Experts test five ways to find hidden cameras in hotels and house rentals that are often hiding in everyday objects
Experts have tested out five different ways to find hidden cameras in hotels and house rentals that are often hiding in everyday objects.
It’s the stuff of every traveler's worst nightmare - thinking you’re in the privacy of your hotel room only to discover that you’re actually being watched.
We hear about spy cams in films, secret agents in action movies are given recording devices disguised as things like watches, hats, and even lipsticks.
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In the film Meet the Parents, Robert DeNiro’s character hides cameras in a stuffed animal and a picture frame.
But more and more of these stories have been bleeding into real life news recently as hotels, rental properties, cruise ships and even plane bathrooms make the headlines with reports of secret cameras being hidden.
In a report by CNBC, they tasked Pieter Tija, the founder of Singapore tech company OMG Solutions, with hiding cameras around a house.
People then tried to find them - and it was much harder than expected.
The 27 secret cameras were hidden inside everyday objects and the people searching needed to pick up every item to examine it properly.
Using his expertise, Jiga has offered his advice on how to spot cameras that people don’t want you to find:
Scanning the room with the naked eye
First off, have a look around the room and see if you notice anything unusual. This could be a clock with an incorrect time or a teddy bear with mismatched eyes.
Using your mobile phone
Tija suggests downloading an app such as Fing which will alert you to different cameras that are connected to your WiFi network.
This will let you know if there’s anything online in the room but the downside is that it won’t tell you exactly where or what to look out for.
You’ll have to go looking for the device yourself.
It’s important to note that this will only work for cameras that connect to WiFi, not ones that use SD cards to store data.
Trying a radio frequency detector
A radio frequency detector is another handy tool to use as it’ll beep when it’s close to a camera. This will also only work for cameras that are switched on and connected to the WiFi.
Using a lens detector
A basic lens detector is cheap, portable and easy to use. When the device finds a lens, a red dot lights up.
However, you need to be very close to the camera in order to find it so it’ll mean scrutinizing every nook and cranny of the room to spot a lens.
Scanning with an advanced detector
An advanced lens detector means you won’t need to get as close to the objects in order to scan them.
Looking at the room through the device, it’ll shine a red light on the items, and if you see a red dot staring back at you, that means you’ve found a hidden camera lens.