private investigator to help you track her down</edit>

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What about *69 that allows you to get the caller's number?

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most local phone companies offer a small fee based service to mark your number as private making it almost impossible for *69 to work. You can however counter this by placing your number on a service as well where the caller has to unblock their number in order to reach you. (*82). There are additional LASS codes that may offer assistance as well. You can usually call your phone company and they will tell you what LASS they provide. Hope this helps.

Here us a bug detector for under $100.00.

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Are you paranoid? Have good reason? The Mini Bug Detector offers protection against wireless microphones and transmitters. This device is perfect for securing homes, offices and hotel rooms. It has a LED signal strength display and audio tone that help pinpoint the precise location of bugs. The audio alarm can be turned off for discreet sweeps, while the sensitivity adjustment eliminates false alarms.

The Mini Bug Detector features wide range circuitry that enables it to detect concealed transmitters operating on frequencies from 50 MHz to 3 GHz. The power to expose most high frequency transmitters, as well as more common VHF and UHF bugs, is now in the palm your hand. You were never paranoid...until they started coming after you...

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Mini Bug Detector

This place has spy and counter measures. Pretty sweet, again, to bad I'm poor-ish/dont have money to blow.

www.spystuff.com
http://www.spystuff.com/countermeasures.html#Minibug - For your bug thing.

I know you said you got cable modem, but are you sure it was cable and not DSL?

I would rip the phone jack out of the wall and see what you got going on in there. A bug seems alittle extreme (although you can't rule it out). However, cell phone number are not private but in a year or so you are able to own your own "cell" number and you are allowed to make it private unavailable and so forth.

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However, cell phone number are not private but in a year or so you are able to own your own "cell" number and you are allowed to make it private unavailable and so forth.

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Sorry to ruin your wonderful wishing. Even if you "own" your own number it will never truly be safe, nothing is. The company has it, it is on your phone records. So somebody can hack into the phone companie records, or bribe a lowly worker. Nothing is truly safe, not even if you are the only person who knows it; a hot metal iron or some heroin concoction can be quite persuasive.

You wouldnt see/ feel any evidence that the lock has been picked, what type of lock is it? pin tumbler/ yale lock? Id really put an 8 lever mortice lock on there, there an absolute arse to pick as they need to be "decoded" which takes ages.

Have you replaced the phone? where do all the phone lines run to in your block of apartments? if there in a cellar or outside it would be relativly easy to plant a bug in here, they also have a power supply, Id imagine for a block of apartments there would not so much a switch board as such but a central point where phone lines come to, thats where you wanna be looking, for anything un regular that looks out fo place.

Although you can use a FM radio and its a cheap way to do it, Ratshack sell very cheap bug scanners that skip though frequencys, again turn a tv on to create back ground noise for the voice activated bugs

i2c

i2c