Software secretly spies on SMSes
As reported by The Star, 2nd January 2007:
The eye-catching advertisement screams in its headline "How to Catch a Cheating Spouse" and promises all the evidence you will need to nail your straying partner. The ad is for a "discreet and fail-safe" software program that will secretly forward all incoming and outgoing SMS messages from your partner’s phone to you.
Offered by one Jopca Solutions, it costs S$200 (RM460) to forward just incoming messages and double that if you want outgoing messages as well.
It takes mere minutes to download the software into the phone to be spied on and it leaves no trail – forwarded messages do not appear in the "Sent" folder.
The difficulty is in sneaking your partner’s phone out for the company to install the software. Also, the software is compatible with only certain models of mobile phones.
For the paranoid and suspicious, the program takes snooping to a new level, but to many, it is a clear invasion of privacy.
Concerns about privacy aside, a person who uses such software could be running afoul of the law.
Said lawyer Adrian Tan: "Anyone using or selling the software can be found guilty under the Telecommunications Act for the fraudulent retention of messages."
Another lawyer said software users are also in breach of the Computer Misuse Act for installing software without the owner’s permission. If found guilty, users can be fined up to S$10,000 (RM23,000) or jailed up to three years, or both.
Michael Ng, who identified himself as a shareholder and employee of Jopca Solutions, said he has received 80 calls since the ad ran about two weeks ago.
He denied that the company is breaking any laws. "We do not retain any messages. We just forward them to another mobile phone."
Suspicious spouses make up 25% of his customer base. The majority, around 60%, are parents who wish to check on their teenage children. – The Straits Times / Asia News Network
This is excerpts of Loh Wei Loong of The Straits Times’s review of the software, dated 31st December 2006:
…a software program that can secretly forward all SMS messages from one phone to another, without leaving a trail.
Jopca Solutions’ Mr Michael Ng even promised me my money back if his software did not work.
The secret was the program he claimed to have devised. In effect, when installed on my wife’s phone, a copy of all SMSes she sent or received would also be sent to my phone.
And she would never find out, he assured me. The program would not show up on the phone’s main menu and there would be no record of outgoing messages in her ‘Sent’ messages folder.
He did say that the software was only compatible with the Nokia 6000 series or the N70 phone, explaining that he had yet to configure the program to other phone operating systems.
I did an online search and came across SMS Anywhere, a program that promised to deliver all that Mr Ng quoted me, but for a mere US$23.90 (S$36). After getting my hands on a Nokia N70, I arranged to meet Mr Ng. As soon as we sat down, the slightly plump man with neatly combed hair whipped out three phones - two regular phones and his Nokia N70.
When he used one of the regular phones to text the N70 - the phone being ’spied’ on - the SMS also appeared on the third phone, complete with the number of the originating phone and the name assigned to that number on the N70.
When he replied to the SMS with the N70, the sent message was forwarded to his third phone.
But I noticed that whenever the N70 forwarded an SMS, an ‘Outgoing’ icon popped out on its screen for two seconds before blinking out. Wouldn’t that be a giveaway, I asked.
‘It is not noticeable,’ was all Mr Ng said.
Whipping out a laptop from his backpack, he proceeded to hook my N70 up and in less than two minutes, told me that the installation was complete.
‘The installation is fast because I have had cases in which the husband can get hold of the wife’s phone for only a few minutes and I’m at his void deck waiting for him, to install it,’ he explained.
He went on to show me the instructions on using the software. By texting one of four alphanumeric codes to the N70 - it doesn’t show up as an SMS - I can either turn the software on or off, change the password or replace the number to which the SMS messages are forwarded.
After pocketing my $200, he warned me to keep my phone on silent mode when I’m with my wife. ‘It would be too much of a coincidence if, every time she received an SMS, your phone rang as well.’
Back home, I managed to get my wife to use the N70 for the day. It worked. I got all her SMSes from her friends and siblings, asking to meet up for shopping. Thankfully, there was nothing to worry about.
Tags: handphone, SMS, SMSes, mobile phone, handphones, mobile phones, phones, snooping, spying, spy, snoop, software
Written by pinolobu on January 2nd, 2007 with no comments.
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