Need Cell Phone Tech Help

[jscheck]

My stepson has been the victim of vicious harassment for the last couple of weeks. Multiple text messages (anonymous of course) which started out taunting him with “you don’t know who I am but I see you right now” type stuff, which progressed to, “how about I come up to your apartment “ , finally they became threatening to him and a female supervisor. He thinks it’s a male co-worker. The texts come from multiple numbers (none local). He’s reported things to his employer and law enforcement. Initially he was told nothing could be done unless they knew who it was. My question for you my tech savvy friends is how can I block any “where’s my phone” locator apps this person may have applied to his phone without his knowledge? My stepson is a good guy but in poor health and a little slow mentally. I think someone is messing with him to scare him but my wife is very upset. Any help appreciated. Sorry for the long post!

 

[Baxter6551]

I would take the phone to an independent cell phone repair store and have them run diagnostics on it then reset it to factory specs or have him get a new phone.

 

[DWalt]

Get it set to a new phone number.

 

[326MOD10]

Maybe change the number.

I know it is a hassle but beats getting bothered.

Does your State not have phone harassment statutes in place?

My guess is someone is messaging from a computer and spoofing the number. Or someone has put your step-sons phone number out to the public to harass him.

Good luck.

 

[JET4]

Go into your setting and have only contacts to give you a call or text. If they're not in your contacts they won't be able to text or call you.

 

[taz666]

I think you should invite him up.

 

[jscheck]

Different number didn’t work (number was made known to supervisor who didn’t guard it from prying eyes we think). He’s trying a new phone without a different number now. We’ll see how that works.

Edit- I’d LOVE to invite him up but we live four hours away. Plus my wife already said, “Don’t kill him.”

 

[glowe]

If you know where he is, why hasn't your stepson contacted law enforcement??

 

[Marine Corps Air]

I am not sure, but perhaps one of these may work:

On your iPhone click on the "Telephone" symbol (app)

Click Once

Select "Recents" and then on the telephone number click once on the letter "i" in the circle,

Scroll down and then click on the "Block Caller" option

You may have to do this for several different telephone numbers depending on what the perp is doing.

If this step does not work:

Block or avoid unwanted calls on iPhone - Apple Support

Cheers!

Bill

Update: If any of the above solutions don't resolve the problem, you can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission:

"If you receive a lot of robocalls, scam calls, or just harassing callers, you can report it to the FTC (ftc.gov) on their website. They have specific pages about consumer protection and an area to file consumer complaints." Cut Nut!

 

[jscheck]

Glowe he did contact law enforcement- thus far they’ve been no help. He’s blocked all received numbers but they just generate more. I think it’s some kind of spoofing system.

 

[TX-Dennis]

There is a setting in iphone to send messages from unknown contacts to a separate list where they are more easily ignored. It's in Settings - Apps - Messages - Filter Unknown Senders.

There used to be a setting in Android to reject messages from unknown numbers, but I don't know if it still exists since I've been using an iphone for awhile now.

 

[SMSgt]

Different number didn’t work (number was made known to supervisor who didn’t guard it from prying eyes we think). He’s trying a new phone without a different number now. We’ll see how that works.

Edit- I’d LOVE to invite him up but we live four hours away. Plus my wife already said, “Don’t kill him.”

No, don't kill him, but make him wish you had.

 

[Onomea]

Here's what ChatGPT has to say about it for an iPhone. (If he doesn't have an iPhone, ask the same question for an android phone to an AI Chatbot.)

 

[326MOD10]

What if it is AI that is sending the messages?

The above instructions may be a trap.

Nice of you to print those and informative.

 

[pasound]

Long ago I set my Android to refuse any call not in my address book. I made sure that I included phone numbers of doctors, my bank, the retirement office, and several others that don't necessarily call me first.

For anyone whom I didn't have their number, I emailed and requested it.
This has worked well for several years. Odd phone calls get tagged as possible spam, and if I don't recognize it, it gets blocked.

The other key is (and I know this is awkward for a lot of people), I never use my phone to surf the internet. Weather forecast and traffic reports are it. No Facebook, no X, no banking or bill paying, no forums, nothing that are gold mines for web bot mining. No cookies.

Forums, banking, bill paying, and general surfing on my MacBook and Windows desktop. Heavily locked down with their own protocols, and when I feel necessary, use of VPN's to hide my address and location.

 

[jscheck]

Thank you all for the suggestions. He has an android phone (I use iPhone so it’s out of my wheelhouse). When he went to the carrier the first time they supposedly did something to restrict incoming calls but it didn’t work. Yesterday he got a new phone as well as a new number and thus far I think the texts have stopped for him. His female supervisor however has experienced a spike in threats to the extent she had panic attacks and was hospitalized. I hope the sheriff’s office will be able to resolve this soon!

 

[pasound]

His boss needs to do the same thing, change it all, and if the employees need their cells for work, work needs to issue those cells. Personal cells should never be a contact device.