Tutor
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4 Messages
I let somebody unknown use my internet through hotspot
Hello to whoever is reading this,
I did a mistake, I don't know what I was thinking and usually I wouldn't do it. Random, older guy with his friends on usual place to call taxi stopped me, if he can use my internet to call taxi, because it's so much cheaper and he doesn't have internet connection because he is a tourist. I first didn't want to because I just don't usually risk things like that but he even said that he can give me money so I said it's ok, just do it fast and I let him connect to my new created hotspot, gave him name and password. I was looking all the time at what was he doing, he just called taxi through normal taxi application that I know as well.. but when he was writing down the password, he was mumbling it so maybe some of his friends could connect as well, and I didn't notice it. After that I turned off the hotspot, changed password, restarted phone.. even if it was probably useless. He had new Samsung galaxy S10 and full mobile of applications (like hundreds of them), so he probably knew how to use phone even though he was older.
My question is, is there some harm that he could do within that one minute of connection ? If not him, then somebody else.. just hypothetically, everything within that one minute.
Thank you for answers, hopefully it will be ok.
Accepted Solution
Official Solution
tim horton
Professor
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1.3K Messages
5 years ago
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Fl_retire
ACE - Professor
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3K Messages
5 years ago
@sneamer Hope you did not have the Venmo app on your phone or some other money charging app.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/scam-alert-thieves-ask-to-borrow-phone-then-use-cash-sharing-app-venmo-to-steal-thousands/ar-BBOXnYQ
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Gary L
ACE - Expert
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16.5K Messages
5 years ago
@sneamer Did they touch your phone or just access the hotspot?
If just the hotspot, they likely didn't access anything on the phone (they shouldn't be able to) but they could have sent mail or threats that could be tracked back to your phone (just saying).
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sneamer
Tutor
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4 Messages
5 years ago
No, they didn't do anything on my phone, they just saw password and that's
it. You can say anything that comes to your mind, especially if it may help
me.. I don't think that will be the case with the emails, why would they (4
of them) wait near usual taxi stop place just to find somebody who would
borrow them his internet connection ? There are other less complicated ways
to sent threats, aren't there ?
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Gary L
ACE - Expert
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16.5K Messages
5 years ago
I would think there are easier ways, but you asked. Unless they know of a loophole in the hotspot to hack the phone, then I'd say your PHONE is safe.
You say I can say anything, but then you disagree with the idea of anything 😉
I could list all sorts of nefarious things they could do via your internet in a few seconds, but as you said, they could do it elsewhere.
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Lilybell2
ACE - Professor
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2.2K Messages
5 years ago
I agree... S10 and no mobile access is extremely suspicious.
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sneamer
Tutor
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4 Messages
5 years ago
I didn't disagree with anything that you said, @Gary L, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you and rationally eliminate possibilities, that would be too unlikely to happen.. if you how I mean it. I agree with everything that you said, now I know that they could use my phone for the things that you mentioned. I would never disagree with somebody who without a doubt knows more about certain topic, or better said, in a topic where I have no idea about anything 🙂 .Can you please give me some advice how can I find out if some of the nefarious things happend through my internet ?
Thank you for you reply, @tim horton. I never use hotspot, that was honestly the very first time I created one and that's why I have no idea about the topic.. so even if I didn't change it and it would be turned off, could they still do something to my phone without touching it ?
Yes, that's one of the reasons why I'm so paranoid about it. But they said that they are tourists and they just arrived which might be true .. but still.. why wouldn't they walk to some restaurant of coffee shop where they would connect to wifi and call taxi from there.
Thank you for your reply, @Lilybell2. I really hope it was because they were tourists. I'm also just studying in the same country and of course I had the same trouble with internet connection. But somebody who offers money for few seconds of internet and is not willing to pay for a taxi on spot (which is very cheap as well) is suspicious.
Thank you for your answer, @Fl_retire Just normal banking app which needs PIN and ID to log in, I use it very rarely and you need to log in everytime so even if they would have my phone, they wouldn't log in.. and they didn't do on my phone anything, my mobile was in my hands and I just show the password to that guy.
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Lilybell2
ACE - Professor
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2.2K Messages
5 years ago
@sneamer - I can understand how this happened... it's very easy to be caught off guard, and comply with what seems to be a simple request, when someone unexpectedly asks for your help.
Just a few days ago, my husband and I were in the lobby area of a medical center. My husband took a seat in the lobby while I went to a service desk to pick up some information. When I returned, my husband told me he had been approached by a well dressed older man who asked to borrow my husband's cell phone as he needed to make an important call. My husband explained he didn't have his cell phone with him (true, he had left it at home) and suggested the man use one of the medical center's pay phones. The man replied that he had no change with him and that the pay phones don't take credit cards. The man wasn't there when I returned. Oddly enough, he didn't ask my husband for enough change to use the pay phone.
Later, after giving the situation some thought, I wondered about this man who came to be in the lobby of a medical center for members only, not the general public, without a cell phone or cash, (he could easily have gotten change from the customer service desk) only credit cards, and the scenario just seemed "off" somehow. Frankly, I was very relieved that my husband had accidentally left his cell phone at home!
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sneamer
Tutor
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4 Messages
5 years ago
@Lilybell2, yeah exactly. At that moment, I was thinking about it from wrong point of view, I realized only seconds later when I looked straight at it, that it might be some kind of fraud. When I was looking into the faces of normal people, who are asking for my help, one of them in fluent English in country where majority of people don't know it. I just didn't realize the danger even if in the regular day I definitely would. It wasn't my home country, it wasn't a good day for me and I was really tired so all this together helped me to act little bit foolishly like I did. But if nothing happend, I'm glad I helped them.
When it comes to your story, I agree, it's very weird. I'm also glad that your husband luckily didn't have his cellphone with him that day. When you see the person "in hurry" (even if it's not true) asking for simple requests, you might not think outside the box right on spot and when you do, you just don't want to say, "you know, I changed my mind, I will not borrow you my phone, give it back". If nothing bad would be going on and that person was innocent and just really needed help in odd situation, that would be awkward.
Anyway, thank you for your story. So far I didn't see anything suspicious happening with my phone so I hope there won't be any kind of trouble and my faith in humanity will resist. ^^
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Lilybell2
ACE - Professor
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2.2K Messages
5 years ago
@sneamer - It's unfortunate, but we do need to approach situations like these with a certain amount of caution these days. Looks like you were lucky this time, as was my husband.
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