Threatening Messages

[joab]

Now if you intend to marry her, that's another issue, obviously she is worth it,

No she ain't

From personal experience I can tell you to notify the police. You need the paper trail if things do escalate, which I don't think they will.
If not you may find yourself sentanced to the military ( I know they don't do that anymore) or six months in county


If you can't tell I was in a similar situation before

[LAK]

As soon as you get another clear threat you need to make a formal complaint via your local. Likewise you can rig a recording device on your phone (make sure there is a second line with another third party on it - or the recording device is the type that emits a "beep" to indicate that the recording is taking place).

If it does nothing else, making the police complaint about this guy begins a "history" for him. If something bad happens at a later time, this history might be helpful when presented to the DA, a grand jury, or in a courtroom.

[keens]

threefivesevenmag, I have been there and it is not pleasent...I won't insult or belittle you with any "know it all" comments such as "he's already won"...I think you are looking for some help and advice, so here it is. Call the police and get the paper trail started...I agree that the guy is probably bluffing, but it could help to let the police know you have been threatend with death. I would take it seriously for now...the guy may have done this before and already have a record for it. Good luck and keep your eyes open. One more thing, be gentle as a dove but wise as a serpent with the lady friend too...hope you don't mind me saying that, but I am an old guy and have seen a few women turn on their partners...it is sad but true sometimes.

[bclark1]

i'm at work, so i probably shouldn't read the whole thread... i know some stuff has been said in the vein before, but to reassure you:

GPS is a network of satellites orbiting earth that constantly send signals down, to be received by a device which will interpret when and how these signals are received to give a coordinate location. at no time during GPS utilization is there any "uplink," and therefore, it is impossible to track or trace a simple and true GPS device. cell phones are located (i believe) by triangulation, which is basically trigonometry performed upon your unit by a series of cell broadcast towers which do receive signals back from you. the premise of these being abused is something of a stretch though; besides the fact that one would have to assume them reasonably secure, even if he had an entire cell broadcast network at his disposal there would still be information holes he'd need filled before he could start following you centra-spike style.

most of these guys are all talk, and that's the only reason why they talk so harshly. an interesting situation for me was when a similarly deranged fellow mistook me for a friend's boyfriend who had told him off. i'm friends with all parties except this stalker, so i wasn't going to clear up his story for him so he could go bother a friend of mine. i elected to cut the crap and gave him my full address and contact info, said if he wants to take issue i openly invite him and will be unapologetic regarding whatever he gets himself into. he stopped bugging myself, my friend and her boyfriend shortly thereafter.

[Topthis]

Are you serious?? First of all...what is he asking you to apologize for? Secondly, what is the big threat of him tracking you (if he can actually do it)? It doesn't sound like this guy is anything to be concerned with...I would have to hide my head in shame if I was afraid of some friggin computer geekmomma that was going to track me...hell, i would let him know that he wouldn't have to track me at all, because I would be right next to him with my foot making repeated contact with this egg shaped head!
Look, if you want him to text you again...just tell him to "stop texting you with mean messages or HE will be sorry"...that should just about goad the hell out of him and he will probably text you a few thousand times. Keep those and report him. If he is making threats about bodily harm and such, you are covered. Personally, I would have already paid him a visit...just a visit.

[jtkwon]

You could do what I did.

My case wasn't text messaging, but phone calls from his mobile.

I called him up when my woman and I were getting it on.

[Duxman]

357mag,

Similar thing happened to me a while back in my dating days. An ex-husband of the woman I was dating was very jealous and found out that we had been going out. He called me and threatened me verbally on the phone. Saying that he was going to reverse trace the phone number and hunt me down along with his buddies from the FBI.

I called some friends - got some advice: Contact not only the local LE agency in your area and get the threat on record - plus use the woman as a witness if she saw the text message threats. Also contact the FEDERAL LE agencies (FBI etc.) as well as the state police. A threat made on the phone is partly in Federal jurisdiction because of the FCC. Not that they will send someone to protect you but to get this stuff on record in case a court case happens in the future - if you were forced to defend yourself for example.

Yes, new cell phones have GPS locators, however if you go into the option system of your phone you can TURN OFF that feature. But it is highly unlikely that this GEEK unless he works for a cell phone provider, or has extensive knowledge of the wireless industry can track you.

Plus in addition if he sent the text message from a different provider that you are with - the messages go through an INTERCARRIER text cell phone provider, in which case - they will have the message stored in their billing database.

As to the end of my story: The harassing person never showed up (its been over 5 years), and I believe that this person came to their senses and realized it was not worth it.

Additional security precautions I took: Just became more situational aware of the environment and then watched out for strangers. Did not even have my CC back in those days.

Would not worry too much about this - if he really wanted to come after you - he probably would have and not said anything. But because he opened his big mouth first, he is more bark than bite.

Beware the "silent" type who just goes out and internalizes everything.

[joab]

Please ignore the macho men here and do not seek out the confrontation.
You may win the fight but you could possibly lose in the end.

The toughest man I ever knew would do everything short of begging to avoid a fight, but when push came to shove he rarely lost or evn had any marks scars or bruises.
He worked part time as a bouncer at a neighborhood bar and was also a confirmed computer geek

[spacemanspiff]

have you even seen this guy sending these messages? does your friend describe him as being intimidating?

sounds like hes all keyboard commando.

[Wraith]

Keyboard Commando... now that's a term!

[novus collectus]

He heh, the keyboard commando has plenty of mall ninja friends to do his wet work.

[butch50]

Alfadog is 100% on the mark. Go to the police and file a complaint immediately. Someday if you have a confontation with this derelict, and if he is injured but not killed and he decides to make up a story that you were the agressor and that he was just an innocent victim of your rage and your guns and by God everyone knows you are a gun nut and have been looking for an excuse to use them you gun crazed psyco gun nut; then you will have the police report to show that you are indeed the good guy. Should he end up dead, then you will have the police report to show the prosecutor and to give to your lawyer that shows that you are the good guy.

That report will carry lots and lots of weight. Just saying he threatened you, when it is only self serving to say it after the event, won't carry any weight at all, zero, zip, nada, none. Having a nice sweet written police report days/weeks/months ahead of the event, that is very very good stuff to have on your side, heck your lawyer might even give you a discount cause you made it so easy for him.....And if insane boy threatens you again, file another report, and keep filing them every chance you get, every excuse that he gives you - if you see him across the street some day, file a stalking complaint. The more you have on file the better off you are if it ever hits the fan.

[Lawyer Daggit]

Duxman is right- telecoms threats are a federal offence- call both state & fed law enforcement bodies and get the paper trail happening & see if you can cause him some grief.

This guy is probably all talk so don't let him rattle you. It is what he wants.

Good luck.

[threefivesevenmag]

Hey All,

Again, I really would like to thank you all for your input and advice. It's good to know there is a place to turn for any question regarding firearms, defense, etc.

So. Yes, I have seen a picture of the ex-boyfriend, before he made the threats. He is about 5'10 and maybe 150-160 lbs max. He is also unemployed. I am 6'1 235 lbs. I work out everyday and practice martial arts (kali, kenpo, JKD) regularly.

The main thing I was worried about was the "crazy" factor. People that make idle threats are one thing, but it just takes one moment for a situation to get out of control for an insane ex.

Neither she, nor her ex-boyfriend know I carry, own a gun (only family and very very close friends), or know how to decently handle myself in a fight if one were to break out. I am a laid back guy, and will not just go into any confrontation without a very good reason (i.e. someone breaking into my apartment, etc...that's another story). I was mainly concerned because crazy people can do anything, and she mentioned he owned his grandfather's "WWII" pistol. I doubt he knows anything about firearms, but you never know when some crazy loon will take a shot at you from a distance. She often threatens her (mainly to kill her cat, himself, or hurt her if she doesn't stay with him, etc). They are both too crazy for me!

Also, I am only friends with this girl. Nothing more. So no relationship issues or hurt feelings on my part. Both he and the girl live 1.5 hours away from here. She was in town for a two day job. He came down to my city after getting angry at me. He did not attempt anything over the weekend. I did not see either.

On Sunday She sent me a txt message saying "he said he wasn't going to hurt you" and then he txt messaged me later saying "don't worry, I'm leaving **** town today, just don't talk to **** again. And stay the hell away from her!"

She has since txt messaged me. I have not responded to any of their messages at all, nor will in the future. I figure they both are insane (her for still obviously being with the guy, and him for his threats). I have copied his number and written down the series of events and relayed them to my family. Because I accidently deleted his earlier texts that morning, I could not go to the PD, but if I had them, I would have. I'm still mad at my early morning fine motor skills.

So. I will not respond. Her and her ex can think whatever they want. If anything happens I am prepared. No hurt feelings or anything. I consider it a decent end to some, as stated "keyboard commando" threats.

Thank you all for your time. You all really helped me out.

Stay Safe. Shoot Straight. COM preferably.

[spacemanspiff]

now, dont take this as me making light of your situation 357mag....but lets stop and take a moment to reflect on how much technology has ruined society.

back in 'the day', this girls ex would have sped over to your place in his muscle car, would have bumped chests with you and been calling you all kinds of names, would have had three buddies riding with him to reinforce his point, and they'd speed off in a cloud of dust feeling like they were (as the kiddies today put it) "tha shiznit".

now we deal with people furiously punching buttons on their cellphones sending text messages threatening bodily harm.

how much of a wuss does one have to be to text message a threat? heck, is it too low-tech to simply call from a landline and verbalize the message?

[threefivesevenmag]

Technology has distanced us from each other more than ever. It's a funny sense of confidence too, as technology can fail (often does) and still the same rules of civility should still apply to its usage.

On a funny note, I don't think this guy has any friends. If he did, maybe he wouldn't be so angry. He also never had the balls to call me and hear my voice. I found that funny. He couldn't talk to me at all.

The world gets funnier everyday.

[ebd10]

I don't know how good a friend this girl is but, as someone who has BTDT, you're best option is to cut this woman and her baggage loose. Life is too short to jeopardize your life and freedom over someone that you haven't committed both to forever.

[bclark1]

heck, is it too low-tech to simply call from a landline and verbalize the message?

if that was the case i'd live in the south and mismark my property boundaries. "sorry, he trespassed and threatened me!" hehe.

[ATW525]

Any thoughts on what should be done?

Buy more guns

[Duxman]

Many more fish in the sea.

Glad you saw the light and this became a non-incident. Good future lesson for all though....

[DigitalObserver]

Hello.

I don't know what kind of cell phone you use but most GSM type
phones store the messages on the SIM card. Since this is a
stateless memory (doesn’t need power to retain data) the messages
are most likely still intact in the memory even though the
references have been deleted from the FAT.

If you really want the messages you should get in touch with
someone who has a SIM card reader attached to a computer, ask
him to make a image of the memory and then examine it with a
hex editor.

The messages will be a bit hard to find but the technical part
should not be a problem, the problem would be explaining to the
police how you got hold of the messages. They probably are not
into computers that much.

Also, some cell providers do in fact keep a record of all SMS
messages sent. How long? It varies, from 24 hours to several years.

Even if they tell you that they don't keep records there is still
a chance that they do - these kinds of things are not well known
even within a company.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you have used the phone after
deleting the messages (which you probably have) they might partially
or in whole have been overwritten by other data.

As far as I know there are two ways to track a cell phone.

1: By one or more mobile units with direction antennas and equipment
which can pick up your cell phones signal and maybe even something
to generate their own 'ping' so that they have a continuous flow of
data from your phone.

He will also need a way to distinguish your phone from all the others,
this can be done by initiating a connection with your phone (sending
a SMS) and searching the airwaves for which phone receives the message
(I am unsure about this part but it sounds possible though he would
have to be in the same/adjacent cell as the phone), thereby getting
your phones unique ID number (which the phone uses in all communication
attempts).

It is worth noting that modern phones (GSM) are digital, use frequency
hopping technology and encryption. The GSM algorithm has been cracked
but he will still need special software (hard to get, he will most
likely have to make it himself) a lot of computers (a purpose built
device might negate this but should be considered impossible to acquire
unless he’s with the NSA), special radio receivers (also hard to get,
might need to be built) and a lot of experience.

It is very unlikely that he has access to this kind of equipment
and the necessary manpower.

2: By breaking into a cell tower or other part of Telco infrastructure.

What happens after that depends on the kind of equipment used and
numerous other things but the aim is to triangulate your phone.

Some of the newer stations know their own GPS position and their
software can based on that calculate a phones position within a
dozen meters or so in a larger city - it depends on how far away
and how many towers there are which can receive your phones signal.

This is how *I* would do it since it would be much simpler, once you
get inside the Telco intranet it should be simple if you know what
to look for.

That it would be simpler does not mean that it is simple. Since cell
towers contain a lot of expensive gear they are all in hard to access
places, have locks and alarms (sometimes several) and in the end,
access might not give satisfactory results.

Breaking into a switching station or Telco office will have higher
chances of success but also higher risks. Magnetic alarms on the
doors and windows, motion sensors, guards, people working late, etc...

In short: Forget the part about him tracking your phone. Even if
he could do it it would not be "economical". If he wants to know
where you live he would simply follow the girl - maybe even
ask her.

As for what you should do... I dunno. Your situation is what I
would consider "unstable", meaning that no variables are known
upon which you can build a solid image of the situation.

This guy might simply be wasting air and not be worth remembering
but he could also end up gunning you down on the street two years
from now.

Such things have happened.

Either way, as some have already suggested: Get the police involved
and make a paper trail. If things end badly you'll need every advantage
you can get. That's about the only good advice I can give you.

BTW, If I was in your position I would try to get a feel for the
situation, if i didn't like it I'd go buy a good, comfortable
II or IIIa (some of the newer stuff is as concealable as a older II)
body armor and put it on whenever I got out of bed.