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Original poster

Whatsapp hacked but not sure how

100 replies

WhatsGoingOn3 · 22/08/2019 20:19

Apologies if this is long winded but I wondered if anyone else has had this and if they know what I can do to stop it happening.

Over the last few months, I’ve had issues with WhatsApp-somehow various screenshots of sections of conversation between myself and a friend keep being sent to my husband via texts from my phone, these screenshots are never in the photo section of my iPhone but they get sent to him always in photo form and always via text not actually WhatsApp. The screenshots sent are only ever between me and this same friend, never any other contacts and always to my husband. It also seems to be parts of conversation that I don’t necessarily want him to see (nothing bad before anyone jumps in, just things that I’ve been talking through with a close friend) It’s definitely not me sending them and I can’t see how the other person involved could be doing it either.

My phone was also being very weird a few months ago and kept adding this same friend to my find friends app and selecting a photo I have of them as a favourite person within my photo section.
It’s almost like my phone, this friends phone and my husbands phone have somehow kind of linked? Maybe I’m just going mad, I have tried wiping my phone back to factory settings which resolved the photo and find friends issue but the WhatsApp stuff is still happening.

If anyone has got this far with a boring but annoying issue I’d be very grateful!!

OP posts:
MmmBlowholes · 23/08/2019 15:51

But that's for two different logins on the same phone, not the same login on two different phones...

combatbarbie · 23/08/2019 15:52

No its not... Trust me, I have mine and my daughters on mine

combatbarbie · 23/08/2019 15:54

Ah.... See what your saying.... You can be logged in on more than one device. Like I said I can see mine and my daughters and hers is fine on her phone.

There's also another app you can do this with in the Google store

StockTakeFucks · 23/08/2019 16:17

Is it a close friend?

Odds are you weren't hacked, but that your husband goes through your phone when he can,takes screenshots,sends them to his own phone from the messaging app and then deletes the screen shots.

The way he's "using" these screenshots could give you extra info. If he's as baffled as you are or whether he's using that info to control you or get you into trouble.

StockTakeFucks · 23/08/2019 16:17

Male not close

LooksBetterWithAFilter · 23/08/2019 16:22

It is possible that someone has a phone or iPad or some other Apple device set up with your Apple ID. I can sent WhatsApp’s from my Mac laptop and iMessage all linked to my phone number and Apple ID. So if I send an iMessage on my laptop it shows to the other person as coming from me the message does show up in my messages on my phone though. Photos don’t because I turned off photo sharing between devices.
It’s not difficult to do but seems like a lot of effort to go to.
Set up two step authentication on your phone for iCloud and change all your passwords to be on the safe side.

Sadly the most likely explanation is it’s either your friend or your husband doing it then deleting the evidence.

Pogmella · 23/08/2019 17:04

Oh yes I remember looking into twin apps in a sad other life after I took back cheating exh and he offered that up so I could see what he was doing (just not on his second, secret phone, obvs).

All you’d need to set one up is the other person’s unlocked phone and you can basically watch all interactions.

BlondeBumshelll · 23/08/2019 17:43

Did you find the messages on his phone or did he bring them to you?

Original poster
WhatsGoingOn3 · 23/08/2019 21:09

Thanks for all the advice/suggestions. I genuinely don’t think it’s my husband going through my phone, a couple of months ago we were out for dinner and I had a text come through from his phone saying he had sent a ? and there was a picture of a screenshot of conversation with this friend, he had no chance to have gone through my phone to send it as he’d come home from work and we’d gone straight out. He is as weirded out about it as much as me.

I regularly change all my passwords and passcodes for everything, yet it still happens.

I have only ever once found a photo of a screenshot in the deleted section. Apart from the one time above none of the messages show up on my phone, I don’t have my iPad linked to iMessage either so they can’t be coming from my iPad.

I’ve tried the web page access for WhatsApp and it doesn’t show anything untoward. I also have two-factor authentication on for everything possible on my phone. My husband doesn’t know my passcode either so I can’t see how he would be accessing my phone-before anyone asks there’s no reason for this other than we respect each other’s privacy and if he asks or needs to use my phone I just unlock it for him.

OP posts:
combatbarbie · 23/08/2019 22:46

Well if its not DH then who could it possibly be? Phones don't just screenshot and send messages..it could only now be spyware that could do this.

to be on the safe side I would factory reset your phone.

wibbletooth · 23/08/2019 23:38

I have friends that know lots about tech things and worry about the safety of apps like WhatsApp and Facebook etc.

They use an app that’s a bit like WhatsApp called Wite that’s supposed to be safer...

Could you install it and use it to message your friend - get her to install it too but tell her in person, don’t mention it on WhatsApp at all. Move it so it’s out of the way and won’t be easily spotted by anyone looking at the phone. Carry on having conversations with your friend on WhatsApp (so don’t make your dh suspect you’re using something else) but keep the stuff that would previously have been screenshotted for Wire.

If your dh starts getting texts again then maybe it’s your friend. If he doesn’t or gets them just from WhatsApp then it’s your dh.

Also every time you close down WhatsApp go into the phone settings and wipe the amount of data used back to zero. Before you open it the next time, see what the amount of data has been used - would expect it to be zero. You might need to turn settings in WhatsApp off so it on receives messages when you prompt it to for a while. Then see if it has any data used while it shouldn’t have done.

Do the photos have a number on that corresponds to missing numbers of photos? When I download my phone photos they’re all consecutively numbered. I don’t ever delete photos until after I’ve saved everything - I have no idea if pics are taken and deleted immediately then what number is used for the next photo - the one that was deleted or the next in the series. Worth doing a quick trial because if it turns out that the next number is used then if you start not deleting any of your pix between taking them and downloading them then finding the holes left of missing images will give you the timeframes of when it’s happening. You might need to take a few extra random photos to narrow down timeframes.

If the numbering is sequential, does leave a hole if you delete immediately but holes aren’t being left on your phone then it strongly suggests they are being taken on a different phone or device. Try getting your dh and your friend to send a really recent photo to you to on WhatsApp and by text to see the name of the file next time this happens - might give a good clue if the numbering is very similar to the sent screenshots.

Getting your phone checked for spyware sounds sensible without telling anybody about it. Definitely double checking that all location services are off for the trip there and back.

Do you have any techs friends at work that you trust that could help? Or even work IT services?

Do you have a computer or device you can use without using your Apple log in - so at work or a library or a friend etc where you can google how to see if people are looking at my WhatsApp account remotely, is there spyware on my phone, and similar without the person being aware you are doing this. Maybe even tweet or contact WhatsApp help (through a different account) to see if they can help.

Good luck!

BlockedAndDeleted · 23/08/2019 23:45

I think you’re being very naïve OP.

Your phone doesn’t have a mind of its own. Your husband does, your friend does.

Plenty of apps that can schedule a text. Plenty of ways you can install spyware without even having the device in hand.

I hope you follow some of the advice on here.

wibbletooth · 24/08/2019 00:01

I’ve just googled How do I know if someone is reading my WhatsApp messages from another device?

One of the answers that came back at the top was:
To know if your WhatsApp web is active on an unknown device, go to the three dots given at the top right corner of your WhatsApp window. Go to WhatsApp Web and check the list of all open sessions. This will let you see all the devices that are connected to your WhatsApp.

So it sounds like that’s a simple thing you could do to see if someone else is monitoring you. Do it when your dh is in the room and not on his laptop so he doesn’t spot you doing this - then decide if you want it to stop because once you stop it he will know that you know (if it is him) - might be more useful to use a different app like wire for important stuff and feed false / convenient info onto the one that you know is being watched.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 24/08/2019 00:25

Which way are the messages in the screen shot? On my phone my messages are green and justified to the right, everyone else's are white and justified to the left. That would at least give you an idea of whether it's coming from your phone/someone in your account or her phone/someone in her account.

Belgravian · 24/08/2019 00:41

Unless some info is missing the only one with motive is your husband.

Why would anyone else send things from your phone to his phone?

The friend if in some kind of cahoots with the op’s husband would just screenshot the messages from her phone or show him her phone.

It has to be the husband as it’s his phone that is receiving the info.

BlockedAndDeleted · 24/08/2019 00:53

I think it is the husband but OP hasn’t elaborated in whonthe friend is.

Small possibility that friend wants to cause discord in the marriage.

Not necessarily out of a romantic angle.

Some people are just malicious.

Butterymuffin · 24/08/2019 01:19

If you're changing your password regularly are you sure it's to things that can't be guessed? Can you set up finger print access to your phone? Definitely get it checked for spy ware.

Ellapaella · 24/08/2019 08:02

I have only ever once found a photo of a screen shot in the deleted section

Well there you go, how else could that photo possibly have got into the deleted file unless you or someone who's had access to your phone deleted it? All the rest have been moved to permanently deleted or are on his phone as he's taken the screen shot himself. Have a look at his deleted photo album. If this was genuinely happening to me then my husband would be happy for me to look through his phone seeing as the messages appear to be getting sent to him. Have you looked at your husbands phone?

BlockedAndDeleted · 24/08/2019 08:40

I have only ever once found a photo of a screen shot in the deleted section

This is itself proves that an external agency is responsible for this. If it were a weird phone glitch, they would all follow the same pattern.

Whoever is doing this got sloppy with one and forgot to permanently delete this one photo.

Iwasatglastothisyear · 24/08/2019 12:55

I posted a link last night.
Maybe read that before blaming the husband?
Lots of suspicious people on MN that always seem to want blame husbands for everything!

This is also related to the whatsapp hack. Definitely worth looking into
The spyware’s capabilities are near absolute. Once installed on a phone, the software can extract all of the data that’s already on the device (text messages, contacts, GPS location, email, browser history, etc)

BlockedAndDeleted · 24/08/2019 13:03

Yeah, but wasn’t under the impression that OP or her friend nor their discussions are people of national interest like the people specifically targeted in that attack.

Cos if either of them were, pretty sure Mumsnet wouldn’t be her first port of call, or at all.

It’s the husband.

Ellapaella · 24/08/2019 13:06

Spyware can certainly access her WhatsApp but can it then send screen shots to her husband?

Ellapaella · 24/08/2019 13:07

And how would spyware explain the photo of a screen shot in her deleted photo album?