Police: Phone Repair Tech Sent Female Customer’s Personal Photos To Himself

Image courtesy of MeneerDijk)

Sometimes, we have no choice but to leave our smart devices in the hands of another. But after she left her phone for repair, a woman in the Atlanta area was shocked to find out that someone had been text messaging an unknown number from her phone.

Even worse, she discovered that nearly 20 personal photos she’d had on her phone had been sent to a stranger, reports WSB-TV (warning: link contains autoplay video). Milton Police say the woman brought her broken phone to a store in June, and when she got it back, something was amiss.

“She noticed some text messaging on there that she did not recognize,” a police lieutenant told WSB-TV. “Pictures from her phone had been texted to a number she was not familiar with. Those pictures were personal pictures.”

She went back to the store and confronted the technician, and he admitted that the number on her phone was his. The customer filed a police report, and after an investigation, police arrested him last week and charged him with felony computer invasion of privacy.

“Even though he had the PIN code, there were only certain things he was allowed to do and he broadened that out,” said the police lieutenant. Police are now trying to find out whether the tech went into any other customers’ phones. If you have had your phone fixed lately, check it out for anything odd.

Police: Cellphone repair tech sent woman’s pictures to himself [WSB-TV]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.