Help Phone making ghost phone calls

[seigex]

Ok this is weird.... I was out with my cousin when his phone rang.. It was me... he thought I had butt-dialed him but my phone was sitting on a coffee table in front of me. When I turned it on and looked at the dialer, it was in its standard configuration (ie not in a call) and showed no outgoing calls since the last call I made.

We didn't answer the call in time on his phone just because we were confused about what was going on and I don't think it left a voicemail.

But it was weird.. there is still no record on my phone (haven't checked my sprint account yet) showing I made that call. But I was watching it happen..

Makes me wonder how many other contacts have been called and I don't know if someone picks up from one of these ghost calls if they can hear what I'm saying....

A bit scary...

Also I have very few apps installed now and all apps are fully legitimate AFAIK and definitely no apps that I gave permission to make phone calls ... (nothing outlandish)

 

[kamikazekyle]

Assuming your phone isn't actually doing the calling, perhaps it might be a cloned ESN or something? Some other phone would have your phone's identifier, and consequently it'd look like your phone calling in. If someone had access to your phone somehow to get the ESN, I suppose they could have easily grabbed your contact list as well.

I doubt it's a clone since that would be a bit far fetched, especially if you've never turned in your phone for service. It could very well be a random fluke. Or perhaps it might really be an app that grabbed your contact list and phone number. It then uploaded them to a 3rd party, who then in turn disguised itself as your phone number calling your contacts to spam them. That way, your phone wouldn't do the calling, but incoming calls would still appear to be coming from you.

*shrug* Just putting out ideas.

Keep an eye on your bill's call logs to see if it keeps happening. If it's coming from your phone or a cloned ESN, it should show up in your account's call logs (as far as I know). Outside sources masking your phone number wouldn't show on your bill.

If you're worried that it's coming from your phone, you could always do a hard reset and go a few days without installing 3rd party apps to see if the calls cease.

 

[BetterMost]

Nope I have had this happen also. I once waved my hand over the handset and it started dialing the last person on my call list.

 

[PyroSporker]

I just saw this phandroid.com article this morning and thought of the issue that you encountered.
[Update] Another App Stealing Data? | Android Phone Fans

It is probably not the source of your problems, but it just goes to show how even apps that you think are innocuous can in fact be malicious. There was a recent cnet.com article that said something like 1 in 5 Android apps have access to your data and could be used maliciously. My brain doubts their seemingly high figure of 1 in 5, but it doesn't change the fact that it is a significant problem that is only going to get worse with time in my eyes. It has been a big concern of mine ever since I started researching Android, before I bought an Android device (I'm semi-paranoid, and notice problems when I see them). With increasing Android popularity comes increasing opportunity for people to take advantage of others. Evil-doers probably see a ripe harvest of unknowing people and devices to exploit.

I wish I had a specific answer to your problem, but I don't think anyone can really give you one. Maybe double check your installed app list and verify the sources they list on the market and try to check their credibility?

 

[Wdcook87]

There is an app for the iPhone that does exactly this. You pick the number you want to call then you type in the number you want it to look like. I'm getting ready for work now, ill ask my friend later what it is called.

 

[Twistax]

Ok this is weird.... I was out with my cousin when his phone rang.. It was me... he thought I had butt-dialed him but my phone was sitting on a coffee table in front of me. When I turned it on and looked at the dialer, it was in its standard configuration (ie not in a call) and showed no outgoing calls since the last call I made.

We didn't answer the call in time on his phone just because we were confused about what was going on and I don't think it left a voicemail.

But it was weird.. there is still no record on my phone (haven't checked my sprint account yet) showing I made that call. But I was watching it happen..

Makes me wonder how many other contacts have been called and I don't know if someone picks up from one of these ghost calls if they can hear what I'm saying....

A bit scary...

Also I have very few apps installed now and all apps are fully legitimate AFAIK and definitely no apps that I gave permission to make phone calls ... (nothing outlandish)

Is it possilbe that you have a friend or foe that could be prank calling people using your phone number with a masking app?

 

[seigex]

Ok well.. I found the problem... a buddy just happened to be testing out an app called "Bluff my call" with my cousin, which can spoof Caller ID.... using my contact info.. neither of us knew he was going to do this and it happened right when we were next to eachother...

So no ghost call happened.. just a matter of coincidence ...

Interesting app though....

 

[jbnupe]

Well I had a Ghost Text message that still Freaks me out. Went out Golfing with a buddy. Came home and pluggged the phone in its charger.

20 minutes later my Friend called me asking what I wanted, I had no clue what he was talking about but he said I texted him. Sure enough I looked at my phone and there was a text message from me to him which I did not send. It even included a smiley face at the end.

I am still stumped as to how this happened.

 

[blondiefk]

My phone has ghost called my boyfriend several times after I've called him. No record on the call log and no one there when he answers. It is.definitely not a prank caller. He's pretty much the only person I talk to- I prefer texts so I'm not sure if this has happened with other callers.

 

[Twistax]

My phone has ghost called my boyfriend several times after I've called him. No record on the call log and no one there when he answers. It is.definitely not a prank caller. He's pretty much the only person I talk to- I prefer texts so I'm not sure if this has happened with other callers.

Is it possilbe that you have a friend or foe that could be prank calling people using your phone number with a masking app?

 

[Shawnz]

Bluff my call is fun to play with but it's a huge pain due to the ads you have to sit through when dialing out.

 

[ThatNewAndroidGuy]

Well I had a Ghost Text message that still Freaks me out. Went out Golfing with a buddy. Came home and pluggged the phone in its charger.

20 minutes later my Friend called me asking what I wanted, I had no clue what he was talking about but he said I texted him. Sure enough I looked at my phone and there was a text message from me to him which I did not send. It even included a smiley face at the end.

I am still stumped as to how this happened.

Well one explanation for this is you have "drafts." Check your drafts folder in the main messaging screen. Menu -> Drafts. There is a list of draft text messages from when you either was typing a text and didn't finish it, or a text failed, and didn't resend.

Sometimes if you have drafts texts, and when you restart your phone, it'll send out all your drafts. My GF had a bunch I guess, and had a minor problem, I told her to restart her phone. Received like 20 texts after that. That's my only guess for your situation.

 

[brownhornet]

Ok well.. I found the problem... a buddy just happened to be testing out an app called "Bluff my call" with my cousin, which can spoof Caller ID.... using my contact info.. neither of us knew he was going to do this and it happened right when we were next to eachother...

So no ghost call happened.. just a matter of coincidence ...

Interesting app though....

lmfao... I was thinking exactly this and that's only because I do it to people too without them knowing it was me.

 

[jlhawkt89]

Ok at 3:09 this morning I supposedly called some guy who's number was stored in my phone because my phone tends to save peoples' numbers who have them saved in their facebook accounts. I don't know why my phone does this, it just does. Now my question is, how did my phone ghost call this guy when I never touched my phone accidentaly in any form?

 

[basilm]

Ok this is weird.... I was out with my cousin when his phone rang.. It was me... he thought I had butt-dialed him but my phone was sitting on a coffee table in front of me. When I turned it on and looked at the dialer, it was in its standard configuration (ie not in a call) and showed no outgoing calls since the last call I made. Yet i can hear volume coming out of my phone speaker showing the ringing and the and then my friend picked up and you can hear him pick up and say hello through my phone. I checked my call log and nothing shows, and i also went on the official bell website to check my call log history and the ghost phone call was not recorded on the official call log history, They also thought it was very weird. THIS HAPPENED MANY MANY TIMES FOR THE LAST WEEK and called different phone numbers too that noone has access to. PLEASEE HELPP ME, IM SCARED, IM BEGINNING TO THINK BELL IS DOING THIS TO ME BECAUSE THEY DONT LIKE ME AS A CUSOTMER AND I HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT FOR A YEAR. TILL MY CONTRACT IS OVER. IM SCARED. ITS EMBARASSSING HAVING PEOPLE CALL MY PHONE AND ASK WHY I CALLED THEM CONSTANTLY. HELP ME PPLZZZZZ WHAT IS GOING ON?