AUSTIN, Texas — A pair of sunglasses, a coffee cup, a nightlight and more – all of these things could hold a secret camera to watch your every move.
There have been a few recent cases in our area recently where people say they're spied on in private places, like a changing room. That's where Lakeway police say a manager at the Canyon Grille put a hidden camera. He's since been fired.
Canyon Grille posted on its Facebook page addressing the incident.
Last month, police arrested a man for installing a hidden wireless camera in his neighbor's guest bathroom. Later, it was found that there were multiple victims in that neighborhood.
On Harrisglen Drive in northeast Austin, a woman's boyfriend is charged after giving her an alarm clock that had a camera inside.
At the Spy Shop in Round Rock, they sell hidden cameras that they say are specifically for security. They say having a camera placed in an inanimate object could help fool thieves in your home who don't think a camera is catching them in the act.
"If you want to be able to have evidence of somebody taking something from you, stealing from you, if it's something people don't even recognize as a camera, they're just going to walk on by it, not even taking it as evidence," said Kellie Martin, who owns the shop.
She suggests that if you feel you're being recorded, there's a few things to look out for, like objects in a room where they normally wouldn't be.
"Anything that's off in a different area that it's not supposed to be in – bathrooms, clocks in bathrooms, clocks in closets that you're going to change into," said Martin.
They also suggest buying a camera finder. It's a device that you turn on, put up to your eye, and a blinking orange light reflects the hidden camera on the object back into the camera finder.
Below is an image showing what it would look like.
"We do not sell these cameras for somebody to go use them illegally," said Martin.
She says they've had to turn away customers who seem a little off-putting.
"There are some creepy customers," said Martin. "We can sometimes tell what they're going to be doing with their cameras most of the time. We do ask them, 'Give me some background. What are you looking for? How are you going to use it?' So we can sell them the right product. If they get too creepy then we do not sell them."
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: