In an effort to save people from the reality of contacting a private investigator to discreetly monitor a spouse’s behavior, there’s a trend afoot in China that supposedly makes it easy for angry husbands and wives to discover that their partner’s been unfaithful.
According to the China Global Times, “A man surnamed Wang told a Global Times reporter pretending to be a potential customer that he could copy the SIM card of someone for 1,500 yuan ($224). ”
According to “Wang,” every call and message could be monitored without the other party’s knowledge. All that was needed, says Wang, was the cell number of the people the person wished to spy upon.
Unfortunately, this is illegal…even in China. Yet, this hasn’t stopped people from trying to keep tabs on the activities of a “loved one.” Not surprisingly, the “detectives” are actually perpetrating fraud, playing on the emotions of distraught people.
In many instances, the person wishing to spy on their mate gives up big dollars in pre-payment to a “digital sleuth” who then does a disappearing act, leaving the suspecting spouse without the SIM card and their money! Imagine explaining to a spouse why you removed the SIM card from his/her phone…
Other cases reveal that so-called investigators can manipulate cell phone signals and listen to live phone calls. The cost, however, ranges up to $1400 for the technology. The article cites the case of a woman who posts on her blog that her “husbands been cold” to her and therefore must be with someone else. She was approached by an “investigator who claimed he could get the call logs and text messages from her husbands phone–and even listen in on the calls–for a mere $800.
After sending the deposit to the provider’s bank account, she was informed that the card was duplicated. After testing the SIM card, she installed it on her husband’s phone. It didn’t work. She contacted the investigator again, and asked for him to fix the problem, but he wouldn’t do it for less than $600! She paid him, and still believes the money well-spent…even after he disappeared with the extra cash, leaving her with nothing!
From the technical side, two SIM cards with the exact same phone number can’t operate at the same time. In fact, if both were to operate at the same time, one of the SIM cards would be automatically deactivated by the cell phone service provider.
For that money, she could have invested in a reputable private investigative agency and used undercover investigators. That way, she could have paid for services rendered by professional, service-oriented, and skilled investigators…not the promises of someone off the street.
If it seems to good to be true, it probably is; if you need to determine the truth, call a private investigator.
