What are the signs of a hacked mobile phone? Scary story this one!

timbook · 21 Jun 2021

This is a scary and unusual one. I live with three girls. This morning at around 530 am, one of the girls woke everyone in the house to say that her phone 'turned itself on' and she could hear a voice repeating the following 'there are three girls in the house and they must die'.
Terrifying and all as that must be to wake up to, I presume it's a hacked phone. I mean what else could it be? Is phone hacking this advanced? Can anyone tell me if this has been heard of before and if a factory reset would be the answer? She ran her antivirus app but it found no issues. Suggestions appreciated. Thanks

rossj81 · 21 Jun 2021

The phone is haunted and needs an exorcism.

timbook · 21 Jun 2021

Haha. Good one! I was hoping to find some similar stores that could tell me some hacking prankster made this happen because the poor girl is naturally, terrified. The fact that there are three girls living here, and so the info was factual makes it harder for her. They probably think I'm the prankster, and while I am good with windows based PCs, I have no idea how to hack an android phone, or an iPhone(I'm not actually sure what type of phone she has) nor would I do such a cruel thing to another person. So if anyone has experienced something even slightly similar, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

JohnD · 21 Jun 2021

Was it a diary entry or alarm call?

just pumps · 21 Jun 2021

Check phone entry, numbers received, txt, anything, same with faceache, ****ter etc accounts. would also have phone with you tonight in case same thing happens again.

timbook · 21 Jun 2021

I wonder if there is a new phone prank app that could be this advanced? That is another possibility. Maybe I will ask her to leave the phone with me and see if it happens again, and in exactly what way it happens. Thanks for the suggestions this far.

Bodgedbuild · 21 Jun 2021

I'm slightly prone to bad dreams and on the odd occasion, I have told the wife, in chapter and verse, about something that happened during the night. However, I almost always wake her up without knowing and she sees me, often eyes open, muttering all sorts. Quite often my dreams are based on events that I have witnessed (my job involves seeing rather a lot of "accidents" on CCTV).
Is it possible that she has woke up and believed the dream was a real event? I do hope so it must be terrifying.

Diver Fred · 21 Jun 2021

If the battery can be removed then that needs doing overnight.

Many mobile phones can be 'woken up' either by network command (notably Android and windoze ones, not sure on Apple) or by sending a dairy entry remotely - The alarm noise can be made to be a vocal message.

If the 'phone as been hacked or a malious App has been loaded then it's probably a return to manufacturer for a clean reload of the OS. You could suggest that all the App's are deleted in reverse order they were applied.

Mottie · 21 Jun 2021

My money is on it being a practical joke with a recorded alarm or reminder. Maybe even someone has set Siri up to say that at a specific time.

timbook · 21 Jun 2021

Thanks for all of the replies, and some interesting angles there too. I've never heard of a diary entry call before. From all of the possibilities, this one seems like it could have been what happened.
How does it work. Can I send a diary call to someone that will turn their phone on in the early am and can I add a voice audio which repeats three or four times. And indeed, if I do that, then surely her phone would make a note that it was my phone that sent the diary call? Or is that something you do with your own phone? Maybe someone grabbed er phone and set it up? All very interesting.

timbook · 21 Jun 2021

Mottie said:
My money is on it being a practical joke with a recorded alarm or reminder. Maybe even someone has set Siri up to say that at a specific time.

I'm starting to lean towards that myself. Would they have to grab her phone and set up the recorded alarm themselves? I must ask her to check her alarm settings. Thanks everyone.

Swwils · 21 Jun 2021

A long shot, but could also be a sign of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Please check if you have an alarm that works, if you don't. Spend the £10 and buy one.

just pumps · 21 Jun 2021

Swwils said:
A long shot, but could also be a sign of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Please check if you have an alarm that works, if you don't. Spend the £10 and buy one.

I like long shots and people thinking outside of the box!

johnny2007 · 21 Jun 2021

Phones clearly "listen" to voices around.
Try repeating for example "sledgehammer" several times in a conversation with your phone within hearing shot and you'll find adverts about sledgehammers in your browser, Facebook, google and other apps.
Then to have a phone turn itself on to scare people with something that won't make anybody any money is a mystery.

Swwils · 21 Jun 2021

just pumps said:
I like long shots and people thinking outside of the box!

Semi-known case on Reddit was with someone thinking that an unknown person was writing them "notes" turns out it was themselves and found out about the low level carbon monoxide poisoning just in time.

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What are the signs of a hacked mobile phone? Scary story this one!

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