Are you wondering how to tell if your phone is tapped by the police or law enforcement? Finding out if police are tapping your phone is more accessible today with the advancement of technology. While it’s challenging to identify wiretapping over landline phones, for a cell phone, there are companies and apps that can assist in identifying a phone tapped by the police.
Certain companies can inform you if a fake antenna is tapping your phone, or if the police are trying to hack your phone to get into your private conversations and messages.
However, the antenna that is being used to identify if police tap a phone doesn’t involve encrypting your calls or text messages. These antennas will only inform you that your phone is being tapped.
Can Police Tap Your Phone Without You Knowing?
Yes, your cell phone can be tapped by the police without you ever knowing. There are a couple of different ways they can go about it – putting a physical bug on your phone or connecting to your ISP and gathering all your calls and SMS data. However, there are certain rules they must follow before they can tap your phone. Unless they’re certain that collected data can be used as evidence in court, they probably won’t be able to get a warrant to tap your phone.
Why Would Police Want to Tap My Phone?
There are several reasons why police would tap your mobile. For policy reasons, they might need some valuable information that they may need in an ongoing investigation. Whatever may be the reason, there is a way to know now that someone is trying to tap your phone.
Tracking applications, like mSpy, are increasingly popular due to many hackers wanting to hack valuable information from your phone as everyone is solely dependent on the net. Thus, there are more tracking applications available online.
How to Know If Your Phone Is Tracked By the Police
Wondering: Can anyone listen to my cell phone conversations? Yes, they can! Because our phones are connected to the cloud, it has never been easier for the police to track your data. Here are some of the most common signs that show that your phone is being tracked by the police:
1. You’re Having Difficulties Turning Off Your Device
If you are having special issues in turning off your mobile like it keeps freezing up or fails to shut down properly. It could be a sign that it is compromised, and there might be a spy app installed on your device.
- The backlight remains on even after your device shuts down
2. Decreased Phone Battery Life
Unauthorized background programs installed on your phone are probably responsible.
- The phone heats up more than usual.
- Your phone’s battery lasts a lot less than usual.
3. You’ve Noticed Some Unusual Activity
Inexplicable activities on your device may indicate that it is bugged. If there are weird or unexplainable activities that are not usually on your mobile, especially if you are not using it, it could be a sign that someone is trying to hack or target your mobile account. Some of these could include –
- You are receiving strange coded SMS texts with weird characters.
- Strange pop-up ads from malware or spyware apps that you didn’t install.
- Screen distortions and program installations without you doing them
4. Background Noise When Making a Call
Hearing strange, suspicious noises coupled with other signs might mean your phone has been tapped.
- Inexplicable static, clicking or high-pitched murmurs
- Static signals and unusual background noise when you make a call.
- A low-frequency sound bandwidth sensor goes off when checking for inaudible sounds on your phone networks.
5. Electronic Interference
You encounter electronic interference from surrounding devices even when you’re not connected on a call.
- Your FM radio or television emits a high-pitched sound when you’re device is close to it.
6. You’re Phone Is Spending More Data Than Usual
If you notice increased data or SMS usage, there’s probably a phone tapping software that’s responsible for it.
- There’s spyware transmitting information from your phone to a receiving device.
- You run out of data sooner than you usually do.
Can an iPhone Be Tapped By the Police?
Yes, even an iPhone can be tapped by the police. Because they usually tap someone’s phone because they’re participating in illegal activities, most companies and internet service providers will cooperate and provide them with the necessary actions to prevent any potential crimes.
Code to Check if the Phone Is Tapped
Dial these USSD codes to know if someone’s tapping your phone.
*#21# — checks if your calls and messages are being diverted.
*#62# — provides information on where the calls and messages are being redirected to.
##002# — deactivates all diverts.
What to Do if Your Phone Is Tapped
Now that you know how to know if your phone is being tracked by police, here’s what you can do if it is.
- Get your phone services provider to help
If you tell them that you suspect your phone is being tapped, they’ll do a line analysis check using specialized equipment to detect illegal phone tapping.
- Get the police to help
They would use specialized equipment to test for illegal tapping on your phone and catch the culprit responsible for it.
Melissa says
Do these codes work with Verizon carrier in the United States? Because when I dial the codes *#21# and *#62# I get “(Robotic voice) Welcome to Verizon Wireless. The number cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again. Announcement for (switches to a real voice recording after this point) location 51231.” With the last code, it is slightly different, when the voice changes, it says “404 location 51231.” If it does work on Verizon Wireless in the United States, what do these things mean?
Michael A Stabile says
Get one of those game horns . Pick up your phone and wait for a dial tone. Then give it a blast from the game horn. Who ever is listening in on your calls will go deaf for a while. That will stop the tapping of your phone because no one will want to listen in on your calls because of the horn.
Joe says
My battery runs down fast, and when I text, two messages pop up, then one disappears…. like my texting is open on another phone, I also get SMS texts with strange codes
Joseph says
My phone acts weird when I text, especially when I send a text, 2 messages pop up at once, then one disappears?
Joe says
My phone is MOST DEFINITELY being spied on and I’m pretty sure that at first it was a sociopathic, narcissist stalking/spying on me, and then when he got enough incriminating “evidence” against me, he turned it over to the authorities and they’re probably the ones behind it now. I say that because when put in context with every other abnormal occurrences I’ve been noticing, it makes sense. So yeah, I can’t call the police to have them “help” me.
B G says
What if the Police are the ones doing the tapping. Then what? They have tapped may son’s phone for around 2 years now. Unlimited, no crime so I doubt if there is a Court Order. Besides, there is usually a legal time limit especially when nothing has happened. And nothing has happened. they just took over my phone when I got a new one, and they divert and answer some of my calls. I know because they used the wrong company name when they answer the phone. What do I do.
Claire says
It’s better to consult a lawyer.
Mitu says
I think one of my neighbor, is a police, is tapping my phone. I can’t complaint to police station because he is police. How to know it and how to stop it.
Kathleen says
I think my phone is being bugged my my x boyfriend who is a retired New York City police officer. I’m going to try and look into it. To many coincidences and it’s making feel crazy.