Recently, I’ve learned of a type of malware called stalkerware. Based on the fact that the domestic abuser has sent GPS trackers via text message twice in the past year while I was trying to get away from him and two other strange phone behaviors—my cell service being disconnected when I try to get away and weird website redirects (more on that below)—I believe there is stalkerware on my phone.
Three days ago, I noticed the website of a major retailer redirected to a different website. This was significant because it started happening within hours of me deleting a website documenting the domestic abuser’s abuse and social media links to the website, which had been online for over a month. On the website, I talked about a serious felony the domestic abuser is covering up.
The website in question is typically the first website I visit every day. It is a major retailer, and I check their daily deals. This is what happens: When I visit the website, which shows up as example.com in Firefox (replace example.com with a major retailer’s domain name), instead of redirecting to m.example.com, it redirects to m.com (not a valid website). I tried reinstalling Firefox on my phone, but it still happens. It does not occur in Chrome, however. When I try visiting example.com/directory, it redirects to m.com/directory. If I visit example.com (note the inclusion of the www), it properly redirects to m.example.com. Because it’s now been three days, I think you can rule out a domain propagation issue (which I never thought it was, given what I had done earlier that day).
These are my questions (answer as many as you can):
1) How can I tell if there is stalkerware on my Android phone?
2) If there is stalkerware on my phone, how can I remove it?
3) How was the domestic abuser able to achieve putting stalkerware on my phone? (Note: Luckily, I don’t believe the domestic abuser ever had physical access to this phone, but he would have had physical access to previous phones I owned. Also note: When I traded in my previous phone due to fears of hacking, the domestic abuser insisted on having a private conversation with the Verizon employee at the store. Later, when the employee was having me delete the phone’s contents in Settings, he grabbed the phone out of my hands and checked a few boxes or something in Settings without me seeing what he was doing.
4) Was the aforementioned Verizon employee setting up a back door for the domestic abuser to use with my new phone?
5) How can I avoid the domestic abuser putting stalkerware on my phone in the future?
6) How can I fix the issue with the domain example.com redirecting to m.com?
7) The last question is optional and more philosophical: How do I live my life normally again knowing the domestic abuser may be tracking my every move on my phone? I am scared to visit websites freely as I had done for decades.
Note: I am currently accessing this website via a public computer, so there may be significant delays between my replies. Know that your input is worth every second of your time to me. Just for the record, I am not involved in any illegal activity, so I think that rules out the NSA toying with me (which is not something I think they do, anyway).
Three days ago, I noticed the website of a major retailer redirected to a different website. This was significant because it started happening within hours of me deleting a website documenting the domestic abuser’s abuse and social media links to the website, which had been online for over a month. On the website, I talked about a serious felony the domestic abuser is covering up.
The website in question is typically the first website I visit every day. It is a major retailer, and I check their daily deals. This is what happens: When I visit the website, which shows up as example.com in Firefox (replace example.com with a major retailer’s domain name), instead of redirecting to m.example.com, it redirects to m.com (not a valid website). I tried reinstalling Firefox on my phone, but it still happens. It does not occur in Chrome, however. When I try visiting example.com/directory, it redirects to m.com/directory. If I visit example.com (note the inclusion of the www), it properly redirects to m.example.com. Because it’s now been three days, I think you can rule out a domain propagation issue (which I never thought it was, given what I had done earlier that day).
These are my questions (answer as many as you can):
1) How can I tell if there is stalkerware on my Android phone?
2) If there is stalkerware on my phone, how can I remove it?
3) How was the domestic abuser able to achieve putting stalkerware on my phone? (Note: Luckily, I don’t believe the domestic abuser ever had physical access to this phone, but he would have had physical access to previous phones I owned. Also note: When I traded in my previous phone due to fears of hacking, the domestic abuser insisted on having a private conversation with the Verizon employee at the store. Later, when the employee was having me delete the phone’s contents in Settings, he grabbed the phone out of my hands and checked a few boxes or something in Settings without me seeing what he was doing.
4) Was the aforementioned Verizon employee setting up a back door for the domestic abuser to use with my new phone?
5) How can I avoid the domestic abuser putting stalkerware on my phone in the future?
6) How can I fix the issue with the domain example.com redirecting to m.com?
7) The last question is optional and more philosophical: How do I live my life normally again knowing the domestic abuser may be tracking my every move on my phone? I am scared to visit websites freely as I had done for decades.
Note: I am currently accessing this website via a public computer, so there may be significant delays between my replies. Know that your input is worth every second of your time to me. Just for the record, I am not involved in any illegal activity, so I think that rules out the NSA toying with me (which is not something I think they do, anyway).
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