This is SCARE-EEY!!!!

You had "hundreds and hundreds" of mp3s and you didnt notice the storage space that would take?

If somone wanted to record you and compromised your device in such a way that would allow them to it would be trivial for them to then delete the file.

originally posted by: AScrubWhoDied
You had "hundreds and hundreds" of mp3s and you didnt notice the storage space that would take?

If somone wanted to record you and compromised your device in such a way that would allow them to it would be trivial for them to then delete the file.

All depend on the bitrates of the files, for voice recording you don’t need CD quality and can drop it down to where you’d have reasonable size files. If his computer is anything like my main I have 8Tbs of storage across 5 drives so it’s pretty easy to lose track of a few hundred megs here and there.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I'm truly sorry for your discovery my friend~! (I've had my gmail hacked and personal ID stolen and went to court over the last one, it sucks !) anyways...noticed right off the bat the file names were timestamps and that's how iOS voice recorder uses it's default file name (or very similar, but most VC's apps would be similar as well)

not sure if I saw you post this already, as a reminder, have you blocked your browsers access to the mic and did you have that browser minimized when you were having the convo's ? if SO, then the game is more afoot than simple hacking...(IMO)

Full convo's are troubling, to say the least.

Things I would ponder thus far:

Who would benefit the MOST from this and why?

A month break btwn convo's is a pattern, as it has been suggested, it could have been a hacker, they recorded but moved on, however, but for them to know the exact time to start and to stop the recording, suggests (imo) manual manipulation to start the recording, meaning they would have to physically or remotely KNOW when you were at home.
Why would a hacker leave a file on YOUR system? (someone with more experience than me can chime in here since I don't hack or crack)

Work place monitoring is out of the question, wouldn't?

Am I (you) still being monitored and how would I know if I was/wasn't?

Hidden files suggest high level of intelligence to the OS.(correct me if I'm wrong, but, they never showed up until the HD swap?)

Only 2 conclusions to this from what I see, what about you?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Are your conversations clear or do they seem to be at a distance? Only reason I Ask is because it would help determine how close you were to the device recording you. Also were the recordings of both parties or just you?

Does it seem like it was recording you while you were at a specific location or on a specific device? Phone, Tablet, Laptop, ETC etc.

Also have you checked the meta data for any specific info such as what software was used or what not?

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
...even one of me talking to my dogs!

What did they say?

He said he was talking to the dogs, not that the dogs were talking to him.

originally posted by: Alien Abduct

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
...even one of me talking to my dogs!

What did they say?

He said he was talking to the dogs, not that the dogs were talking to him.

That was the joke R/Swsoosh lol

I read his other post (2017), about setting up a gmail account for his mum (using his work phone to send her test emails), then at a later date, found he was logged into YouTube under his mums name.

Is there software using voice recognition, that is linking his mums account to him, because he set it up (facial recognition would work to).

Is his work phone connecting (blue toothng IDK) to other devices IE, sending a conversation he had in the car, to his laptop, as an mp3 to be sent ....between 19:00 to 9:00 hours to the spyprick.

I've read that the spy agencies use phones and computers for this, save the conversations and retrieve them later.

Because we know that spy agencies use multiple methods of surveillance.

But so does failbook and a lot of other software groups. Remember the people that pretended they had a cat,(conversations they had at home) and got heaps of adds for pet products?

Let's face it, Putin banned Microsoft and has gone back to typewriters.

There are a lot of options here, but unless he built his computer and phone himself, it's going to have automatic spying functions.

Another poster raised workplace spying, that's interesting and easily done. I think he should ask work if they carry out survelliance on staff.

He mentions his friend is a genius, maybe the spying is targeting someone else and all known associates, and OP is an associate.

Has OP got a workmate or friend that's attracted surveillance? And OP has just been caught up too?

Maybe Mum was really helpful to some stranger and unknowing carried coke into the country on her last holiday?

It would be great if he could trace were the files were uploaded to (geolocater) and send them a nice spike.

Also, OP has all this gear to pick up various frequencies over a 25km area.
OP, is it turned on?
Is it always turned on?
Are you actually using this stuff?
Is there a record on this fab gear that might show if and when your devices were remotely hacked?

Condoms only work when they are on.


PS, my neighbor has surveillance cameras in light globes, they are motion activated. Bought online.

Eagerly awaiting the outcome of OPs drama.

I had a bit of a surveillance / stalking issue myself.

a reply to: TheLorax

That's interesting. I had forgotten all about that deal with my Mom's computer, and you're right.

Regarding the spectrum analysis stuff, no, it is not always set up and it is not running all the time. It takes a while to set it up, and you have to use different antennas for different frequency bands. So no, if it was intermittent you might not catch it. I haven't checked anything simply because it seems like it was only happening for that period of time back in 2017. Probably wouldn't find anything now.

Just a general update of sorts:

I haven't really done any more with this since the OP. I have been reading all the great suggestions, and when I get some time to fiddle around with this, I will. In the meantime, if someone wants to listen to my conversations then let them. Right now I don't really have that much in the way of important stuff to say...unless someone wants to listen to me interviewing job candidates or listen to me lamenting about how screwed up working in south America is...that, or talking to my dogs.

I will update this post when I know more.

Not a ton of time to get into this since I'm rushing out the door for work, but I did want to say a couple things.

First off, the FBI/CIA/various intel agencies are known for intercept, plant, and ship to customer. That is, they can and do intercept various hardware and computer equipment for the purposes of installing snooping/spy devices. It is usually hardware, not software. They have the ability and means to duplicate any 'chip' in any device with a little added circuitry to record (or plant evidence if they really want you) and there is practically no way to detect such intrusions. You would have to be an electronics engineer with some seriously expensive digital circuit analysis stuff to go through and check everything on the circuit board. Cutting or desoldering a mic or camera here or there won't do anything.

Secondly, it might not even be them - we get a great deal of our hardware from overseas, so the chances that it could be built in from the manufacturer is also very real. Look at the drama going on with Huwei.

originally posted by: Alien Abduct
He said he was talking to the dogs, not that the dogs were talking to him.

In my scenario he's having Berkowitz-like interactions with his canines.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Alien Abduct
He said he was talking to the dogs, not that the dogs were talking to him.

In my scenario he's having Berkowitz-like interactions with his canines.

Haha Haha! You're probably not far from the truth.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's because the cookie that hides didn't follow...4+ old laptop years means P6 or maybe early P7... which places you on the architecture that was spoofing everything.

a reply to: AScrubWhoDied

OP already said he works with huge multi GB files all day. He said he likely would not have noticed an extra 3 or 3 GB on his HD from these files. Would you? I have 2 TB of storage on my PC and I dont check the exact number used every day....

At op what’s the rough average size for the files? Bitrate? What’s the size of all the files combined roughly?

a reply to: BigDave-AR

I think he mentioned a laptop, i would be surprised if the laptop he was using even had 500gb and since he said he 'recovered' them id rule out a NAS or removable storage media.

I wonder if the OP works with video/audio editing software.

I don't think this was mentioned before, but speakers can be used as a microphone so disabling your mic on your device may not stop 'them' from recording you.

P.S. Great thread!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Lurker, registered for first post. This is all very wild, and to me, believable. I would be concerned with whats missing from the hard drive. Id run Recuva.

www.ccleaner.com...

Nice little tool, shows files from old partitions, old installs, etc. Shows folder structure, date last modified. Can potentially recover additional files, Id look for that missing month of recording. Were the files named ".mp3" or did windows simply identify them as audio files ? are they perhaps a file format that your media player is recognizing and just playing. Any Codec installs ? Certain codecs at one time contained options for converting/recording audio/video to key codec formats.

I myself had winamp back in the glory days of 98SE record everything from my mic whenever I played audio. It would name them with a timestamp and drop them into the same folder I was playing the mp3's from. They weren't hidden however. It was an option with a codec that I toggled to record internet radio, and sometimes forgot to toggle off.

a reply to: thedomeoutwest

Welcome to ATS!!!

originally posted by: jadedANDcynical
The complete conversations part is really odd. If it were a random bug then it seems to me that there would be plenty of cut off conversations or some that began part way through.

That part shows that it was done intentionally, unless it only appears that way and the conversation or conversational topic did continue unabated.

I'm most interested in that aspect, which would require a human being to regulate.

NSA Director Hayden's comments about what constitutes a "person of interest" comes to mind here where he implied that they could simply be looking at a very interesting person.

That year you got flagged and for a time your laptop was used to spy on you.

Question is - what makes you a very interesting person worthy of spying on with such dedication (to capture whole conversations)?

I once got the impression from some weird computer issues that I was being spied on, so I just ran with it, and selected YouTube songs to play of an allegorical nature that i felt might influence them to consider things from another perspective while getting some kicks out of the idea of a reverse op of sorts. I imaged some higher up bursting in on them exclaiming in a kind of panicked horror - just who's running this op anyway! LOL