While the United States is mired in espionage conspiracy scandals and spreads news about the discovery of a Russian intelligence network, average citizens of both countries are toying with “harmless wiretaps” of each other’s conversations.

First of all, it must be said, that it is not possible to intercept another person’s signal with any box with an antenna. The data transfer channel is well encrypted, so only the mobile operators themselves, at the request of certain government secret services, can carry out this type of interceptions. However, it is possible to keep track of your lovely wife’s activities without the need for such sophisticated methods.

The Internet is full of downloadable programs that can covertly work in the background of a victim’s phone, recording and transferring their coordinates, actual recorded conversations, SMS, and even photos taken by the phone’s built-in camera and elsewhere. Some of these programs can function as a full-fledged “bug,” allowing you to hear everything your microphone picks up in real time. This is quite convenient when it comes to eavesdropping on a secret meeting or even a more secret date.

Users at highest risk are those using phones with Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems. There are also spy trojans for iPhone, however, you will not be able to install it on a non-jailbroken phone (official app store, do not sell such programs).

It is quite difficult for an average user to determine if their phone has a Trojan or not. However, there are some signs that can indirectly suggest that one believes that their phone has been tapped.

1. Hot battery.

If your phone’s battery feels hot, that means it’s actively discharging. This is normal during a conversation, but if you haven’t used the phone for a few hours and the battery still feels warm, that means some process is active inside, and it may well be spyware.

2. Short battery life.

This point is derived from the previous sign: if the battery discharges too quickly, especially if you have not used the phone more than usual, which means that some potentially dangerous application is running on it all the time. However, you should remember that all batteries are prone to eventual deterioration in charge capacity over time, and short battery life is normal. This should only alert you if you’ve noticed that one week you charged your phone once in three days, and then all of a sudden it needed to charge every day.

3. Delayed shutdown.

Pay attention to the time it takes to turn off the phone. If it starts to take suspiciously longer than normal, is accompanied by multiple LED blinks (the screen stays on for a while after the phone is turned off), or refuses to turn off at all, then someone is definitely messing with your phone. Of course, this may have to do with basic technical issues, but it can also point to other, less pleasant causes.

4. Strange behavior in general

If your phone’s LED screen turns on spontaneously, the phone turns off, reboots, installs or launches apps on its own, then most likely you are already “under the hood”. Of course, this can be caused by bugs in the operating system, however, you should not let this go unnoticed either.

5. Interference and poor reception

Interference can be of two types: the ones you hear during your conversation and the ones that happen when you get close to, for example, the audio speakers. In the first case, echoes and any other noise (clicks, hisses, etc.) that interrupt your conversation at any time with any interlocutor may be suspicious. Sometimes this can be due to poor signal quality or other similar issues, but if this starts to happen frequently, regardless of your location and the destination of the call, this may be a good reason to start worrying.

In the second case, it is phantom noise from the phone’s transmitting antenna to other receivers, such as stereo speakers. You’ve probably heard this “gurgling” sound more than once.

Appears during a conversation and also in stand-by mode at short intervals, while the handset is moving to the base station. Abnormal is considered constant “gurgling” while the phone is not in use. This may mean that the spy app is communicating with someone to broadcast the sounds around you.