It was on a rainy day in March when Cleo realized something just wasn’t right with her phone. She had been on various websites throughout the day looking for ideas for her newest project and the phone kept getting bogged down; this was the way she described how slow the phone reacted to surfing the web. She also stated at times the phone would get hot to the touch and the battery life kept getting shorter and shorter, even though she had made sure the battery was almost drained before charging it.
When Cleo brought the phone to our office she informed us she was in the middle of a child custody case and was sure her ex-husband had a hand in the mysterious events occurring in her life. She had recently utilized our services to find hidden assets in a financial investigation when her husband originally filed for divorce last year. We had found hidden assets he did not disclose in discovery which greatly benefited her in the settlement. At the time of the divorce, he was so taken aback by the fact that Cleo, who throughout their marriage paid no attention to their finances, had gone so far as to hire an asset investigator to learn about his “secret accounts”. Cleo felt that he was trying to get revenge, trying to make her pay for exposing his real financials and that put him in a rather uncomfortable situation with his then girlfriend with whom he had blamed his financial woes on Cleo. Believing that nothing was beneath him and because they were currently in a custody battle, Cleo couldn’t escape the thought that just maybe he had the ability to listen in on conversations, see who and what she was texting and access her emails and contact lists.
Cellphone Forensics is utilized to determine if spy phone software has been installed on the device. To bug a cell phone is illegal, but that doesn’t stop someone from bugging a cell phone. Phone Forensics is a specialized field. A phone detective cannot prevent a phone from being bugged, but can determine if a cell phone bug has been installed. And in this case, yes, Cleo’s phone had a cell phone bugging device installed that allowed a third party to see her written conversations, but it did not have the capabilities to allow someone to access the audio conversations. For that, she was ecstatic along with her attorney. We obtained the number, date and time the spyware was installed and provided her attorney with the information.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations
-Brenda McGinley, Director of Operations,
