Tracking a cell phone
 

A buddy of mine is going through a custody battle for his kid with the x-wife. There is good circumstantial evidence that the mother is tracking the kids cell phone. The dad did not want the kid to have a cell phone but mom got one anyway. Mom gets mad when dad turns off the phone.

My question is how can the dad check to see if the cell phone is tracked. How can he kill the tracking but leave the cell phone on? Can he spoof a location? Can he make it look like the phone is at home when it is not?

And no, I don't have kids so this really is for a friend.

What brand/model phone? Carrier?

There are several ways to do it. All pretty much involve having had access to the phone to enable it which means it can be disabled.

Very illegal to track a phone unless the phone owner installs some dedicated programs. For example Google has "Lattitude" that people that are joined (such as friends on Facebook) come up on a map. My friend does this with his wife (supposedly for fun -sure)..

AT&T offers "Family Map" where you can track the approximate location of one of their phones. It's legal and requires the person responsible for the account to initiate it. No idea if others have something similar, or if it can be defeated, apart from turning the phone off.

Maybe he should get her another phone that he controls and give the number to the ex wife. Then he can turn off the other phone, while allowing access by the ex wife, if desired.

JR

this is usually done via the GPS that all phones have these days (or via the cell tower that a phone is registered to if it can't make a GPS lock).

Because of the method, I don't think it'll be possible to block one signal without blocking/affecting both. Also, it's not likely to be easy to get the phone to appear someplace else.

Some phones can have stuff enabled and disabled, but I bet in this case it won't be that easy.

I think his options are to either turn the phone off, or just leave it someplace.

I can track my iPhone, Send messages to it remotely (even if its locked) and destroy it (wipe its memory) if needed. Then again, its an iPhone - It can do anything! :)

Yeah, same with my G1, but I'm guessing the kid isn't walking around with a $400 phone (but I could be wrong).

It's very possible Mom installed some software on the phone that allows her to track the phone, and you can't find it in the phone to turn it off.

Catch Cheating Spouses with FlexiSPY - Spy Phone, GPS Tracker, Location Tracking, Remote Listening for Mobile / Cell Phones

This service will

1. Track all to/from calls
2. record those calls
3. Track all texts in/out
4. GPS
5. record all audio even not during calls. Just all the time.

The only way you can get around it is to turn off the phone. Or leave it in a drawer, as mentioned.

The phone is on Sprint. Mom bought the phone and pays the bill so it is her phone. Legally I guess she can track it if she wants. I was figuring there was some way to detect what the phone was sending out. Dad has access to the phone. He can just turn it off but that just causes the kid to get yelled at when she is with mom.

You need to assume the phone is sending out everything, unless it is off.

even a recording of your conversations where the phone is in the room just sitting on the table or something. It's really come that far.

Best bet is to put it in a drawer or something. If it's a cheapie, have an accident with it and buy an identical replacement. Have the kid make sure Mom doesn't have 10 minutes alone with the phone to reinstall the spyware.

Or the Dad can buy him a cheapie plan with a different phone and #.


An even better idea is to work out the issue where the Mom thinks she has to know everything, or where Dad thinks she doesn't, but of course it's never that easy.

get the phone and go into the main menu, and see if there is a GPS tracking option most phones have this option so it can be enabled or turned off

Does the phone have call forwarding?

if so, get the kid an identical looking phone with a different provider where you pay the bills. Put the suspicious phone in a drawer somewhere with calls on forward to the phone you bought. You'll get a record of the calls made, the phone will always be in the same place, and mom can still see/call what she thinks is "her" phone. You might need to make the tracked phone mobile, but that's a detail you can work out.

She is using Sprint Family Locator


" Sprint Family Locator is the convenient, reliable and secure way to find family members—instantly— from any Web-enabled mobile phone or any computer connected to the Web.
Key Features
Real-time interactive satellite maps with street addresses and landmarks
Safety ChecksSM. Send automatic notifications of child's location on specific days and at precise times.
See where children have been by using maps featuring 7 days of historical locations.
Send text messages to the children you're locating from your phone or the web.
Access is password-protected so only authorized parents and guardians can locate children.
What You'll Need
Phones
Parents & Guardians. You can locate your children from any web-enabled computer or mobile phone after you sign up online.
Children.You don't need to install anything on the phones you wish to locate. Sprint Family Locator uses the GPS technology already built-in to every Sprint phone, so it is compatible with every Sprint phone.
Plan and Plan Add-Ons
Once you've signed up for Sprint Family Locator, no additional add-ons are necessary to use the service. However, since the service sends text messages to phones when they are located, you may want to add a Messaging add-on to your plan to avoid per-message fees.
If you would like to locate your child from your phone, you can simply point your mobile web browser to Sprint Family Locator and sign on."

Sounds like it will be password protected to turn on and off.

Since the mom owns the phone and pays the bill she can see the call log. She will know when and to what number each call came from and called. It seems like the simplest thing for the dad to do is turn the phone off and pull the battery when he is with the kid.

There has to be software installed on the phone to do this from what I have read. If he is super suspicious, have him replace the phone with another one or take it to the store to have it checked out.

charge the battery, and Fed-ex me the phone and I'll send it back. ... if she launches an amber alert, you'll know for sure. :D

get the kid another phone and forward the calls from the old phone to the new one for when mom calls

That is pretty funny

He needs to turn the phone off and remove the battery whenever he picks the kid up. If she really needs to speak to kid, she has to call Dad. She gets mad when he turns it off because then she can't track him.

If she gripes too much, drop the phone in a glass of water every time he picks up the kid, eventually she will tire of buying phones.

Island - I like it. We're a devious lot, eh? Maybe we can set up a Pelican relay team and send that phone all over the place.

:D yeah, the trick is to get the phone back to the kid at the end of the weekend. (or whenever the kid is returned)

Another thought: call a cab, give him 20 buck to drive the phone around for the day.

Actually tho' Martin has the most practical idea. (call forwarding)

...which could be combined with sending the phone all over the place, or not. MUHAhahaha . .....