***Notice: This data is published for information purposes only.***
Ok, there are only about 18 different ways to tap a telephone. We'll speak about the most basic way today. The most basic is the telephone company lineman's handset. You know, the thing the repairman hooks into your wiring to check if you have dial-tone. These devices are common and can be bought at just about any telephone supply outlet. To show you how it's used, let's experiment with your home telephone. Take the cover off the RJ-11 box and inspect the wiring. You should see four wires, red, green, yellow and black. Attach one alligator clip from the handset to the red wire and the other alligator clip to the green wire. Throw the switch on the handset to dial tone and you should hear dial tone through the handset. Dial up a friend and talk. Ok, it works.
Now, you have just tapped into your own telephone line. You can do the same procedure outside your residence to your phone line anywhere between the telephone instrument itself and the central office. By switching the handset to monitor, you can silently monitor all traffic on your telephone line. A telephone company handset in the monitor mode is practically impossible to detect electronically on the telephone line. This procedure can be duplicated on ANY telephone line to provide free (and illegal) telephone service or to monitor (illegally) any target telephone line. Have fun.
Future issues of the Codex will describe in-depth ALL known ways to intercept telephone conversation. This data is provided for informational purposes only.
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HOW TO BUG A ROOM
Yep, that's right. There are countless ways to bug a room. You can plant hardwired microphones, radio bugs, contact microphones, tape recorders, etc. Today we'll speak about a basic inexpensive hardwired microphone installation. If you're not that handy, run down to your neighborhood Radio Shack and purchase an inexpensive amplified speaker and a small tape recorder type microphone. It should cost you no more than about $25 dollars. Let's assume you want to bug the spare bedroom in your home.
Run the microphone into the target room and hide it well. Run the cable into the adjacent room or whatever room you desire to be your listening post. Use extra cable if necessary. Plug the microphone into the microphone jack on the amplified speaker and turn the speaker on. You should hear all sounds in the target room quite clearly. If you desire you can plug the amplified speaker into a Vox operated tape recorder and set the threshold to start only when there is conversation in the room.
This method has one big drawback. If discovered, the microphone cable can be traced back to the listening post but on the plus side it won't be detected during a TSCM sweep unless discovered physically or unless the technician is using a non-linear junction detector.
In future editions of The Codex we'll discuss ALL known ways to bug a room.
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HOW TO INTERCEPT A CELLULAR TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
I once had an acquaintance tell me he was not worried about having his phone tapped. I asked why and he told me he had a cellular phone. "How could they hook up a tap to a wireless phone?' Not everyone is so stupid.
Cellular telephones are very easy (and Illegal) to monitor. All you generally need is a modified (to pick up the 800-900Mhz band) scanner. Simply turn the scanner on and program the search function to search in between the 800-900 mhz band in 30 Khz spacing. Pretty soon you'll be listening to all types of conversations.
You can improve reception by using an antenna that is tuned to the cellular band or using an amplified antenna. One problem that you will encounter in cellular telephone monitoring is loss of conversation due to the target cellular telephone moving from cell to cell. There are various techniques to overcome this problem which will be discussed in-depth in future issues of THE CODEX.
There are also several devices on the market generally sold only to law enforcement agencies that make the job a lot easier and also offer additional information about cellular calls such as ESN (electronic serial number), NAM readers, etc. New technologies also allow cellular telephones to be tracked electronically to give the users location. Such is the case as in Los Angeles when the LAPD tracked down OJ Simpson during the infamous car chase with his buddy Al Cowlings. More in-depth info to follow in the CODEX.
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HOW TO INTERCEPT A DIGITAL PAGER
With the explosion of people using digital pagers as a primary form (10% of Americans carry pagers) of communications, it was inevitable that someone would want to intercept this form of communication. Guess what, it's pretty easy. If you have the proper equipment that is.
What is a pager and how does it work? A pager is a miniature radio receiver that has it's own frequency (cap code) that receives a signal sent out by the pager company. There are several types of pagers in use today, numeric, tone, tone & voice, and alphanumeric display. Each one notifies the user of a message and possibly displays that message depending on it's format. The message is sent by radio wave. As you know radio wave can easily be intercepted.
To intercept pager traffic you need a decoder to automatically decode DTMF tones such as ASCII, Baudot, CTCSS, POCSAG and GOLAY. You will also need a good quality radio receiver or scanner. There is also software available to install in your PC that will control a scanner and will automatically lock onto target capcodes or even monitor all traffic on a pager channel. This software is capable of storing all pager traffic from a target capcode and monitoring up to 5000 pagers at a time!
In future issues of THE CODEX we will explore in-depth, actual techniques of digital pager interception and where to get the hardware and software.
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HOW TO DECODE TELEPHONE NUMBERS OFF A TAPE RECORDING
From time to time we have all recorded telephone conversation by means of an automatic telephone recording device, answering machine, etc. When you play back the tape, you will hear the telephone numbers dialed by the target telephone. How do you tell what number is dialed without buying an expensive DTMF decoder?
Use your digital beeper! It's simple. Fast forward the tape recording to the target tones and hit pause on the recorder. Dial up your digital pager and when you hear the prompt, put the mouthpiece of the telephone handset to the speaker on the recorder and press play on the recorder. After the number has played press the # key on the telephone handset to send the message. In a few minutes when your digital beeper sounds, the target telephone number will be displayed on your digital pager. This procedure can be repeated over and over to list all target telephone numbers on the tape recording. No need to buy expensive decoding equipment. We know several private investigators in the New York City metropolitan area that charge up to $75. to decode one telephone number!
Future editions of the Codex will be chock full of labor and money saving tips like this. Subscribe today.
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HOW TO MODIFY AN INEXPENSIVE TAPE RECORDER FOR LONG PLAY/RECORDING
We've all seen those ads in the back of electronics magazines or browsed through the friendly or not so friendly neighborhood spy shop. Ever wonder how they slow down those cassette tape recorders so they record at slower speeds? Some even record at six hours per side with a TDK-180 tape. It's done two ways.
The first is mechanical. Depending on the type of recorder, the unit is opened up and the belt is removed from the drive shaft. The pulley head is removed and cut in half, a looser belt is inserted in replacement for the original and re-inserted so it lays on the shaft. The pulley head is replaced to hold the belt down. Costs about 25 cents and the so called "Spy Stores" in NYC sell these modified tape recorders for 10 times the original price! This method is NOT very dependable.
The second way is electronically. This requires a little more skill. The recorder is disassembled, and you'll need to find the power source. Generally, you would want a schematic. A resistor is placed across a circuit to effectively cut the run time in half. This will cause the recorder to play and record at half speed. If the recorder normally records for one hour per side it will now record at two hours per side. By adding additional resistance to the circuit you can control the play/record time Actual "how to" with certain recorder models in upcoming additions of the Codex.
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HOW TO LISTEN INTO YOUR HOME & OFFICE WHEN YOU'RE AWAY ON VACATION
Ever wonder what's going on when you're away from your home or office? Wife or girl friend cheating? Employees robbing you blind? Suppose you could listen in to any room conversation remotely? Suppose you could listen in to any telephone like or even any telephone extension in your business. Even when you're laying on the beach in Tahiti.
You can. It might not be quite legal but this is how it's done. Ever hear of an infinity transmitter? They're sold mostly in kit form and you'll find them in the back of electronics magazines or law enforcement equipment suppliers. These devices allow the user to remotely listen in to a location over existing telephones lines from anywhere in the world. Generally you'd install a non-pub telephone line in your home or office, then install one or several of these devices on the non-pub line and in the target rooms. You dial up the location from anywhere and enter a security code. This allows you to selectively listen clearly into any room on the premises. There is another system that can hook into your on-premises telephone system that will allow you to listen into any telephone line on-premises or even any telephone extension (for larger businesses). Imagine walking down the street in New York and listening on your cellular telephone to your business partner in Los Angeles trying to put the screws to you! More in-depth info on this subject in upcoming issues of THE CODEX.
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HOW TO SEE INTO YOUR HOME & OFFICE WHEN YOU'RE AWAY ON VACATION
When listening-in just isn't good enough. Imagine the look on your live-in girlfriends face when you show her video of her escapades when you were away on business. How about video of your employees stealing merchandise from your business. The technology exists to remotely monitor video cameras hidden in your home or office over telephone lines from anywhere in the world. There are several systems on the market today that allow for slow scan or real time video transmission over telephone lines. All you have to do is install one or several video cameras (preferably covert ones) on the target premises. Hook them up to the video transmitter, plug the video transmitter into the telephone line (preferably a non-pub number) and the system is ready to be monitored. From a remote location you would dial up the target telephone number, activate the video receiver and enter your security code. You can activate the cameras by touch-tone on the telephone handset (push #1 for camera #1, etc.). You can activate or even videotape each camera at will. Some systems also allow for audio monitoring of the target location provided a microphone has been previously installed.
This system can also monitor several locations around the country or the world remotely. In future issues of THE CODEX we will explore in-depth the various systems available and where to acquire one inexpensively.
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HOW TO DETECT AN EAVESDROPPING DEVICE PLANTED IN YOUR HOME OR OFFICE
Am I bugged? How can I find out? What equipment do I need? What does a bug look like? Well, we'd need a few hundred pages to give you a full background on the subject but we'll talk today about a few of the basics. The most important element of TSCM (technical surveillance countermeasures) is the physical search. Everything in the target premises must be disassembled and inspected. The search should include, furniture, appliances, telephones, computers, wiring, speakers, etc. The electrical wiring should also be inspected. Room bugs can be attached to telephone wiring so you should inspect that also (telephone bugs and wiretapping detection will be covered in another article). Unless your really a bad guy and some agency is after you, the equipment you're looking for is probably not state of the art. The most common way to bug a room is a hidden hardwired microphone run to a nearby listening post. This has some pros and cons. The next most common way is a wireless microphone (commonly refereed to as a bug). Most radio bugs are battery operated and have short transmitting life and range.Radio bugs can generally be detected using a field strength meter, scanner, spectrum analyzer or countersurveillance receiver. Hard wired microphones are more difficult unless you're using a non-linear junction detector. These sell commercially for between $18,000 to $40,000. In a future issue of THE CODEX we'll go in-depth into TSCM, discussing ALL known methods of detection and we'll tell you how to build a NLJD for under $1,000.!
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HOW TO ACQUIRE PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION ON ANYONE
Recent reports in national magazines report that every person living in this country has a file on them somewhere in some computer. Some reports even suggest that the average American could be listed in as many as 200 different data banks. So much for privacy, heh? What's worse is that most of this information is public record and just about anyone has access to it. Usually when private detectives try to dig up dirt on you, they look in the following areas: criminal history, consumer credit history, motor vehicle reports, drivers license information, education verification, social security number verification, prior employment verification, employment & earnings history, workers compensation history, business credit reports, professional license verification, name & address searches, primary residence checks, telephone records including records of local & long distance phone calls, what you charged, where and when on your credit cards, etc. Not a pretty picture. Some of this information is public, some is not. Some information is gathered legally and some is not.
In future issues of THE CODEX we will discuss in-depth various methods of obtaining confidential information about individuals and businesses. All methods including various subterfuges will be covered. We will also list hundreds of sources to obtain information and how it's done.
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INTERESTING NEWS BITS
According to a recent new article in the New York Times, the US Customs service recently raided 40 "Spy Stores" in 24 cities nationwide and arrested owners and employees on various charges ranging from sale and possession of illegal eavesdropping devices to smuggling.
According to the US attorney in Manhattan " these devices made possible the total and secret destruction of our privacy". According to US Customs the investigation lasted 17 months and Customs estimates that these shops sold over 4,400 illegal bugging devices valued at 3 million dollars, illegally. Shops in the New York City area that were busted are The Spy Store on Christopher Street, owners Brian Dunn and Anthony Palma both former NYPD detectives were arrested. The Quark Spy Centre on Third Ave, owners Brian Griffith and Norman Buitta were arrested. SpyMasters of Rockville Centre, owner Phil Rosen was arrested. Spy Mart of Morganville, NJ, owner Michael Falcone was arrested and Allied Products of Clifton, NJ owner Victor Intiso was arrested.
According to an 106 page affidavit filed by US Customs agent William DeArman " these shops sold there wares to drug dealers and other criminals". Editors Note: If you wanna dance, you gotta pay the fiddler guys! Too bad you went bad...
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