Gadget Gestures

Lets Gesture about Gadgets

Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Log in
  • News
  • Tablets
  • SmartPhones
  • Laptops
  • Cameras
  • Games
  • Apps/Softwares
  • iPad/iPhone
  • Latest News
    • Lenovo A10000, A30000 and A60000
    • TV Has Never Been this Smart – the New Motto of Samsung Smart TVs
    • Nokia Lumia 1020 on Sale at AT&T
    • How Can a Sniffer Help in Detecting Lost or Stolen Mobile Phones?
    • Amazon expected to launch FireTube TV box before Christmas
    • Nokia Lumia 521 Release Date,Features, Specs, Price- Will be Available through T- Mobile
    • New Mercedes-Maybach S600, Priced At 200,000 dollars
    • Intel unveils Jarvis, Edison and dual-OS processors
    • Blackberry Z10 Problems of over heating, Rebooting: Even New BB 10 OS is not Helping
    • Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Vs Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – Compare Possible Price, Design, Display, Features
    • Evernote Integration of New Google Drive Button
    • White Nexus 4 Release Date Subdue Possibilities of Verizon Nexus 4 LTE

Lost Phone Trackers Wrongly Point Users to Atlanta House

January 24, 2016 By Brandi McCants Leave a Comment

lost phone trackers Lost phone trackers have wrongly been pointing users to the same Atlanta house for almost a year, causing frustration among the two homeowners who are always accused of being behind a stolen phone racket.

Ever since February 2015, Michael Saba and Christina Lee, both in their twenties, have been receiving more than a dozen complaints from people blaming them for having pilfered their smartphones, simply because tracking apps always suggest that the devices have winded up in the couple’s home.

While some have been eventually convinced, albeit reluctantly, that this is all just a technical error, others have been more suspicious and far less easy to persuade, contacting law enforcement in order to sort out the entire dispute.

In fact, in July 2015, Saba and Lee have even been considered persons of interest in a kidnapping case: a female teenager had gone missing, and her cellphone was tracked to the couple’s home.

Police officers treated the conspicuous suburban house as an actual crime scene, and forced the pair to wait outside, while deliberating if they should obtain a search warrant in order to make sure that the young girl wasn’t hidden somewhere inside the building after all.

For now, the two Atlanta residents are at their wits’ end trying to understand why their house is always targeted by so many “Find my Phone” apps, and are even fearing for their safety, in case they ever run into a more violent smartphone owner, who will not accept their explanations as valid or reassuring.

It doesn’t appear like the glitch is related to any carrier in particular, since the two Atlanta residents have been contacted by people who had been using various providers, including Boost Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile.

Also, the operating system of the hand-held device doesn’t seem to be the source of the problem, since some of the missing smartphones are iOS-powered iPhones, while others are Android phones.

According to Ken Westin, security market specialist at Splunk, and former CEO and founder of GadgetTrak, the mysterious incident may be caused by faulty cell tower triangulation.

Basically, when a phone goes missing and the user is trying to locate it using a tracker app, the program first tries to access signals being transmitted by the device thanks to GPS satellites.

Afterwards, the software attempts to identify cell towers situated near the area where the smartphone was last used, and finally it refers to WiFi maps developed by companies such as Skyhook.

It also tries to obtain the gadget’s IP address, although geolocation attempts using this information are seldom reliable or precise enough.

It may be that local cell towers have been transmitting inaccurate information, leading people with missing phones to Saba and Lee’s residence.

The pair have investigated this possibility, but with little success: apparently, there are 3 such sites in the area, the nearest being operated by T-Mobile, but representatives of the company haven’t been forthcoming when their help was sought.

Saba has even tried to address the problem treating it as a network mapping issue, suspecting that all the tracker apps rely on inaccurate data, but despite updating information pertaining to his WiFi’s MAC address and location on Skyhook, he and his partner still received angry calls and visits from people claiming their smartphones had been stolen.

The router’s configuration doesn’t seem to be at fault either, since the couple has already reset the device, and altered its wireless channel, but nothing good came of that either.

More recently, the couple have also contacted Apple and Google officials, once again to no avail, and have even reached out to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), whose spokesperson has explained that the issue isn’t within the agency’s scope of action.

So far, it appears that no solution is in sight: the couple has even been advised to move out, but since the house is owned by Lee’s family, that idea doesn’t seem feasible either.

At the moment, the couple is hoping that a formal complaint with the FCC might yield more promising results, and has also been making plans to raise this issue with Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson.

Image Source: Flickr

Filed Under: News Tagged With: cell tower triangulation, FCC, find my phone, GadgetTrak, geolocation, GPS satellites, IP address, lost phone trackers, MAC address, network mapping, router's configuration, Skyhook, stolen phone racket, tracking apps, WiFI maps, wireless channel

As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, this site may earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn commissions on purchases from other retail websites.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 5 other subscribers

Recent Articles

GitHub stickers displaying a cat-octopus with a human face

Microsoft Acquires GitHub for $7.5 Billion’s Worth of Shares

June 5, 2018 By Mary Duncan Leave a Comment

Teenage girl browsing her smartphone while sitting at the table

Facebook Is No Longer the Top Social Media Platform Among Teenagers

June 4, 2018 By Lori David Leave a Comment

Fake news headline on a laptop screen

Facebook Is Taking Its Fight Against Misinformation to a Whole New Level

May 25, 2018 By Brandi McCants Leave a Comment

Unsolved Rubik cube on a black background

An Australian Professional Speedcuber Broke His Own Record at Solving a Rubik Cube

May 6, 2018 By Lori David Leave a Comment

Cambridge Analytica logo on a computer screen

Soon After the Facebook Scandal, Cambridge Analytica Is Going Bankrupt

May 3, 2018 By David Crozier Leave a Comment

Windows restore disk placed in a paper envelope for CDs

Renowned E-Waste Recycler Goes to Jail for Distributing Free Windows Restore Disks

April 25, 2018 By Micheal Baptiste Leave a Comment

nasa globe and emblem outside a building

NASA Announces its Investments in Future Tech Concepts Such as Biobots and Shapeshifters

April 3, 2018 By Brandi McCants Leave a Comment

YouTube app opened in browser with the logo on top of it

YouTube Increases the Number of Ads to Trick Users into Subscribing to Its Paid Streaming Platform

March 22, 2018 By Mary Duncan Leave a Comment

Facebook dislike button

Facebook Stock Falling for Second Straight Day amid Data Scandal

March 21, 2018 By Paul Leave a Comment

Permanently Delete Facebook

WhatsApp Founder to Facebook Users: ‘Delete Facebook’

March 21, 2018 By Paul Leave a Comment

Uber driverless car

Uber Driverless Car Kills Woman in Arizona

March 20, 2018 By Paul Leave a Comment

Windows 10 Update reaches 35%

Microsoft: Windows 10 Updates To Take No Longer than 30 Min

March 20, 2018 By David Crozier Leave a Comment

The Apple Watch

Apple Watch User Awakened by 3 Cops In His Bedroom after Accidental Call

March 19, 2018 By David Crozier Leave a Comment

Pokemon Go Character

Pokemon Go Player Attacks Other Player IRL for Losing Gym

March 19, 2018 By David Crozier Leave a Comment

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Team

Recent Posts

  • Samsung Tablet 10.1 Review: Perfect for Your Entertainment Needs October 29, 2020
  • Take Better Pictures Today With These 9 Helpful IPhone Camera Settings November 4, 2019
  • The 6 Best Gaming Desks to Give You a Great View October 31, 2019
  • How Much RAM Do I Need for Gaming? Here’s the Sweet Spot for Optimal Performance October 21, 2019
  • Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 11s Review: A Teaser October 16, 2019
  • Basic Computer Skills – 6 Tips You Need to Know! September 30, 2019
  • Why is my Laptop Fan so Loud? Six Possible Reasons for the Noisy Nuisance September 9, 2019

Copyright © 2021 GadgetGestures.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Contact