Are there any bugging / debugging experts here?

I'm curious as to whether or not anybody here has experience planting or removing bugs. By "bugs" I'm talking about the small devices used to listen to and spy on somebody. I suspect that there may be bugs in my house. Does anybody know where the prime place to look would be? I don't want to tear apart my house, but I'd like to look in the obvious spots just to make sure. I hope this is in the right section. Thanks!

Best way to check for the presence of bugs is by using a RF scanner.
They start out around $100 and the cheaper one is usually enough to find the more common frequencys used today. If you are suspecting some higher level goverment type bugs then you may have to invest more to find them.

Google "rf bug scanner"

Finding them on your own is not very likely as they can be hidden in just about anything from drywall to a ballpoint pen.

Your best bet is a frequency counter, this will pick up any local rf and display the frequency of the device. Thats assuming the bug in question is in fact using RF.

If its a basic device then you would then be able to listen to it, more complex digital devices would require other hardware.

There are devices on the market (frequency hopping spread spectrum) which are a little more tricky to pin down.

Best bet initally (and not spending alot of money) is a cheap scanner, and have a flick through the "common" freq ranges, which you will find lying about on the net.

If its a laser based device you have little or no chance in finding it.



[edit on 23-10-2006 by ewan]

ok , you think you are beeing bugged , the first thing to assess is why ?

what evidence do you have that leads you to believe that youa are infact being buggerd ?

evidence of any break ins - tampering , inexplicable power outages - fuses blowing etc ?

any evidence that information that was only discussed in the house is in the hands of a third party ?


the film of john grishams " the juror " is a good example -that every one should beable to relate to :

alec baldwin is bugging demi moores house - and has clear means , motive and oportunity . moore realises the house must be bugged when anne heche is murdered [ she thought it was suicide ] , but baldwin arrogantly reveals that he murdered her - so moore puts two and two together - because the only way baldin could have known about heche was from heraring a concosation between moore and her son - in the house .

second - why do you believe that you warrant being bugged ? what makes you a target worthy of justifying the time expence and effort of mounting a surveilence op - and the bigger task of analysing the take once the bugs are in and running ?

i do not mean to pe presumptuous : but the fact you are asking here , indicates to me at least that you have no milirary / inteligence / law enforcement background - or else you could get help from current / former colegues .

although unlikley - it is entirely possible that you are actually being bugged " at random " , by : a bored voyeur , a speculating potential blackmailer - who is , or just sheer ineptitude , it does happen i know of one annecdote where a gormless inquiry agent actuall managed to bug the offices of his firms client instead of the target .

as for where to look :

telephone equipment is a start

light fittings - exp in the centre of the room

ad power fittings - are also obvious places - as they allow the bugger to tapp the power supply - eliminating the need for batteries - and the short lifespan of battery powered kit .

a lot depends on the budget an sophistication of your eavesdropper - and how much time they had free run of your property - and which parts they could actually access .

cliches like under a table etc are unlikely for any long term endeavour as people cannot be relied upon not to move furniture and they are vulnerable to cleaners / dusting etc .

hope this helps .

Thanks for the help. I will look into the above and see what happens. I'm mainly suspicious because I hear those wierd clicks on the phone every now and then as if it's being tapped, so that makes me wonder. I'm often very vocal about speaking out against the government and they do have the authority to treat suspicious people as terrorists now, so I just wanted to be sure.

I sure am glad you posted this thread.

For about 2 weeks my husband and I have being hearing a short ,
high pitch sound in our house.

We hear it at different times of the day and in different rooms of our house.

Would one of these spying devices make a sound like this?

I thought someone would have answered my question by now.

I guess I've killed another thread......sorry

Thread killer.

As to your question, I'm no electronics expert, but best advice would be to do all the stuff ignorant_ape said.

People get bugged for lots of reasons that dont always have to do with government
intelligence, the FBI etc.
I've known of people who were bugged by ex-boyfriends, girlfriends , wives/husbands
to see if they are cheating. By parents to see if their kids are using drugs, by employers to see find the leak of trade secrets, the reasons are many other than
government related.

Bugging is getting more and more common and its also getting more sophisticated
and cheaper.If you think you are being bugged, then chances are you probably are.
Other than whats already been suggested, I cant offer any more advice.

BTW bugging a phone can be done from the street. You dont need access to the premises.

For more info on how they bug you go to....

www.counter-surveillance.com...


[edit on 25-10-2006 by Flighty]

[edit on 25-10-2006 by Flighty]

phone taps are what has always bothered me.

because im no big criminal, but some of my friends do technically do illegal things, albiet misdeamenor in nature, and I am around them sometimes so, I guess I'm guilty by association to the local 'drug trade' while not actually being a buyer or a seller, just knowing many of the individuals involved and thats that.

but since on occasion they do call my cellphone, say a friend need a ride somewhere. that friend could have a tapped phone and "they" could've heard my convo with him, and then sought a warrant to tap me because of - for sake of discussion - lets say self-incrimination.

so yeah, sometimes i am a bit paranoid people are listening to me on my telephone, and it has gotten to the point to where me and all my 'friends' have our own code of language, our own words with alternate meetings that fit into verbal conversations perfectly and make things seem a-okay. then we'll discuss in person how we'd change our code language terms after using them for a certain amount of time so no one catches on.

you could say people are extra paranoid where I live over misdemeanor type # because the CIA has multiple bases in my eastern state in this Republic of America, I wont say the state nor the names of any of the facilities but lets just say that if -any- local population had CIA-trainee's tapping people and infiltrating people's affairs, in other words secret eavesdropping programs, it would be my area, due to proximity and sheer amount of military bases locally to back them up, i meant cover them up sorry. they sometimes set off loud explosive devices at the training base, which is an entire county and a half away from my city, and I still hear them. so if they practice explosives you know damn well they're going to practice eavesdroppin techniques, and who better than the LOCALS?

PS - And the evidence I have to corroborate this isnt much, but its something. I live right by this airport you see, I mean real darn close. I can see the runway from my backyard if the trees werent obstructing my view. It's an 'international' airport, but all it really does is send you to another airport in another state where you switch flights if you are really leaving the country, so it's relatively small and unimportant.

Every single day, there is a black helicopter, sometimes 2 but never together, one after the other after a few minutes, doing a circular pattern of patrol. This 'patrol' goes right along, at it's edge, my neighborhood and that airport, which it goes directly above and over during its circular 'patrols'. These are black unmarked helicopters that look like the Blackhawks, but with no weaponry I can see. Sometimes I thnk these are just for the security of the airport because of terrorism, and they just patrol the airfield around the airport. But my other thought is that these could be CIA trainee's eavesdropping on the populace below, before going to Afghanistan to try doing it 'for real'. Or it could be super high level law enforcement. Who knows..

[edit on 10/25/2006 by runetang]

I sure am glad you posted this thread.

For about 2 weeks my husband and I have being hearing a short ,
high pitch sound in our house.

We hear it at different times of the day and in different rooms of our house.

Would one of these spying devices make a sound like this?

Hmmm. I'm not sure about that. I know that smoke detectors make that kind of noise when the batteries are running low. You may want to check that out. I doubt that bugs would make noises like that, since it would give them away. Are the beeps loud? How often do you hear them?

www.counter-surveillance.com...

Great link! Thanks!

[edit on 25-10-2006 by Barcs]

I never thought of that. I'm going to check my detecters right now.
Thanks!