Can Police Intercept Cell Phone Calls Legally?

Cell phone spying or cell phone surveillance may involve several actions, such as tracking and bugging, monitoring and eavesdropping, and also recording text messages and conversations on mobile phones. The question is, can police intercept cell phone calls?

Actually, only those who have authority can legally intercept someone’s cell phone. There are rules about this action and usually, the government of each country may have different rules. Cell phone spying can also involve monitoring the movements of people, simply by tracing their mobile phone signals.

Can Police Intercept Cell Phone Calls with A Stingray?

There is an electronic spying or surveillance tool called Stingray. This tool is going to simulate a specific cell phone tower. The goal is to force devices like mobile phones to connect to the stingray instead of to the original cell tower.

When police use a stingray, devices like mobile phones or tablets will reveal information about them and their user to the stingray operator. Other names given to this stingray tool are the IMSI catcher and cell-site simulator.

How to Intercept Cell Phone Calls with A Stingray

Phones are going to automatically and periodically broadcast their presence to any cell tower that the location is very close. This way, the network of phone carriers can provide those phones with service in the specific location. It will happen even though you are not using the phone to receive or make a call.

1. The unique ID being revealed

When your cell phone starts communication with the cell tower, the phone is going to reveal the unique IMSI or ID number that is associated with your phone’s SIM card. The IMSI number is going to identify your mobile phone and yourself as the cell carrier’s paying customer.

And then the carrier is going to match your IMSI number to your personal details, like phone number, address, and name.

2. The Role of the Stingray

Can police intercept cell phone calls with a stingray? Police are going to use a stingray that will pretend to be a cell tower. This way, the stingray is going to get the data from the phone while the legitimate cell tower doesn’t get the data.

This means the stingray will reveal the IMSI numbers of the cell phones. In the past, the stingray did it by emitting a stronger signal compared to the signal from the legitimate cell tower.

3. No calls and messages

The stingray that will ping a cell phone isn’t the real tower from the carrier’s network. This means your mobile phone won’t be able to send and receive messages and calls while your phone is still communicating with a stingray operated by police.

After the police’s stingray captures the location and IMSI number of your device, the tool is going to release your phone so that your device can connect to the original cell tower. The stingray can do this simply by sending a message to your cell phone and asking the device to find another tower.

Can Police Intercept Cell Phone Calls Legally?

Law enforcement can use the stingray to identify all cell phones around the stingray. They can also identify specific mobile phones using the stingray, even when the owners of the mobile phones are not using the device.

And then, law enforcement can ask the phone carrier to give the address and name that is associated with one or some numbers. However, law enforcement needs to have the subpoena to do this. Police can also get the historical log from all cell towers that your phone has pinged in the past.

The goal is to track where you have been. A stingray is a brilliant tool with awesome technology that can help police prevent bad things from happening like protests, terrorism, and so on.

Incredible Interceptor for Police

Government and intelligent agents that are qualified must consider Hitech Interceptor by SMS Broadcaster. This tool is going to help you catch the cell phone network of your target. This device is going to intercept conversations on the target phones.

This tool can listen to live calls and also record the calls automatically so that you can use the recordings as evidence.

Can police intercept cell phone calls? They can if they have the authority to intercept people’s calls and messages. But if the reason is good, like to prevent terrorism, the government may allow using this device.