Stolen photo?

[fatgirlonthebeach]

I recently went to a friend's birthday party and as you can imagine, lots of photos were taken by everyone there. I also took a lot of photos on my mobile phone and I have just noticed that someone else who was there has posted a photo which I took on the night onto a Whatsapp group.

The photo is definitely the one I took, there is absolutely no doubt about that.

I didn't send this photo to anyone and am completely baffled as to how someone else could have got it off my phone as it was definitely in my possession all evening. Does anyone have any idea how this could have been done please?

If you truly believe this OP then report to police, his wizardry will be contrary to the Communications Act

Wait but why did they hack your phone and "take" one of the pictures from it?

Surely a hacker would want to take passwords / bank logins / blackmail worthy information...

Even if the spyware was real (if it is he needs to patent and sell it) I just can't see why they'd hack in, steal a photo and then share it somewhere else.

What's the benefit for them? Doesn't make any sense at all.

This is wierd. What sort of a group is it? PNG? Family party?
Do you have history with this person and despise them?

If I had friends who were willing to hack my phone to get a picture of a party I’d find new friends

I'm an IT professional in a very security conscious business - and I'm pleased to report that the OP is completely bonkers.

This

My Dh is also an IT professional and “techie geek”. I read out the op “explanation” and after he finished choking on his drink he said this just isn’t how it works.

This thread has been a right laugh though so thanks for that OP.

Ooh, shall we all try an experiment? We’ll all save photos of ourselves holding up our MN usernames in front of our faces; and save it on our phones. If someone ends up sending it to us then we know the OP is correct and that a) the technology exists; and b) the people using it apparently have nothing better to do than snoop around people’s phones solely to steal photos

Come on OP - prove us all wrong! If this tracker-which-steals-photos-from-untracked-phones really is a thing, just tell us what it's called or post some kind of proof.

I'd be happy to apologise for taking the mickey but right now it's totally

and if you don't come back I'll start panicking that you've been abducted by aliens

Surely the real question is: how bloody amazing is this photo for someone to go to all these lengths to steal it?

smellbow is that because you are the hacker tracker boyfriend?

A little bit of knowledge can be dangerous ... What you're saying makes very little sense. Almost certainly one of you put the photo in the group and the other downloaded it automatically. In a group of several photos of the same day, it's not an unforgivable crime to not realise one wasn't taken by you.

But sure, the tracker / spyware theory makes a lot more sense

The exif data would not make any difference to proving or disproving this. It just shows that the two photos are likely the same

1. Mate has a tracker on her phone so her partner can stalk her. OK. (well, not ok, but...)

2. You take a cool photo. OK.

4. her phone posts your photo to the group whatsapp. OK. (And was the first one to post it, so it's not nicked from there)

It's step 3 that's bemusing everyone, cauae as far as we know this is not technically possible.
Had you uploaded your photos to icloud/google photos? And are you on android or iPhone?

heathen thanks for your succinct summary.

However, step 3 is obviously the well know IT process of Deus ex machina.

BTW OP I just looked up the EXIF data on some of my photos and they don't say what phone they were taken on. Just the model. So I wouldn't be able to tell if they were taken from my phone or another phone of the same model. Do you and your friend (or the BF) have the same phone model by any chance?

Expert response to the op’s explanation of phone spy trackery -

media0.giphy.com/media/yqtpq8rqqXBh6/giphy.gif?cid=19f5b51a4e48066e9edf68b1148bbe80556560897471d2e6&rid=giphy.gif

Sorry, far too many 'models' in my post.

Some interesting responses which range, broadly, from this is impossible, to this is illegal, to the OP is a few cans short of a six pack. Let's take each proposition in turn.

IMPOSSIBLE. Plainly it is not impossible. There is perfectly legal software you can download that will track a person's location, every key board stroke and give access to files. It is meant to be consensual but with a phones password and number it can be downloaded manually, and possibly remotely and installed without the knowledge of the victim. Just Google it. You'll find the apps on commercial download platforms as well.

LEGALITY The illegality comes not with the software but the use of the software. There is is to my knowledge no single UK act that probits accessing another's files. Rather it is about context and motivation. So the numerous posters who claim it is illegal to download someone else's photo are talking without knowledge or on base assumptions.

BONKERS. It seems to me to be a fair question as to if someone who is quite geeky can have figured out a way to nick a photo. His/hers motivation is irrelevant. For all I know they may have gone much further than catching a photo. If they are a full on thief they surely will have. I think though the OP was after information as to how this happened, and what can be done to prevent a recurrence. And to share the information so we are all safer.

Incidently having worked in the crime and disorder field, I can see the relevance of EXIF data. It is true that the key information here is the make and model of the phone, and that the EXIF data will have recorded this. From a crime perspective I'd look at the possibility of two people having the same make and model of phone. Let's face it, the phone companies tweak models and introduce new ones on a massive scale. The chances of two people having the exact same model at the described social event are slim to say the least. There is as much chance of Stocklort County winning the Champions League, or Brexit being beneficial. It is way off the scale of probability.

OP: Don't patronise me
{then proceeds to patronise all the other rational posters while spouting ridiculous tinfoil theories}

Pollypokcet - you do make me laugh. If this thread is pointless then why on earth are you bothering to read it and comment on it?

@Malaka123 I don't think anyone is saying the tracking software is impossible. Of course it's not. Even your basic iPhone will have find my iPhone which is a tracker. The confusion lies in how did the guy use his own phone to remotely control his GF's phone to then remotely control OP's phone. You seem to think this is entirely plausible so can you explain it as if I'm really stupid because I can't think of any way this could happen without anyone else having had access to OP's phone, she wasn't sharing it via air drop or Bluetooth, she had not sent it to anyone else and presuming she hasn't given any of her personal information out for her iCloud to be accessed. How?

@fatgirlonthebeach “To all those of you who doubted me, thought I was a bit mad because I thought it was impossible for someone to take an identical photo, or those who thought I had in fact stolen someone else's photo, I suggest maybe you do a bit of research to see exactly how easy it is to extract data from another mobile phone. There is a whole lot of spyware out there and to be frank, it's quite scary how easy it actually is to do.”

Perhaps you should of done a bit of googling before posting and then being so patronising !

This is brilliant

Genuinely, I love this thread, I'm bloody creased 😂
Spies in our midst

@FallenSky it is my belief that the man remotely accessed his partner’s phone to retrieve data from the op’s phone because he is in possession of the ‘mother of all phones’.