Stalkers allegedly turn cell phones against family

Beware of your phone! A Washington state family - and their relatives and friends - are allegedly being harassed by stalkers who have seized command of their cell phones by remote control. Since February, Fircrest resident Heather Kuykendall and her family have received obscene phone messages and have had voice mails in which the stalkers threaten to kill all of the family members, including the dog, according to a June 29 Associated Press report. Their relatives and friends have also received these calls.

A June 20 Tacoma News Tribune article details the allegations that the stalkers have used the Kuykendall family's cell phones, and those of their friends and relatives, for eavesdropping, spying by using their own camera phones and sending them text messages, photos and messages using their phones.

"The stalkers know what the family is eating, when adults leave the house, when they go to baseball games. They know the color of shirt Courtney Kuykendall, 16, is wearing. When Heather Kuykendall recently installed a new lock on the door of the house, she got a voice mail. . The stalkers taunted her, telling her they knew the code. In another message they threatened shootings at the schools Kuykendall's children attend."

The situation has authorities buffaloed and there are allegations - even though at least four families allegedly have been stalked - that it could all just be a hoax. Pierce County sheriff's department spokesman Ed Troyer said the department has never seen anything like this before and one technician has spent 50 hours on the case, according to a June 29 News Tribune article.

"Everyone, even within the cell phone industry, is telling us it can't be done," Troyer said. Sprint spokesman Matt Sullivan said he has not heard of any technology that could do this.

However Massachusetts-based security and surveillance expert James Atkinson said the hijacking is possible, according to the June 29 News Tribune story. He believes there could be a connection to the popular social networking site MySpace. He has viewed several of the victims' MySpace pages and saw what he suspects are cell phone infections. He thinks the families, some of which are connected via teenagers, have downloaded ring tones that contain a virus.

"The virus captures all the memory of the phone and sends that to the hacker," he said. "Then they can download the pictures in the phone. They can turn the camera on, actually use it as a video camera, turn on the microphone, use it as a recording device."

The Kuykendall family vehemently maintains this is not a hoax and are frustrated that there is suspicion Courtney is involved.

"Why would I do that?" She said in the June 20 News Tribune article. "Why would I do that to people I care about? Why would I harass my own family?"

While authorities have executed eight search warrants, according to a June 29 report, the Kuykendalls said the calls and text messages still come. They have covered the camera part of their phones with tape, shut their phones off only to have them turned on allegedly by someone remotely and have traded in their phones only to have the problems continue. As well as dealing with the harassment, the families are also losing financially, they say. The McKay family, friends of the Kuykendalls, have been hit with a phone bill of almost $1,000 for a month allegedly because the stalkers have used their phones.

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