Cell Phone Stalking Nightmare

According to the latest statistics from the United States' National Center for Victims of Crime, one out of every 12 women and one out of every 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime. Nationwide, 1,006,970 women and 370,990 men are stalked annually and for several Washington state families it's an experience that's come home in a bizarre way.

As reported in The News Tribune three families, the Kuykendalls, the Prices, and the McKays have been stalked by cyber stalkers who are using the victims' own cell phones to track their every move. Meanwhile, to add insult to injury, the police can't seem to catch the perpetrators and therefore seem inclined to believe that the families themselves are creating an elaborate hoax. There is plenty of proof, however, to show that the stalking is very real and experts say it's not that hard to pull off.

The exploits seem to center around the use of cell phones and calls have been so frequent at times that they have caused cell phone bills in the range of $1,000.00 for a single month. The stalkers use the phones to call and leave harassing messages and may even be using them to watch their victims. Keykendall explained, "They tell us that they see us," and, "They tell us that they know everything we're doing." Family life details described to them include, what they are eating, when the adults leave and they even demonstrated their knowledge once through a description of what color of shirt Courtney Keykendall, age 16, was wearing. In yet another incident, they left a voice mail message telling them that they knew they had been to see the police and included part of a conversation they had with a police detective. The calls do not stop at showing off their knowledge of the family unfortunately, they are also include death threats to everyone in the families including the pets. Even more disturbing are the late night visits to their homes during which the stalkers scream and bang on the walls.

Calling the police has done nothing for them since the perpetrators simply disappear into the night before they can arrive and cell phone records show that most of the calls are coming through Courtney Keykendall's phone. Because of this, police have accused Courtney of threatening her family and the phone company hasn't been helping either because it keeps insisting that the exploits they are describing are impossible. The only thing they have been able to do to stop the incessant calls is to take the batteries out of their phones when they are not in use. They also tape over the camera on each phone.

Not everyone has given up on them, however, and there is also plenty of evidence to support their claims. First there are the numerous voice mail messages and then there was an incident where the principal of the children's school, along with a police officer who was present, witnessed one of the children's phones turn itself on and send a text message to the mother's phone. Experts also support their story and explain that it's not that difficult for even a teenage hacker to get remote control of a cell phone.

Most cell phones have monitoring equipment installed for the use of government agencies in monitoring criminals and there are also sophisticated global position systems that allow emergency or police to pinpoint the cell phone to within a few feet. Hackers also brag about gaining such complete control of a cell phone that they can listen to conversations within the range of the cell's microphone, even when the power appears to be turned off. Since many experienced hackers like to share the remote control software that they have created with the less skilled members of their community, the perpetrator doesn't have to be a good programmer.

As technology continues to advance, criminals such as these stalkers continue to get more sophisticated and we can only hope that our law enforcement agencies can catch up. Cell phone manufacturers should also include fewer phone programming capabilities, not more. The fewer programming capabilities a device has, the less a hacker can do with it. Besides, who really needs all those gadgets on their phone anyway?