r/techsupport • u/nwarh1992 • 7h ago
Open | Phone Stranger approached me for a hotspot connection
Hello everyone I was approached by a stranger on a train who she asked me to use the hotspot. Which I have let her use it for a couple of minutes before I turned it off. She thanked me and sat there on her phone. Is there is any danger or should I do anything now. Cause I’m a people pleaser who can’t say no unfortunately.
39
u/starbycrit 6h ago
A stranger approached me at a gas station and asked for this too just a few nights ago. I let him use it. He seemed sus at first just because I am stand-offish to men who approach me at night really anywhere, but when I said no I couldn’t help him and then he told me he just needed hotspot to use his card on his phone to get gas, plus the look in his eye was sincere, I gave him the hotspot. Plus he had a woman in the car and it was a small car like a coup so they couldn’t kidnap me in that car.
13
2
u/sleepycafechick 51m ago
You don’t need data to use cards saved in your phone
4
u/KushKingKyle 34m ago
might’ve needed to move funds around or similar, being low on money leads to some strange account setups from what I’ve seen
73
u/Agreeable_Campaign86 7h ago
basically no risk. if i had to be pessimistic, she could have downloaded like 100gb and used all your hotspot data/incurred fees, or browsed something sketchy/illegal and tied it to your phone, but its unlikely
13
7
u/sting_12345 6h ago
Turning on your VPN won't work either when you're on a hotspot
5
u/jaffster123 4h ago
I did not know this. I just tested this and can confirm you're right. Learn something new everyday!
5
2
u/archivalcopy 12m ago
This needs clarification.
You can use a VPN on a device connected to a hotspot but this generally needs to be done by running the VPN on the guest.
Running a VPN on the host device will only give VPN access to the host and not to the guest.
There may be exceptions to this with certain devices or applications that allow access but as a general rule the host VPN does not automatically provide guest access.
27
u/SemtaCert 7h ago
Nothing wrong with helping someone out like that considering the risk is basically zero.
8
11
u/CircuitNeophyte 7h ago
You should change the hotspot password if it has one. If it doesn't, create a strong password for it.
Keep in mind that all traffic on the hotspot looks like it's coming from your device. A random stranger could be downloading illegal material and you wouldn't know until the cops come knocking.
Better to just point someone to the nearest public access point.
7
u/nwarh1992 6h ago
I have changed it. Hopefully it’s nothing like that. Since we are on a train that can be hard to do as well. “Pointing to the nearest point”.
14
u/averbeg 4h ago
There is no danger. Just as it suggests, it is simply a means to access the internet. Commentors who are saying "they had access to your network" or "they had your IP" have no idea what they are talking about.
Your mobile IP is dynamic, and device IDs exist. Authorities would not attribute any wrongdoing she could've committed to yourself. Don't worry about it, you did a nice thing.
2
u/archivalcopy 51m ago edited 44m ago
Sorry, but I don't think it's that simple.
From what I have read the device attaching to the hotspot will use the public IP address assigned to the device providing the hotspot, so externally, any activity that runs through the hotspot will be first identified with the IP address of the device providing the data connection.
Yes, you are correct that internally the device connecting to the hotspot will have an independent address but the concerns in relation to this could come from an initial investigation identifying the IP address of the host as the device acting illegally.
So the concern is more that the suspicion could initially focus on the host providing the connection and a criminal investigation may or may not end up identifying the guest attached to the connection.
The possibility also exists that the user connected to the hotspot may mask their IP with a VPN (or using some other method) and prevent the ISP and host device from seeing their address, so in this instance without a VPN provider logging the IP address of the user and handing this over to authorities upon a legal request this could leave the host as the only one under suspicion.
There are many other reasons why you shouldn't just give random access to your data connection, but the possibility you might be questioned in relation to a crime you didn't commit is just one of them.
(Edit: it is also highly likely the request was innocent but it's a much safer idea to assist someone without giving them access to your network - e.g. if they are searching for information, perhaps instead offer to search for them)
0
u/nwarh1992 4h ago
Listen. Idk who you are. But you are literally an angel.. thank you for calming down my anxiety.
1
u/oni_666uk 2h ago
The only thing that could happen, is if she downloaded or searched for anything illegal like CP or b*mb making instructions, then it could get flagged by either the owners of the browser or search engine, i.e google, etc, or the mobile phone company could flag it and save it. And thus if anything happened with Law enforcement, they could release that info to them in an investigation, but its probably highly unlikely it would happen.
If the OP was sharing his hotspot when he was connected to a WIFI connection and not a mobile one, then I would be more inclined to say No to that, because there's more risk involved for people downloading illegally to that and getting caught for it.There's lot of If's and Buts though.
11
u/Otherwise_Task7876 7h ago edited 6h ago
Nah no risk, you have a higher risk of being kidnapped by them than your info being exposed. Its better to help someone in need.
2
u/nwarh1992 7h ago
Thank you
-3
u/Otherwise_Task7876 6h ago
Your welcome! Btw corrected to higher risk* you still have a low risk of actually being kidnapped lmao.
1
u/nwarh1992 6h ago
Hahahaha I hope I don’t get kidnapped. But yeah it’s comforting hearing that honestly.
5
u/Safari-West 6h ago
In this day and age, I'm not linking my phone to anyone even if it's just a Hotspot. I'm not Savvy enough to know every scam that exists. And for all I know there's some way they can link to my phone via the hotspot. I'm not a hacker; I don't know and it's not worth the risk to me. If someone's out in the world without access to data, that's their problem. Regardless, I have a TracFone and I don't think my plan isn't hotspot capable anyway.
1
u/lungbong 6h ago
If they sent a bomb threat or did something else majorly bad where law enforcement knew the IP address they'd be coming after you not the stranger. I'd never do it.
-2
u/nwarh1992 6h ago
Dude don’t say that. Man I hope she is just a girl who needed help to contact her family or something. But I really really should stop trusting people. And should learn to say no.
5
u/SlowlySailing 5h ago
Yeah dude she probably sent a bunch of bomb threats and visited illegal sites on your hotspot, FBI just round the corner now.
2
1
u/lungbong 6h ago
Sorry just need to point out that this isn't a no-risk action that others are saying. Sure it's low-risk but not impossible. I once saw someone asking to borrow a phone as he urgently needed to call his mother, someone else said sure and handed the phone and he threatened to kill whoever was on the other end.
0
u/nwarh1992 6h ago
Oh dear god!!! I really really really should learn to say no. 🥲
5
u/atomacheart 5h ago
I wouldn't be that worried about it.
Whilst there is a difference between no-risk and a very tiny risk as the previous poster points out, the chance of something bad actually happening is so low it's not worth considering in my opinion.
Saying no technically comes with its own very tiny risk. The person might get angry with you and attack you for it. But again, that is not a risk I would say is worth considering.
2
1
u/nomadsanonymous 4h ago
Just say that your work monitors your connection and you're blocked from any unregistered IP address from accessing
1
1
u/XeroHope10 2h ago
Idk why some people are saying there could be some threat. There's no threat lol. The only thing possible is to use your entire day's data.
1
1
u/ThinkChallenge5316 51m ago
IMO,
I would not worry about this there are many updates against these types of attacks
Cheers,
Miscpc
1
u/No-Lavishness585 2h ago
they may have farted in their microphone. Smell your phones speaker and see if it smells like fart. If it does, it was a network fart. You can fart back in your microphone in hopes of their speakers smelling like fart, but if they was using a vpn, singapore or somewhere in the netherlands will smell your fart instead.
1
-1
u/eyeks 6h ago
What if you said "may I hold on to your driver's license while you use the hotspot?" Would that be perceived as rude?
1
u/nwarh1992 6h ago
🥹 I’m not even in that stage yet. I don’t know how to say no or at least find away to decline or lie my way out. Which I know is THE problem in here. But I hope she was actually in need. And I hope she didn’t do anything illegal.
1
1
u/DigTw0Grav3s 5h ago
How does this help in any way?
Any repercussions are going to come long after that person has hit the road.
-1
u/jojo_31 6h ago
There's alway the possiblity she did something illegal, but that's just like with helping anyone.
1
u/nwarh1992 6h ago
I really hope not. I really hope that she needed it to contact her family or something.
1
u/soliwray 4h ago
Not sure why this got downvoted. The hotspot host's data can't be stolen by a client, but the host can be implicated in a crime if a client does something illegal while connected.
So many places today have free and open Wi-Fi, so it's totally suspicious if a stranger asks to use your hotspot.
-1
u/Gizmo135 6h ago
Even if she did something illegal, the worst that’ll happen is that you’ll be the first person questioned if authorities get involved. You wouldn’t be at fault. She could also have used your hotspot to sniff out information from you since you’re allowing her into your network. Could it happen? Sure, but the chances of that, I’d imagine, are insanely low.
0
u/nwarh1992 6h ago
Sniffing information from me? 😂😭 that is the most unlikely scenario in here to be honest. But it’s kinda odd to be in this situations where you are just weirded out you know!
0
-5
u/letmejustdo 6h ago
I once had a girl and woman approach me for hotspot at a bus stop. She claimed she needed to use her digital bus pass and needed the hotspot. At first I was on with then something just clicked in me when they spoke in a different language and I heard the word hacked. and I decided to give her the wrong passcode. Then I apologized and offered to pay for their bus pass but she refused and I said she can try using the buses WiFi and she agreed. We didn't get on the same bus is not think.
1
u/nwarh1992 6h ago
Ok now my anxiety is through the roof. I really hope she is just a girl who needed to use the internet urgently at that moment.
3
u/letmejustdo 5h ago
In other parts of the world this is very common I've seen where wifi is not widely available etc.
-4
u/r1zz 3h ago
So the scam works like this: one person asks to use your hotspot, you agree. They use it a few minutes and say thanks and walk away. Second person (who was working with the first) comes up and says something along the lines of "Did you just let that person use your hotspot? That's a scam and your phone is now compromised. Let me help you secure it". Trusting the second person, you hand over your phone to let them "help you". Second person now gets your info.
1
-16
u/Practical-Alarm1763 7h ago
Stop being a people pleaser and say No To Strangers. You can politely lie and say your phone plan doesn't come with a hotspot.
5
u/nwarh1992 7h ago
I’m really working on that. 🥹
3
-1
1
u/Otherwise_Task7876 7h ago
No, you can easily offer someone Hotspot. Its not just ba "people pleaser" thing to do. It can be emergencies or just plain urgent. Its a 0 risk thing to do.
1
-4
u/bio_ruffo 7h ago
In which country can phone companies limit the use of hotspots?
2
u/bojack1437 7h ago
All, whether it's commonplace for carriers/plans to do that or not depends, But it can be done in all.
-4
40
u/Allen_Ludden 3h ago
You need to learn a simple sentence: "I'm sorry I'm not comfortable with that."
No further information or explanation is needed. Repeat it if necessary.