Who has the right to listen to telephone conversations?
This can only be done by operational authorities, among them: internal affairs bodies and the federal security service, customs authorities of the Russian Federation (see Article 13 of the Federal Law of August 12, 1995 No. 144-FZ). The basis is information received about the signs of an offense being committed or being prepared. It should be noted that there are not many such crimes in the business sector (see What actions in the business sector will attract the attention of the security forces). In case of tax violations, telephone tapping is possible only on the basis of an order from an investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (Articles 198 - 199.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
What could serve as a signal?
Information to operational authorities, for example, from the following sources:
- telephone call to the police;
- obtaining information from a witness interview in any case;
- receiving information from tax authorities about an organization’s evasion of tax on a particularly large scale;
- message from the bank in which the organization has an account about a suspicious transfer Money on a large scale;
- scheduled inspection of the authorized body in the field of circulation of precious stones and metals, etc.
What document gives permission for wiretapping?
Wiretapping refers to operational-search activities that limit constitutional human rights. Therefore, operational bodies can carry it out only if there is a court decision - both before the initiation of a criminal case and after (Article 186 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, Article 6-8 of the Federal Law of August 12, 1995 No. 144-FZ). However, in a number of cases, wiretapping is possible without court approval:
- firstly, when cases are urgent and may lead to the commission of a serious or especially serious crime. Among economic crimes, this could, for example, be wiretapping a person who is going to give a bribe to an official (most often such information comes from him) or this person extorts money from you for performing some actions within his official powers.
- secondly, as a safety measure. For example, if you are forced to make any transaction using violence (clause 2 of Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Or they force you, as a member of the board of directors, to vote in a “certain” way or to refuse to vote with the threat of violence or destruction (damage) of your property (Clause 2 of Article 185.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
But obtaining or disclosing commercial, tax or banking secrets, malicious evasion of repayment of accounts payable, preventing, restricting or eliminating competition are not legal grounds for wiretapping (except in cases of violence or the threat thereof).
Be alert!
It is important to remember that you will not assume that your conversations are being monitored by law enforcement. Therefore, you should always be careful and vigilant. Finding out that you are being wiretapped and recording this fact is almost impossible. Evidence may be a recording of negotiations or a printout of them that has somehow gotten out of control; bugs found in telephone sets (less commonly). If you have such material in your hands, you should contact the police and prosecutor’s office to protect your constitutional rights and try to bring the persons who violated the secrecy of your negotiations to criminal liability. Don’t forget, this can be not only a government agency, but also your competitor.
Possible signs of eavesdropping may include, for example: strange noises, clicks, grinding, volume changes on telephone line, or the interlocutor begins to hear you poorly, but you hear him normally; sounds coming from the handset when it is on the cradle; the phone rings frequently, and when you pick up the phone, you hear nothing but beeps, or you hear a weak tone or a high-pitched piercing tone (squealing); the presence of static electricity in the telephone; Your radio or TV suddenly and frequently produces strong interference.
What business actions will attract the attention of security forces?
All of them are listed in the Criminal Code of Russia:
- illegal entrepreneurship on an especially large scale (clause 2 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- production, acquisition, storage, transportation or sale of unmarked goods and products in especially large quantities (Article 171.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- Creation legal entity through dummies by prior conspiracy (clause 2 of Article 173.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- laundering (legalization) of funds on a large scale (clause 2.3 of Article 174, clause 3 of Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- coercion to carry out a transaction or to refuse to carry it out by an organized group (Clause 2 of Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- illegal trafficking of precious metals and stones by a group of persons by prior conspiracy (clause 2 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- intentional bankruptcy (Article 196 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- tax evasion on an especially large scale (clause 2 of Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- giving a bribe to an official for committing obviously illegal actions (clause 3 of Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- illegal use trademark(clause 3 of article 180).
- abuse during the issue of securities (Article 185 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- market manipulation (illegal use of insider information, Article 185.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- illegal restriction rights of securities owners (Article 185.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- restriction of competition under certain circumstances, for example, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy (Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Do you have the right to listen to employee telephone conversations?
Telephone conversations carried out by employees from work phones are also a secret of the persons conducting them. And even the suspicion that an employee is passing on information important to you to a competitor is not grounds for listening to his telephone conversations. Wiretapping is possible only if you have previously notified the employee about this and received his consent in writing. However, we must not forget that there are always two sides involved in negotiations. Therefore, wiretapping, even with the consent of the employee, will violate the rights of the person with whom he communicates. Legal wiretapping and recording of conversations is possible only if both interlocutors are warned about this before the conversation begins. Such actions of the organization will be legal only if the organization keeps records telephone conversations at home, and other persons will not have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their contents.
Hello, dear reader! I welcome you to the pages of my special blog, which discusses many aspects related to mobile security. Are you confident in your security? confidential information located in the smartphone's memory? In what situations is it possible for the police to wiretap a mobile phone, and on what grounds? I decided to study this issue in more detail. If you don’t want to read the text below, then at the very end of this material there is a link to a useful video. You can go there right away.
According to the law, wiretapping mobile phone the police can only by court decision, or during the preliminary investigation. If you are an honest citizen, then there is nothing to fear. But there are many people who would be happy to have access to your call records or correspondence on social networks. I decided to find out if there were programs for these purposes. I looked through a lot of software on the Internet - I couldn’t find anything that really worked. I came across only a scam and viruses!
Then I decided to look for another software capable of archiving and saving backup copy important information. This is extremely useful in a situation where the mobile phone is lost or forgotten at home, and you want to retrieve the required data immediately. I came across a very high-quality service that copes with such tasks perfectly. It consists of an application for a smartphone, as well as a server to which all data will be sent. From there they can be conveniently viewed from any other mobile device, or using a PC. In order to save traffic and not pay for 3G, I configured forwarding only when the Wi-Fi network is active.
As a result, I thought that to listen to the police's mobile phone special programs won't be needed. Intelligence agencies will contact the telecom operator directly if necessary. And for attackers, there is nothing that works remotely. But you can go the other way! Think about what would happen in a situation where the program for Reserve copy(doesn’t matter which one) will an unauthorized person put into your mobile phone? He will have access to archives of correspondence from social networks(like VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook and others), as well as listening to conversations from the phone, reading SMS and MMS. Even antivirus software will not swear at such applications. There is also an option to remove the program shortcut, so it will be difficult to detect and remove it.
The main advice to you: do not leave your mobile phone unattended, do not give it to strangers. Even if they ask you to call. Try to be careful with your phone, as it stores your confidential data. And if the service described above seems interesting, then follow the link below. There is a video taken by me there. Describes how to install the application and general setup backup service. But don’t install such programs on other people’s smartphones, because it’s unlikely that anyone will like it!
Your phone started behaving strangely and you feel like someone is watching you? Learn the basic signs of eavesdropping that will help you discover the truth.
Russian intelligence services can listen to telephone conversations of subscribers through a special SORM system. In law telephone operators are obliged to provide intelligence services with any information about subscribers, but law enforcement services can only obtain the right to listen to conversations by a court decision. Do you know how to listen to your wife's mobile phone?
In modern times, not only law enforcement agencies can engage in wiretapping. Eat a large number of spy software
which allows you to find out any information about a person, you just need to install the program on the victim’s phone. It is difficult to protect yourself from this, but it is possible to find out how to check whether the phone is tapped.
Spyware capabilities
The spy program has many functions with which you can completely control the victim's phone. Intercepting SMS messages, listening to telephone conversations, taking a screenshot at any time - this is only a small part of what spyware is capable of. Based on this, a difficult question arises - how to understand that a phone is being tapped, even if you can insert a special battery into a corporate phone that will have all the functions of a spy?
How to find out if your phone is being tapped
In fact It is very difficult to determine the presence of a program on your phone. You can only assume that you are being followed. But if you really want to, you can identify some signs that can answer the question - how do you know if your phone is being tapped?
Signs by which you can determine the presence of third-party programs on your phone
- Discharges quickly
If your phone suddenly begins to lose battery power quickly, this may be a sign that some software has been installed on your phone. - Strange phone behavior
If the phone begins to turn on/off more slowly or restarts spontaneously, or the backlight comes on for no reason, then this may be a reason to clarify the question - how to find out if the phone is being tapped? - Extraneous sound during a conversation
If you notice extra noise or sounds during conversations, you should think about whether it’s a network problem or someone has started listening to you. - Interference appears
Place your phone next to any audio system. If interference bothers you, it will mean that the phone is sending or receiving information without your knowledge. And who does this, you should think about it. - Long connection with the interlocutor
Another sign of wiretapping can be a long connection with another subscriber during a call, or a long disconnection after the end of the conversation.
What to do if you are being followed?
If your phone shows one of the above symptoms, and you are completely sure that everything is fine with the connection and the phone worked smoothly and without errors, be sure to show your phone to a specialist to check it for installed third-party software, which may send your personal information to the interested party.