Are you going through a Messy Divorce? Is your Phone Tapped? Computer being Monitored? Do you Suspect you've been Bugged? Do you Suspect Spyware has been Installed on your Phone or Computer?

June 16, 2004 -- Massachusetts Private Investigator Robert Pac specializes in locating illegally installed phone taps and computer monitoring spyware devices in domestic situations.

In a 1997 U.S. Department of Justice study*:

About 1 million women are stalked annually

59% of the female stalking victims had been stalked by a current, former marital or cohabiting partner.

Stalkers spied on or followed about 75 percent of victims

In a 1976 report by the National Commission for the Review of Federal and State Laws Relating to Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance, nearly 80 percent of reported wiretapping matters involved an attempt by a spouse to obtain evidence for use against the other spouse in a domestic matter.

Under Federal Law regardless of the state, it is illegal to record a conversation to which at least one person is not a party of the phone call.

Under Federal law monitoring and intercepting electronic communications, which includes computer communications is illegal, EVEN if the computer was bought jointly and is shared by a husband and wife in their marital home.

Computer Spyware:
Computer Activity Monitors are Hardware devices or Software programs which have different options to capture screenshots, record all keystrokes typed, record email and chat sessions, websites visited, Instant messages and Passwords basically anything done on the computer will be recorded and stored in a file, sometimes encrypted and the more popular versions of this spyware software will email all of these results to a remote computer at scheduled days and times with all of this done in STEALTH mode without your knowledge. Making the detection of this software even more difficult, is that some of these programs can rename themselves and change their location at random or uninstall themselves at a preset time.

If you think you're safe because you have an up to date anti virus software program, you checked the installed programs listing, add/remove category, standard start up area and tried pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete on your computer and nothing showed up, you still need to be careful because these programs are designed to be invisible to these methods.

Angel Lee of El Mirage, Arizona was sentenced to 60 days home detention after pleading guilty to intercepting her husband's ex wife emails at least 215 times.

Steven Paul Brown of Michigan was charged with four felony counts of using a computer to eavesdrop for installing the eblaster software on his estranged wife Patricia Brown's computer.

Robert S. Douglas of Williston Pennsylvania was ordered to stand trial on charges that include unlawful use of a computer, access-device fraud and interception, and disclosure or use of electronic communications after he installed a computer monitoring program called Supersave on a computer he bought for his wife before their separation.

Phone Tapping Hardware:
Phone Taps The majority of spousal surveillance wiretapping isn't very sophisticated and is done using simple tape recording devices from electronics stores such as Radio Shack.

Mark Laffey of Oyster Bay, NY was arrested and charged with wiretapping for allegedly rigging a hidden tape recorder to record his wife Maureen's phone calls at their Oyster Bay estate. Mrs. Laffey who filed for divorce last year called the police after she uncovered the hidden recorder inside her bedroom closet. Mark was charged with criminal eavesdropping which is a felony and faces up to four years behind bars if convicted.

Warning signs of Monitoring Spyware:

- Your computer has started to run slower. In Windows 2000/XP launching the task manager and clicking on the Performance tab reveals that your system is running using 100% of it's CPU cycle by an unknown program.

- Your hard drive space is being used up or you get a message that your virtual memory is low

- Someone "accidentally" spilled something in your keyboard and replaced it with a new one

- You find a small unknown cylindrical piece of hardware attached to the keyboard cable on the back of your computer

- When you try to run an anti monitoring spyware program it won't run, crashes and shuts your computer down and/or giving an error message

- While movies depict clicking sounds as an indication that a phone is tapped, most of the time their will be no noises indicating a phone tap.

S- omeone you know has intimate details of your private conversations

- Someone you know, regularly just happens to bump into you at private places or events

Forget the spyware detectors sold on the Internet and at Spy Stores with their blinking lights, bells and whistles these are usually nothing more than gadgets and novelty items. Unless your estranged spouse has a great deal of technical knowledge you don't need to have your whole house swept costing you thousands of dollars, most telephone wiretaps installed in a domestic situation aren't very sophisticated and can be detected with a basic test of the telephone line voltage and a visual inspection. Computer monitoring can be a little more difficult to detect as it requires a more specialized knowledge of the different types of spyware software and hardware devices. While there are some good anti spyware software programs and these should be one of the tools used, none of the current programs can locate all spyware. A good Countermeasures expert uses a combination of hardware, software, physical searches and specialized knowledge to examine, locate, analyze and remove spyware.

For further information or help locating a reputable Private Investigator or Countermeasures firm in your area that can perform these Investigations please visit our website at www.InterTraceInvestigations.com

We have contacts worldwide available to assist us.

We are Experts at Technical Surveillance Countermeasures, Wiretap Detection, Locating Eavesdropping Devices, Computer Spyware Detection and Surveillance in Domestic Situations.

WARNING: DO NOT CONTACT US FROM A PHONE OR COMPUTER WHICH YOU SUSPECT MAY HAVE SPYWARE INSTALLED ON IT!

Robert Pac a Massachusetts licensed Private Detective is the owner of InterTrace Investigations Group, which Specializes in Computer Spyware and Telephone Countermeasures used illegally in Domestic situations. He can be reached at www.InterTraceInvestigations.com
Phone (413) 527-6990 Fax (413) 529-1960

*From: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice: "The Crime of Stalking: How Big Is the Problem?" by Patricia Tjaden. Published: November 1997



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