How to know if your cell phones are tapped?

Mobile phones

Tapping cell phones is currently more common compared to tapping landline phone numbers. Most of the conversations these days are conducted on cell phones. Hence, 80 percent of the calls being tapped are from cellphones.

If you believe that your phone is being tapped, then during a conversation listen carefully whether the volume of the phone is affected.

There could be short beeps too, which indicate that the phone is being tapped.

Another thing to do is watch the cell phone when it is not in use. It could emit strange sounds when kept aside. It mean that someone is trying to pick up transmissions, a clear indication that the phone is being tapped.

Not only this, such noises would also mean that your cell phone is acting as a transmitter to pick up conversations from phones around you.

There are other symptoms too. The battery of your cell phone could be draining out faster than normal.

Apart from the normal battery problem this could also indicate that your phone is working as a transmitter which is contributing to the battery drain.

Also, if the phone feels warm despite not being in use, then again it would mean it is sending out a transmission in order to tap a phone near you.

There are legal remedies available in case you feel that your phone is being illegally tapped.

A complaint can be lodged with the police and in case the police fails to act.

Landlines

A device called a phone tapping detector could determine if your landline is being tapped or not.

This device can be connected to the telephone and will alert users with a blinking light if the phone is being tapped.

Such a device, which costs around Rs 1,200, is not easily available in India, hence one would have to rely on manual means to determine if the phone is being tapped.

During a conversation if you hear a tone which keeps breaking or has short beeps, this could mean that the phone is being tapped. However one must not confuse it with a long steady tone.

In addition to this, there could be some disturbances which may sound like a radio frequency.

Although in most cases this is just a case of bad reception, it is also an indicator that the phone is being tapped.