Fake Cell Phone Towers

[rpm]

It's not paranoia if they really is somebody out to get you, or your phone as the case may be.
From that bastion of conspiracy theories Popular Science:

“Interceptor use in the U.S. is much higher than people had anticipated,” Goldsmith says.  “One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found 8 different interceptors on that trip.  We even found one at South Point Casino in Las Vegas.”

Who is running these interceptors and what are they doing with the calls?  Goldsmith says we can’t be sure, but he has his suspicions.

“What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of U.S. military bases.  So we begin to wonder – are some of them U.S. government interceptors?  Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?” says Goldsmith.  “Whose interceptor is it?  Who are they, that's listening to calls around military bases?  Is it just the U.S. military, or are they foreign governments doing it?  The point is: we don't really know whose they are.”

[MrRiplEy[H]]

GSM has had a known bug for years that enables easy interception. They're not fixing it. Why? Because government agencies would have a much harder time to eavesdrop suspected criminals.

[Tec]

I read that as well and while it is disconcerting to say the least they could have actually done some investigative journalism and tried to dig a bit deeper.  It's not all that hard to work out who owns a given piece of land.  Once you have that you can actually ask whose tower it is and what purpose it serves.

[puller]

What I read said that the "towers" were no more than laptops with a type of box receiver that tricks the phone into thinking its a tower...said more than likely the people using them are trying to get passwords and other personal information...if I can find the link I will post....

[Tec]

That would make more sense.  Maybe I skimmed something but I thought they were saying that these were like actual physical towers, just not owned by the telecoms.  I would think a laptop setup with some external hardware would have a very limited range though.

[ghi]

That’s Not a Tree, It’s a Cell Phone Tower

http://enpundit.com/thats-not-a-tree-its-a-cell-phone-tower/

[Meatwad]

A "tree" with an observation beacon on it  

[Shamus]

The Oakland County Michigan Sheriff Dept. is using them.

shamus

[danny76]

Anyone who is so bored as to want to eavesdrop on my phone conversations can help themselves.

Seriously

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Anyone who is so bored as to want to eavesdrop on my phone conversations can help themselves.

Seriously

You ever connect to your bank through your mobile connection? Man in the middle attack makes that risky.

[danny76]

You ever connect to your bank through your mobile connection? Man in the middle attack makes that risky.

Nope

[icepac]

Sounds like a good way to "find" some expensive equipment.

[fbEagle]

You ever connect to your bank through your mobile connection? Man in the middle attack makes that risky.

people still call banks??? 

[Lusche]

I don't even have any account at any bank  

[MrRiplEy[H]]

people still call banks??? 

No, people connect to their online banking.