EXCLUSIVE The chilling ways your alarm clock, photo frames and smoke alarms are spying on you: Secret recordings are on the rise...and it's NOT against the law
Divorcees spying on exes, perverted landlords and staff wanting to know their next pay rise are among those making secret recordings using bugs hidden in everyday items, an expert has warned.
Spy cameras and listening devices obscured in phone chargers, photo frames, alarm clocks, mirrors, plug sockets, pens and smoke alarms are available in huge numbers on mainstream sites including Amazon and eBay.
One bug sweeping specialist told MailOnline that recording devices contained in plug sockets used for USB mobile phone chargers were particularly popular with snoopers because 'no one is going to suspect them'.
He said that cameras buried in bedside alarm clocks were often used to gather evidence of affairs, while air fresheners were a common option for hiding microphones. Basic hidden cameras, recorders or car trackers can cost as little as £5.
Campaigners have warned the bugs have the potential to 'cause serious breaches of privacy' and 'enable spying and much more serious abuse, from revenge porn to blackmail'.
Secretly filming someone where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as a changing room, is generally against the law, as is bugging someone else's property or taking images for the purposes of sexual gratification.
But it is generally legal to install hidden bugs in your own home. And while sharing or threatening to share intimate images without consent is already a crime, it is currently only illegal to take such an image if sexual gratification is the main intention.
Ministers are currently planning to tighten the law following a 24 per cent rise in exposure and voyeurism to 15,948 in 2024.
A paedophile was recently given a suspended prison term for stealing intimate videos of a mother and her young sons from a surveillance camera he persuaded her to install 'for security purposes'.
The suspicious mother set up her own secret camera inside a teddy slipper, which filmed Peter Tomlinson, 56, sneaking into her home and downloading thousands of naked photographs of her and her young sons.
In another shocking case, a groundskeeper snuck in and out of a woman's home for six months to secretly recover 40 hours of video filmed from a camera hidden inside a vase. Andrew Thomas, 45, became infatuated with the 65-year-old after he saw her walking her dog before she found his camera while rearranging her flowers.
While many hidden cameras are installed for security purposes, descriptions on some items for sale online suggest other uses.
One product sold on Amazon, a £56.99 'Hidden Spy Camera' contained within a USB charger tower, mentions 'business meeting' on a list of uses alongside the phrase 'beautiful moment' - which is accompanied by an illustration of a couple in bed.
Meanwhile, a £79.00 'Spy Camera WiFi Hidden Camera Clock' that boasts of its 'stealthy design' and high-res camera that 'captures every detail' shows a picture of colleagues gathered around a meeting table alongside the caption 'office'.
Stephen Anderson is director of Secured Area Services, a London-based company that carries out high-tech bug sweeps in homes and businesses.
He told MailOnline: 'People are more involved in other people these days and everyone wants to know what everyone's doing - as you see with social media. So there's more desire to have bugs fitted.
'I've been doing this for 18 years and bugs are a lot more advanced now, even cheaper ones. You can buy sockets to charge your phone with a bug already inside them so no one is going to suspect it. That's a very popular device.
'For whatever reason someone wants to listen to someone else, and there will be be a bug for that. You can have a bug put in almost anything. I don't fit bugs but I've previously been asked if one could go inside a pushchair.'
Bug sweeping expert Stephen Anderson, director Secured Area Services, said voice recorders hidden inside USB phone charging plugs are particularly popular among snoopers
In April, victims and female violence minister Alex Davies-Jones said the government planned to make it a crime for equipment used to take voyeuristic images to be installed or adapted, even if no photo is taken.
It comes amid an increase in reports from female swimmers of having been secretly recorded while in mixed-sex changing rooms.
Currently, to prove voyeurism, prosecutors have to show that a camera was installed specifically for the purpose of sexual gratification and that a recording was made on it.
A wave of recent cases shows the rising threat posed by hidden cameras.
In March, a surveillance device was found inside an air freshener in a toilet of a Glasgow Screwfix, while the following month actors at the Leeds Grand Theatre uncovered one in a women's changing room.
Meanwhile, in May, a Glasgow doctor was jailed for secretly filming friends and colleagues using the bathroom and shower due to concerns over the size of his penis.
Anaesthetist Ju Young Um, 34, recorded 30 different people using bugs inside air fresheners and a smoke alarm before using the footage to compare himself to other men.
Secured Area Services' Mr Anderson, an electrical design engineer who has previously worked for the Ministry of Defence, said his firm was called upon both by businesses and individuals.
'At the more serious side of commercial you have a company who wants to infiltrate a competitor and find out details about them,' he said. 'Then you have employees who may want to find out what the latest pay structure is or who's leaving or starting.
'You also have people who have left under a cloud who place a bug to try and find out what's going on in their absence. I've known that to go up to director level - with one listening into the other one. It can be offices, factories, any commercial area.
'You can buy a bug that's mounted inside a pen. So if you go into an office and have a meeting no one is going to be suspicious about you bringing a pen in with you. But it means you can record everything that's being said in a private meeting.
'In homes it's often family or divorce where someone wants to know what the other person is planning. Then you have larger families who tend to want to spy on each other - often they might have amalgamated businesses or some form of income they share and there's a dispute.
Two ads on eBay for hidden listening devices - one inside a wall socket and the other in an extension lead. Both cost £99.99
Car trackers are available to buy on Amazon for as little as £4.99
'I've also known it where a divorce has happened and the child has been given to one side and the other person is trying to find out what their partner is doing to them. I have enquiries all the time about hidden cameras being hidden in bedrooms, including by landlords in rented properties.'
Previously, most bugs worked by constantly transmitting signals that could be picked up with a detector, whereas now most are designed to stop transmitting when no one is actively listening.
The increasing complexity of bugs meant more advanced equipment was now needed to detect them, Mr Anderson explained.
'We use a thermal camera that will detect any minute heat sources - so it could be a bug the size of a sugar cube behind an electrical socket that will last forever because it doesn't have a battery and relies on mains power.
'We also use something called a non-linear junction detector that detects the components within the bug. So that can detect bugs that don't even have a battery in them.
'Another very common bug is a GSM-based device that works like a mini mobile phone. So you ring it and it auto answers and you can listen in no matter how far away they are.
A £48.99 'mini spy hidden camera smoke detector' on Amazon and a bug disguised as a portable power bank on eBay
'They have become very popular now, so we have equipment used by HM Prison Service that forces a GSM bug that doesn't want to transmit so we can then find it.
'If you put the term ''bug sweep'' into Google you'll find pages and pages of people doing it now. But most of them don't have the advanced equipment you need to pick up everything. If you have the proper equipment, everything can be found.'
Neither eBay or Amazon are breaking the law by selling hidden recording devices.
An eBay spokesperson said: 'eBay is committed to maintaining a safe and trusted marketplace for our global community of sellers and buyers. Listings found to violate eBay policies will be blocked or removed.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
19 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE My neighbours have built an extension over my property by 15 INCHES... it has destroyed my home and left me facing £85k bill
A single mother has claimed a neighbour 'destroyed' her home after building a new wall that encroaches onto her property by 15 inches. Brenda Grant, from Uxbridge, west London, said Amarjit Singh Dhunna sliced her plastic conservatory roof to build his own extension wall, but left small gaps allowing water to run and leak into her property. After taking the case to court, Ms Grant owes £25k to her solicitor and fears she could lose her home of 22 years. The mother-of-one also faces a £60k bill to fix the water damage to her walls and floors. Ms Grant told MailOnline: 'Since he cut the roof, water has been coming into the conservatory; I have a report from a builder that it is destroyed. 'This has made me depressed. I have anxiety and panic attacks. I lock myself in the house and I am withdrawn, I don't come out. 'My son [is so depressed] he doesn't go to school. Basically he locks himself in his room.' Do YOU have a story? Email After the building work went ahead in March 2021, Ms Grant lodged a complaint claiming she had never been informed and businessman Mr Dhunna did not have planning permission to cut the roof and build over it. A small store room connects her property to Mr Dhunna's next door and the pair disagree about where the boundary lies. However, when Ms Grant got a land surveyor out to investigate, a report suggested Mr Dhunna's new wall hangs over the boundary line by 0.4metres - around 15 inches. She claims her neighbour had no right to cut the plastic roof and argued the new wall clearly hangs over onto her land. Ms Grant said: 'I sit in the house and I cry all day because I can't believe that someone's cut my roof. 'It's traumatising to point that I just want to kill myself, [...] even my son wanted to kill himself because of the amount of emotional stress, panic attacks, and he's lost out on five years of his life.' In October 2021, months after the work took place, Mr Dhunna - who does not live in the property but houses tenants there - received retrospective planning permission for the build by Hillingdon Council. 'It was given to him even though I tried to tell the council that he's on my land,' Ms Grant said. The red line shows the boundary between the two properties. The green line suggests Mr Dhunna's new roof line is hanging over onto Ms Grant's land 'When they cut the roof, because they didn't put any gutter in or any lead flashing, when it rains the water comes down into the property, so it's destroyed the conservatory. 'The floor is sunk and the walls have subsided inside. So the builder said it's £60,000 for that.' Ms Grant claims she has hired three land surveyors who have all stated encroachment onto her land. The court case is set to continue next week at Central London County Court. Ms Grant worked in customer service for British Airways but was let go as a result of poor mental health. She has now set up a GoFundMe in a desperate bid to raise the money for her legal costs.
The Sun
22 minutes ago
- The Sun
Three people arrested after teen boy dies near pub as cops launch urgent murder probe
THREE people have been arrested after a teenage boy died near a pub. Cops, paramedics, and the air ambulance were called to New Moston in north Manchester at around 5pm today, Greater Manchester Police said. 2 The force has not said how the teenager died but has launched a murder investigation and arrested three people in connection with the death. Superintendent Marcus Noden said: "This is a distressing and heart-breaking incident where a boy has lost his life. "We are still trying to establish the circumstances around the incident and have a number of scenes in place." Pictures from the scene show a police cordon on Nevin Road in New Moston as well as another at the nearby Fairway Inn pub. Detectives said the boy's family was currently being supported by specialist officers. Cops are currently appealing for information and are asking people who were in the Nevin Road area to come forward. You can report any information to the police through their website or by calling 101, quoting log 2250 of 8/6/25. If you wish to submit information anonymously, you can use the independent charity Crimestoppers to do so. More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.
Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Moment frail missing pensioner uses cane to walk along street: Police release CCTV in hopes of tracing 89-year-old who vanished DAYS ago
This is the heartbreaking moment a missing pensioner is seen using his cane to walk along the street as police plea to the public for help. Footage shows Malcolm, 89, was last seen on Wednesday walking along Westfield Close in the area of Hull Road in Easington between 8am – 9.30am on the day of his disappearance. The frail man vanished days ago and police are 'growing increasingly concerned for his welfare.' Officers have trawled the area knocking on the doors of locals, diving through hours of CCTV and even used scent dogs - but have been unsuccessful in their search for Malcolm. The force have urged the public to check their gardens, sheds, outbuildings and any covered areas as they believe the pensioner could be found sheltering there. They are also keen to speak to pedestrians and drivers travelling along Hull Road around the time Malcolm was last seen and have said motorists shoul check their dash cam footage. Leading the she search, Inspector Will Knapp at Humberside police said: 'We have been trawling hours of CCTV and doorbell footage, conducting house to house enquiries and area searches of rural locations to try and understand which direction Malcolm may have travelled in since leaving his home. 'As part of those enquiries, the CCTV footage shows Malcolm walking along Westfield Close at approximately 8.10am that morning (Wednesday, 4 June). 'Malcolm is then thought to have walked towards the junction of Hull Road before heading west at approximately 8.15am. This is the last confirmed sighting of him. 'He is described as being approximately 5ft 8ins tall with grey hair and is thought to be wearing a grey gilet with brown trousers and carrying a walking stick. 'From this point, with support from specialist trained search officers, scent dogs and the Underwater Search unit, alongside partnering agencies and Malcolm's family and friends, teams have been extending their searches we continue to conduct further lines of enquiries to understand Malcom's movements and try and trace his next steps. 'As part of this, we are keen to speak to pedestrians and motorists travelling along Hull Road between 8am and 9.30am around the time Malcolm was last seen. I'd also encourage anyone who has any CCTV or dashcam footage around this time to please get in touch. 'We would also urge members of the public to check sheds, outbuildings and any covered areas, if your neighbours are away, please check their gardens too.' He added: 'Anybody who has any information, no matter how small, dashcam or CCTV footage, or who may know where Malcolm may be and can assist us with locating him to please contact us our non-emergency number 101 quoting log 177of 4 June.'
