They look fairly mundane, but police are warning people to look twice at coat hangers found in public bathrooms because they may have hidden cameras inside of them.
At a glance, the devices look like any other clothes hook. However, a closer look reveals a tiny hidden camera embedded inside used for watching people.
The devices are marketed on Amazon as home security surveillance cameras or spy cameras priced as low as $13 per device.
Just less than a year ago, police in Florida reported on three separate instances where police discovered the hidden cameras in different women’s bathrooms throughout Monroe County, Florida.
“Keep in mind, though, that these are very small cameras that can be mounted in many locations and hidden in many seemingly every-day items,” said the Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay.
All of the devices found looked like simple white coat hooks, deputies said, with the camera mounted behind it, using a small hole in the top portion of the coat hook for the lens of the camera. They use motion detection cameras inside to take video.
