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Licensed private investigator · registration RD-14/2026
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Bug sweeping for premises and vehicles

Technical surveillance countermeasures for offices, boardrooms, homes and vehicles: listening devices, concealed cameras and GPS trackers. Carried out discreetly, with measuring equipment, and documented in a written report.

When a sweep is warranted

Signals worth acting on

A listening device rarely gives itself away. Usually the first symptom is that the other side knows things it has no way of knowing.

  • A counterparty or opponent knows the detail of arrangements made only behind closed doors.
  • A competitor submits a bid so precisely pitched against yours that it reads as though the contents were known in advance.
  • During litigation, acquisition talks or a dispute over assets, the other side anticipates your moves with unusual accuracy.
  • New objects, sockets, power strips or sensors have appeared in a room and nobody can say where they came from.
  • A former partner, business associate or dismissed employee previously had free access to the office, the home or the car.
  • A phone runs hot and drains without cause, and the car's interior trim shows signs of recent removal.
Analiza widma radiowego Wykres przemiatania pasma radiowego: nierówna linia szumu tła z jednym wyraźnym, wyróżnionym pikiem sygnału.

Scope

Four areas of examination

The scope follows where information could realistically have been lost. A sweep usually covers more than one area — the room alone is not enough if the same person also has access to the car.

Offices, boardrooms and meeting spaces

Sweeping the rooms where decisions are made: the board office, the meeting room, the negotiation space, the law firm. We examine the full radio spectrum, the telecoms and electrical wiring, and the objects in which devices are most often concealed — sockets, power strips, light fittings, sensors and office equipment.

The sweep is carried out outside working hours, or under a cover story agreed with you, so that neither the staff nor the person under suspicion learns that it took place.

Scope

  • radio spectrum analysis
  • detection of GSM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transmitters
  • non-linear junction detection
  • inspection of wiring and installations
  • physical inspection of furnishings
  • acoustic leakage assessment of walls and doors

Homes, flats and private premises

Sweeping private space where there is a reasonable suspicion that someone has visibility into your domestic life. This most often arises in divorce and post-divorce matters, disputes over assets, and situations after a relationship ends in which the other party previously had free access to the home.

We also examine devices that are capable of listening in their own right: home security cameras, baby monitors, smart speakers and televisions with built-in microphones.

Scope

  • bedrooms, living areas and home offices
  • detection of concealed cameras
  • review of smart-home devices
  • router and home network check
  • inspection of furniture and fittings

Cars and other vehicles

A vehicle is the most common place for both a listening device and a tracker to be fitted — it stands unattended for hours, and access to it is available to the garage, the car wash and anyone who has ever held a spare key. We check the cabin, the boot, the engine bay, the underside and wheel arches, and the vehicle's electrical system.

Trackers are treated as a separate exercise: both units powered from the vehicle's wiring and magnetic battery modules that transmit only intermittently and remain invisible to simple detectors for most of the time.

Scope

  • cabin, boot and engine bay
  • underside and wheel arches
  • OBD port and electrical system
  • wired and battery-powered GPS trackers
  • voice-activated GSM listening devices
  • cars, vans and fleet vehicles

Phones, computers and mobile devices

Not every leak requires a device hidden in a wall. Increasingly the source is software installed on the phone or laptop of someone with access to the information. We examine the device for spyware, unusual application permissions, forwarding rules and management profiles.

We examine only devices you are legally entitled to examine — company equipment or your own phone. We do not undertake to examine another person's device without the owner's consent.

Scope

  • spyware detection
  • application permission audit
  • review of management profiles and enrolled devices
  • check of call and mail forwarding rules
  • preservation of evidence for proceedings

Method

How a sweep is carried out

A single room or vehicle normally takes three to five hours; an office floor takes a full day. The timing and the manner of entry are arranged so that the work goes unnoticed.

  1. An initial conversation away from the location

    We meet or speak well away from the room and the vehicle concerned — if a device is present, a conversation about the planned sweep would be the first thing it transmits. We establish who has access, how long the suspicion has been running and what specifically has leaked.

  2. Baseline radio measurement

    We begin by recording the normal spectrum around the location: base stations, neighbouring Wi-Fi networks, wireless equipment. Without that reference every signal in the building looks suspicious; what is genuinely suspicious is the one that cannot be attributed to a known source.

  3. Spectrum sweep and transmission detection

    Analysis of the band for analogue and digital transmitters, GSM and LTE modules, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, and short or intermittent bursts. Devices that do not transmit continuously — waking on sound or at a set hour — are treated as a separate exercise.

  4. Non-linear junction detection and wiring checks

    A non-linear junction detector finds electronics even when the device is switched off, unpowered, or operating purely as a recorder with no transmission at all. In parallel we examine telecoms cabling, sockets, power strips, light fittings and the electrical installation.

  5. Physical inspection and optical detection

    Examination of equipment, furniture, suspended ceilings and any component that could be swapped for an identical-looking one. Lens detection reveals cameras even when no image is being transmitted at the time.

  6. Report and recommendations

    A written report: what was examined and when, with what equipment, and with what result. If something was found — documentation of the location and method of concealment, and a discussion of next steps. If nothing was found — a clear statement of what has been excluded and what lies beyond the reach of the examination.

Sprawdzenie pojazdu Schemat samochodu widzianego z góry z zaznaczonymi strefami badania: deska rozdzielcza, fotele, kabina i bagażnik; jedno miejsce oznaczone jako znalezione urządzenie.

Vehicles

Why a car is swept separately

A vehicle is a rewarding target: it stands unattended in car parks, at the garage and outside the house, and its interior offers dozens of places where a small device disappears without trace. It is also where people travel alone or in pairs and say things they would not say in the office.

Two kinds of device turn up most often. GPS trackers — powered from the vehicle's wiring, or battery units on magnets, typically in a wheel arch, behind a bumper or in the boot. And voice-activated GSM listening devices wired into the electrical system, into the OBD port, or concealed in the headlining.

Sweeping a vehicle requires partial removal of interior trim and inspection of the underside, so we do it somewhere that allows us to work unhurried — your own garage or a workshop arranged in advance.

Equipment and methods

What we examine with

No single instrument finds everything. Effectiveness comes from combining methods whose weaknesses cancel each other out.

Spectrum analyser

Records transmissions across a wide band and distinguishes a transmitter concealed in the room from a signal originating outside it. It also picks up devices that transmit briefly and irregularly.

Non-linear junction detector

Finds semiconductors in walls, furniture and fittings regardless of whether the device is powered. The only method effective against recorders that transmit nothing at all.

Thermal imaging

Reveals components giving off heat where nothing should be warm — behind a socket, inside a light fitting, in a vehicle's headlining.

Lens detection

Detects camera optics by retroreflection, including when the camera is switched off or sits behind a panel transparent to infrared.

Line testers

Examination of telephone lines, network cabling and the electrical installation for devices wired in series or in parallel, and for transmission over the mains.

Acoustic assessment

Checking whether a conversation carries through a wall, a ventilation duct or a door. The simplest form of eavesdropping is often missing insulation rather than a device.

Legal limits

What we do and what we do not do

Detecting listening devices in your own premises, home or vehicle is entirely lawful — it is the protection of your own privacy and of your business secrets. We carry out a sweep only for a person with legal title to the location: the owner, the tenant, or the business occupying the premises.

We do not install listening devices or trackers. We do not intercept other people's conversations, and we do not accept instructions aimed at controlling another person. We do not examine a phone or computer belonging to someone else without the owner's consent.

If we find something. We do not remove the device immediately, and we advise against destroying it. A device that has been found is evidence — in criminal proceedings for breach of the secrecy of communications, in divorce proceedings, or in a commercial dispute. We document the location and method of concealment, preserve the scene as found, and discuss with you whether to take the matter to the police, to the prosecutor, or to use it in proceedings already under way. The decision is yours, ideally after speaking to your lawyer.

Sprawdzenie pomieszczenia Rzut sali konferencyjnej z góry: stół z miejscami siedzącymi oraz punkty kontrolne przy gniazdach, oprawie oświetleniowej i czujniku sufitowym.

Questions

Common questions

Can a sweep be carried out unnoticed?

Yes, and that is normally how it is planned. We work outside office hours, at the weekend, or under the cover of an inspection of the installations. If the suspicion concerns a particular person around you, nobody but you needs to know the date.

Is a detector bought online enough?

Inexpensive detectors respond to any radio signal, so in an office building they alarm constantly while still missing a device that happens not to be transmitting. A recorder writing audio to a memory card will never be detected by one — there is nothing to detect.

How long does it take?

A single office or a car — usually three to five hours. A flat — half a day. An office floor with a boardroom — a day or two. A thorough examination cannot be done in an hour, and offers promising that timescale deserve caution.

What if you find nothing?

You receive a report setting out what was examined, by what method, and with what result. That is a full result in its own right — it narrows the search for the source of the leak to people and processes rather than devices. Where suspicion recurs, we propose periodic sweeps.

Does a sweep need repeating?

If cleaning contractors, refurbishment crews or outside visitors have access to a room, a single sweep secures only the day on which it was carried out. For boardrooms and high-value negotiations, a sweep before every significant meeting is the norm.

What does it cost?

The price depends on the number and size of the rooms, the number of vehicles, and whether the work must remain unnoticed. After a short conversation we give a range and a date — with no charge for the quotation itself.

Call from outside the location

If you suspect a listening device in your office, home or car, do not discuss it there. Call from another room or from the street and we will agree the scope and the date.