Looking for help overcoming a frustrating security issue with voice calls

tomd2372

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Jul 24, 2016
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For over a year now, my friend John and I have been trying to be able to talk on the phone. That shouldn?t be so difficult, but we?ve had a huge problem. For a long-winded reason which I won?t get into here, John has been a huge target of interest to some people or person (maybe hackers, maybe government, we don?t actually know who). The problem is this - he gets absolutely bombarded with phone calls and text messages from random numbers. He?s even had one from his ex-wife?s number, which we later determined wasn?t actually her, it was spoofed. The text messages are usually very cryptic english, horribly broken grammatically, almost like a code or something. He doesn?t answer the phone for numbers he doesn?t recognize, so we don?t know what the person/people on the other end would be saying if he answered. No voicemails are left. So, the obvious solution is to change his phone number?.which he?s done over a dozen times by now. He just switched from Android to iPhone, and has also tried blocking his caller ID, such that I won?t see his phone number when he calls me. That strategy has seemed to work, no more weird phone calls or texts! He finally decided it would be ok to try unblocking his caller ID when he calls me (hoping that the switch to iPhone was enough to resolve the problem), but almost immediately after the first phone call to me with callerID showing, he started getting bombarded with weird calls and texts again! So, it seems apparent to me that I?m the one who?s somehow hacked. He and I are in the process of installing good VPN and Phone Call encryption apps (we?re still deciding which, we're leaning toward [redacted] for VPN, and ?[redacted]? for phone calls), I'm also going to change my iCloud password, incase that's how I'm being hacked, if he/she/they are simply looking at my address book. I decided to make this post as well, as those measures would just be a shot in the dark, and I?d really like to know if/how we?re being compromised, so we can know if there are other measures we can take to finally put a stop to this. He?s tired of changing his phone number, and it?d be nice if he didn?t need to permanently block his caller ID (not to mention, I believe the Signal app may not work for calls if the caller ID is blocked, I'm not sure). I?m willing to change my phone number too, but would rather not have to do it a million times for trial and error. I?m AT&T, using iPhone, and he?s Verizon, using iPhone. We constantly hear echoes, clicks, get disconnected, digital audio artifacts, and weird sounds. Any thoughts, advice, or links to relevant articles would be greatly appreciated!
 
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Just_Me_D

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1. Change your phone number
2. Change your passcode for any device, app and service that require one.
3. Restore your iPhone and set it up as new. Make a backup first, please!
4. Contact local police for safety tips.
 

tomd2372

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Thank you. I'll be sure to do all those steps.

I just changed my iCloud password too, and enabled 2-factor authentication. Strangely, when I sign a device in, it asks for confirmation (the 2nd factor) two extra times, I think that seems fishy, I've said "don't allow" for the latter two times.
 

wind0ze

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For over a year now, my friend John and I have been trying to be able to talk on the phone. That shouldn�t be so difficult, but we�ve had a huge problem. For a long-winded reason which I won�t get into here, John has been a huge target of interest to some people or person (maybe hackers, maybe government, we don�t actually know who). The problem is this - he gets absolutely bombarded with phone calls and text messages from random numbers. He�s even had one from his ex-wife�s number, which we later determined wasn�t actually her, it was spoofed. The text messages are usually very cryptic english, horribly broken grammatically, almost like a code or something. He doesn�t answer the phone for numbers he doesn�t recognize, so we don�t know what the person/people on the other end would be saying if he answered. No voicemails are left. So, the obvious solution is to change his phone number�.which he�s done over a dozen times by now. He just switched from Android to iPhone, and has also tried blocking his caller ID, such that I won�t see his phone number when he calls me. That strategy has seemed to work, no more weird phone calls or texts! He finally decided it would be ok to try unblocking his caller ID when he calls me (hoping that the switch to iPhone was enough to resolve the problem), but almost immediately after the first phone call to me with callerID showing, he started getting bombarded with weird calls and texts again! So, it seems apparent to me that I�m the one who�s somehow hacked. He and I are in the process of installing good VPN and Phone Call encryption apps (we�re still deciding which, we're leaning toward [redacted] for VPN, and �[redacted]� for phone calls), I'm also going to change my iCloud password, incase that's how I'm being hacked, if he/she/they are simply looking at my address book. I decided to make this post as well, as those measures would just be a shot in the dark, and I�d really like to know if/how we�re being compromised, so we can know if there are other measures we can take to finally put a stop to this. He�s tired of changing his phone number, and it�d be nice if he didn�t need to permanently block his caller ID (not to mention, I believe the Signal app may not work for calls if the caller ID is blocked, I'm not sure). I�m willing to change my phone number too, but would rather not have to do it a million times for trial and error. I�m AT&T, using iPhone, and he�s Verizon, using iPhone. We constantly hear echoes, clicks, get disconnected, digital audio artifacts, and weird sounds. Any thoughts, advice, or links to relevant articles would be greatly appreciated!

I realize this is post two years old, however, regarding Signal: It works with caller ID blocked & having caller ID’s blocked. It’s not connected to your carrier services in any way. Signal itself has its own integrated caller blacklist.
Enable: Always Relay Calls. This routes traffic through their server to hide origininating IP from recipients.
Enable: Screen Security
Disable: Show Calls in Recent History, if it’s enabled calls are logged in iOS phone app.
For Notification Content: Use “ Show no name or content”.

Also consider using Chat Secure for messaging (only). All included XMPP servers are OTR by default. Or you can use any XMPP server you wish, including setting up one for use only by you and your friend. Also turn on “Advanced Options” > “Enable Tor”. And turn off auto fetching of media.