Coat hooks can be used for a wide variety of purposes.
They have a wide variety of uses, including storing apparel, umbrellas, headphones, and keys.
As innovative as they are, you wouldn’t think they’d be utilized for anything sinister and immoral, right?
Until I heard this, I had no idea they were capable of such a feat.
Some of the coat hooks seen in public restrooms and hotel rooms are hidden cameras.
There have been reports of similar gadgets showing up in public places like hotels’ bathrooms and women’s changing rooms.
There have been three recent reports from Floridians. According to the MCSO’s report:
“In all three incidents, miniature cameras hidden in coat hooks were found mounted on the walls in the women’s restrooms. They were found at Anne’s Beach on May 26th, the Circle K Store at the 99.8 mile marker of Highway U.S. One on May 28th and in the women’s bathroom at Harry Harris Park in Tavernier [on May 31].”
Another camera attached to a garment hook was discovered in a Kansas YMCA locker room in 2011 when a woman accidentally knocked it to the floor.
According to the incident’s investigators, the hook was sticky on its underside.
“The device is not something that would stand out,” Lt. Randy Reynolds of the Wichita Police Department’s $ex Crimes Unit said. “They could be in changing rooms anywhere.”
The scariest part is that one can buy such gadgets for next to nothing, from 20 to 50 bucks.
The company goes so far as to advertise their wares with the slogan, “No one will suspect a clothes hook of concealing a camera.”
MicroSD cards, which are compatible with the hooks, have a maximum recording time of 2 hours at 16 GB.
If you were suspicious that someone in your office was stealing from you, I could see how this would be helpful to have on hand. However, a much larger percentage of users are abusing them for sexual purposes and spying on innocent children and women.
How do you identify one?
Knowing what to look for, it’s not hard to spot one of these gadgets. They appear to be standard plastic coat hooks, save for a tiny opening in the top. Those are the lenses. (highlighted in red)
Some may even include a side button that you press in order to begin using the motion sensor.