What are the chances of women being secretly recorded?

[ChristmasisinManchester]

It’s rare I go into a public toilet, or changing cubicle in a swimming pool without looking around for a hidden camera now. I sometimes wonder in hotels and rented properties if there is a camera.

I’ve never found one. Have I unknowingly looked straight at one? I think I must have done.

The news stories of men being caught, availability of small devices and my general distrust of men do get my brain thinking.

We find out about them rarely, but they are set up by men who use multiple cameras, for hours and hours of footage of women.

I do have anxiety and sometimes obsessive thinking. I do not think anyone is trying to record ME, I don’t think I’m under surveillance or of any interest to anyone.

I just wonder what the occurrence is of illegal voyeurism in our society and sometimes I wonder why more isn’t being done to do random checks etc.

if anyone can put my mind at rest, or join me in my new paranoia feel free!

New report out by Swim England

Some 48 incidents of filming women over or under cubicles using mobile phones have been reported at competition events between January 2024 and this February.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14558409/increase-voyeurs-indecent-images-female-swimming.html

Slides from an 'extraordinary safeguarding meeting', published on a regional website for Swim England and seen by MailOnline, suggested the majority of incidents took place in mixed-sex changing areas.

Some of those filmed said they felt scared and embarrassed, and even considered leaving the sport altogether. It has prompted Swim England to warn organisers of swimming competitions to find ways of segregating changing facilities.

The devices are so cheap and small and so many men are just depraved sex friends that I think the chances are probably very high really. It’s a bit like aliens. We have never met an alien but the numbers mean they are almost certainly out there.

This is on my mind a lot, and it’s one reason why I try to avoid these mixed sex toilets that seem to be popping up all over the place (are they phasing out separate loos for men and women?). But obviously it’s not always possible to avoid these loos, and women’s toilets aren’t safe from disgusting men setting these cameras up.
It just makes me really sad. I have lost so much respect for men as I’ve reached middle age. I know there are good ones out there, but so many men are just utterly disgusting beyond words. Never thought I’d say that.

Does anyone know what the cameras look like and where they're typically placed? I'd like to know what to look for.

There was thread the other day asking about leaving contractors in your home alone and I really wanted to say probably not in case they do something like this, but I didn't want to sound like a lunatic .

Having previously worked with sex offenders I often joke that I fully expect to be filmed when using a public toilet, except I’m not really joking at all.

I also wonder about this @ChristmasisinManchester and do occasionally check briefly to see if there’s any cameras in toilets etc. I reckon it’s much more common than we want to consider.

Hmm, I've never even worried about this! If someone put one in a public place, wouldn't they need to stay nearby to connect to it, or is there a type of wireless device they can access from miles away? Wouldn't it show up on other networks and be discovered fairly quickly, traced to the person who planted it? Would men really risk arrest and prison sentences to see a few random bare bottoms in a public loo, when porn is so easily and legally available?

(All genuine questions, I may be out of date on the tech available)

Why do these people do anything illegal when porn is readily available??
To humiliate us and make us feel fear and powerless.
If someone can imagine it, then someone can do it.

search on Amazon for “spy camera” and you’ll see a variety. And see how cheap they are.

from looking at pictures etc of those who’ve been discovered they’re typically hidden - so it’s only the lens you might be able to see.

often what the giveaway is when an LED on device starts flashing because it’s low on battery.

Different devices have different problems.

the ones which are WiFi connected are more likely to be in private spaces like air bnbs etc because you need to have close access to it I’m guessing? This links up to your home PC or mobile etc so you’re at a huge risk if you leave it in a high traffic area - the more people who use the private space the more likely you’ll get found and traced

Other devices have an SD card, so you can collect it and presumably the device is untraceable other than fingerprints or tracking the sale of the product ?

I agree with @Doingtheboxerbeat

the gratification is not from the clarity of the images it’s humiliation and perversion.

January to December of last year saw a 24% rise in reported cases of voyeurism and exhibitionism (crime statistics unhelpfully combine the two) in the UK. This is partly why the government is attempting to tighten legislation around hidden cameras, which are easily available in specialist spy stores, as well as on sites such as Amazon and eBay, and often made to look like clocks, adapters, photo frames, humidifiers, even disposable coffee cups.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/27/secret-spy-cameras-voyeurism-uk

And the politicians are allegedly at it now

Sorry, link

https://news.sky.com/story/msp-denies-placing-secret-camera-in-scottish-parliament-toilets-13420867

Porn isn't so readily available now.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c17n9k54qz2o

I would have thought you were being paranoid until a few weeks ago when I read about this.

A junior doctor putting cameras in staff toilets at 3 hospitals in Melbourne. He was doing it for 5 years. One of my friends works at one of the hospitals.

Completely disgusting, and I can’t imagine finding out that happened in my workplace.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-21/junior-doctor-extra-charges-melbourne-hospitals/105681738

No idea but I am not going to look back on life and be glad I spent the whole time worrying about things out of my control it is not healthy for me or my child, if it is not this people who choose to worry will find the next thing to worry about for some people worrying is like a drug

Tbh I’m not sure why they’d bother. AI can just take an image of someone on the street and make a video of them doing whatever the person wants. Posting it online would just be a drop in the ocean.

You can get camera detector devices online though.

The fact there isn't clear information on where to check makes me suspect the instances of hidden cameras in public loos are rare. The loos I go in don't typically have places where you could conceal a lense at all, it's got to have a clear view and the means the victim has a clear view the other way, even if the lense is small, it's not invisible.

Clearly in a swimming pool mixed sex changing room with gaps under the cubicle there's nothing at all to stop a teenager(?) holding his phone under a changing cubicle, so the risk there is very real. Personally, I find our pool is never so busy that I can't find a cubicle without neighbours and I'm pretty sure I'd notice a phone poked under even for a moment, but the risk is there.

Hotel Rooms/Air BnBs? It would technically easy to get data back from a camera etc but the risk of getting caught is high. Everyone who goes in the room has a chance of finding it and it only takes one person to notice it.

So my judgement is: Public Loos: highly unlikely to be common and if it's happening a lot "the authorities" would be telling us where to look. Swimming pool: Very real risk depending on the changing room design. Hotel/Air BnB: easy to set something up but highly risky for the perv.

I think it must be very rare otherwise there'd be a thriving market for countermeasures both electronic and education on locating hidden cameras.

I’d like to think it’s rare but I think it’s more common than we’d all like to believe. I might be more paranoid than most as I vaguely know someone who did this at work. It made the local papers and he got a slap on the wrist. For something that’s a massive, massive deal in my opinion (especially as children used this toilet too) I feel a small deal was made of it.

I think pathetic punishments these men get if caught are no deterrent.

Colin Smith, the MSP was allowed back into Holyrood to wander around AFTER he was charged with the above offences of filming.

It will be interesting to see what punishment he gets. Very little I suspect.

Colin Smith, the MSP was allowed back into Holyrood to wander around AFTER he was charged with the above offences of filming.

• He's lost access to the building.
• No devices were found.
• He hasn't been charged with the hidden camera stuff.

If we exaggerate the risk we're doing the perv's job for them, they want women to be afraid.

It happened in my friend’s university accommodation- 2 young men were filming girls in the shower with tiny cameras found hidden in various places (this was about 20 years ago now) and they got thrown off their courses and prosecuted.