Ways you can detect hidden camera in a hotel: Hidden camera detection

Discovering that one’s privacy was recorded on tape without one’s knowledge could be quite disturbing. And oftentimes, seeking redress could be an arduous task.

This can be prevented by scanning a hotel for spying cameras immediately you lodge in. Spycams can be installed by the hotel management or previous guests.

In South Korea, a crime syndicate was busted after filming and live streaming the actions of 1,600 motel guests.

The possibility that spy cameras can be hidden inside wall clock, tissue boxes, cushions, lamps, wall decors television boxes, wall sockets, phone chargers, deodorant sticks electrical outlets, clothing hook, etc should not be dismissed.

Randy Andrews, a video security expert and founder of Logan Security Consulting, made the popular hidden camera detector app for the iPhone. “The technology has gotten much smaller,” says Andrew. “We are talking about a micro cameral lens the size of a pinhead.”

Be aware and scan your lodge

“Pay attention to items that seem out of place,” Andrew advises. “Hotel housekeeps are specifically told to clear the rooms for items left behind by previous guests. If a phone charger was left plugged in the bathroom, living room, etc, the cleaning crew would have pulled that out.

So, you want to be careful of any electronics, phone chargers, that kind of thing. If there’s a USB wall charger connected, it’s not supposed to be there.”

Experts say hidden cameras are often placed below the eye view to make them less noticeable. When you enter a hotel room, you may want to check the alarm clock, to see how it is in position.

Mike O’Rourke, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Washinton based global security consultancy, Advanced Operational Concepts advised that guests should be looking for any small holes in the room, including in the wall or in objects placed in the room.

“Light fixtures, smoke detectors, clock radio, coffee pots and electric sockets have all been used to hide cameras,” he said. “I have seen cameras in the air conditioner vents in hotel rooms.”

Download an app to detect hidden camera

Apps such as Radarbot, detectify, glint finder, hidden spy camera detector, ghost camera finder can help to detect a spy camera.

Woodward said, “if it does not transmit radio frequency (RF), then you can again buy a standard bug detector that you sweep the room with to search for hidden sources of radio transmission. There are some products out there that combine optical and Rf detection methods.”

Use a flashlight

According to a CNN report, using one’s phone’s flashlight may be one of the easiest to detect spy cams.

First, switch off the lights and shine the flashlight around the room. If the light catches usually reflective lights or surfaces, this could mean a possible hidden camera.

“Assuming the camera has some form of lens, you use a device that has a very bright light source and a viewfinder that allows you to scan for the reflections from the lens,” a professor from the Centre for Cyber Security at the United Kingdom’s Surrey University’s Alan Woodward told CNN.

Hi readers, you can suggest methods that you used the last time to detect the hidden camera.

Sources: The Punch, Forbes, Tori.ng