13/09/2017
How to Tell if Your Phone Is Tapped
If you have reason to believe that your cell phone or landline phone might be tapped, there are a few clues you can look for that can support your suspicions. Many of these indicators can be caused by other sources, though, so you need to check for multiple signs rather than only relying on one. Once you have enough evidence, you can go to the officials for help. Here's what to look for if you suspect that someone has installed a listening device on your phone.
Part One of Five:
Initial Suspicions
1
Be concerned when your secrets get out. If secure information that only a small number of trusted individuals should know suddenly gets out, there might be some chance that the leak came about as a result of a phone tap, particularly if you have discussed the information over the phone at some point.
This is of particular significance if you are in a position that makes you a valuable person to spy on. For instance, if you have a high-level position in a powerful company with many competitors, you might be in danger of falling victim to the underground information industry.
On the other hand, your reasons for being tapped could also be as simple as going through a messy divorce. Your soon-to-be-ex-spouse might wiretap you if he or she wants to dig up information that could be useful during the divorce proceedings.
If you want to test this out, you can do so by confiding a fake piece of information that seems important to someone you know you can trust not to tell. If that piece of information gets out, you know that someone else was listening in.
2
Stay alert if you have suffered a recent burglary.[1] If your home was recently robbed or broken into but nothing of value was taken, that alone should suggest to you that something is odd. Sometimes this can suggest that someone broke into your home for the sake of putting a wiretap on your phone.
Part Two of Five:
Signs for Any Phone
1
Listen for background noise. If you hear a great deal of static or other background noise when you talk to people on the phone, there is a chance that the noise is coming from interference created by a tap.
This is not the best of signs when taken alone, though, since echoes, static, and clicking can also be caused by random interference or a bad connection.
Static, scratching, and popping can be caused by a capacitive discharge resulting from two conductors being connected.
High-pitched humming is an even greater indication.
You can check for sounds that your ear cannot pick up by using a sound-bandwidth sensor on a low frequency. If the indicator pops up several times per minute, your phone may very well be tapped.
2
Use your phone around other electronic devices. If you suspect that there might be a tap on your phone, walk over to a radio or television during your next phone call. Even if there is no audible interference on your phone itself, there is some chance that interference could occur when you stand next to another electronic device, causing static with that device.
You should also look for distortion when you are not on actively using the phone. An active wireless phone signal could disrupt the transmission of data even without additional software or hardware being installed on your phone, but an inactive signal should not.
Some bugs and taps use frequencies close to the FM radio band, so if your radio squeals when set to mono and dialed into the far end of the band, one of these devices might be in use.
Likewise, taps can interfere with TV broadcast frequencies on UHF channels. Use a TV with an antenna to check the room for interference.
3
Listen to your phone when not in use. Your phone should be quiet when you are not using it. If you can hear beeping, clicking, or other noises from your phone even when it is not in use, there could be a tapping software or hardware installed.
In particular, listen for a pulsating static noise.
If this occurs, it could suggest that the microphone and speaker are active even when the phone is not in use via a hook switch
