Listen to the voice of a phone hacker – inside!

Story of our race with the Nicker Hacker Man…

A few days ago Andrea rang me on my mobile by accident … a bit of handbag dialling, so to speak.

I was sitting opposite her in the blustery sun at Poprad’s railway hotel, the Europa, with the sound of intercity trains rattling by.

My phone didn’t ring but I heard her say, with a quizzical look on her face: “Hi, is Leigh there please.”

And so began our race to trap the Nicker Hacker Man.

Andrea was on the ball, after years of working as chief researcher for our investigative company A.M. News Services, it was automatic – engage who ever this is in conversation.

The man she was speaking with was quick too though: “Yes, this is Leigh,” he said. “How can I help you?”

She said: “Hi Leigh, I’m just around the corner from you, can we meet up for a coffee, I’ve something to tell you.”

The line went dead.

So, she rang back while I hovered over her with my own phone on record. And this is the recording we got… he didn’t answer but a woman’s voice came on the phone: “Hi how can I help you?”

Andrea engaged her in conversation too and was asked ‘who are you?’ followed by ‘I’m sorry I can’t hear you’.

These phrases were repeated over and over but in an initially very believable way … then a series of sinister cackles of laughter permeated the ear piece.

But for what it is worth, we had our recording … take a listen again and tell us what you think.

Now, it is obvious that the woman’s voice is a recording but what about the man? They both have vaguely transcontinental accents.

So, began the long laborious boring ridiculous pitfall-ridden insulting pompous patronising battle to secure our bank accounts, change social media passwords, uninstall apps and get new phone numbers.

In fact two days later, as I write this, HSBC bank – the daftest bank in the world – is still sending codes to my old hacked phone! Well done HSBC.

3 Network, our phone provider weren’t really that much better – funnily enough as a phone network provider we found it impossible to talk to a human being on the phone. We had to communicate by the equivalent to text message and two of their operatives seemed to get bored – or had to go to lunch – and hung up on us.

Anyway, they managed cyber message to finally change the security on our accounts and advised to go to the police.

One keyboard operative did write saying that ‘hacking is all over the place now,’ and did strike me as he signed off, why don’t big phone companies try and catch the hackers themselves? It’s happening on their networks after all?

We have asked 3 Network’s new Press and Media office ItsPrettyGreen for a comment but we’ve had no response – possibly because I asked them to ring me!

We have to say that nothing appears to have been nicked by the Nicker Hacker Man and his digital doll of a girlfriend and it was a purely malicious hack.

And we think we know who it is … we are about to tell the police.

But it is worth being aware that cell phone calls can easily be intercepted with the latest technology and it is a complete invasion of your privacy.

Many interception services leave barely a trace of any sort of breach, allowing another party access to your conversations, messages, even your location, without you ever knowing.

But there are tell-tale signs, for instance a shortened battery life, your phone over-heating … is your phone lighting up when you aren’t using it?

Have you been hacked? Do you recognise the voice? Can you help us catch the hacker?

#hackers #nickerhackerman #banks #socialmedia #getoutofmyphone #HSBC #3Network #callcentres