Expert: DebiN - 3/30/2010

Question
Is it legal for someone you are not related to, but know, to access the messages on your cell phone voicemail box?  I have an iPhone and have the mailbox set up.  I was unaware that anyone could access your voicemail box anytime they wanted to if you did not have a passcode on the voicemail box.

This person took this information and filed a false report with the police department - which I know is illegal.  So I just want to know if their access to my voicemail is legal or not?

Answer
The only person who is legitimately authorized is the person whose name the account is in. If you provide the password to someone, then you are giving them the authority to use your mailbox. You are correct that it was not legal for that person to file a report with the police since they were not the owner of the cell phone number. I would strongly recommend that you immediately change your password, if you haven't already. Keep in mind that your voice mail does have a password and cannot be accessed from another phone. If they took your iPhone and went into Voice Mail, that's another story. You can have your iPhone set up so that it doesn't automatically go into voice mail and prompts for a password. This is very easy to set up and you just take out the + (plus sign) before the voice mail number that it is dialing and then whenever you call, it will prompt for the password. AT&T can assist you in setting this up also if you have an issue. I hope this helps. Thanks. DebiN