Teddy bears. Jacket buttons. Air fresheners. Bathroom hooks.
Across the internet, anyone can buy normal household items like these that also double as spy cameras. According to marketing materials for listings on Amazon, eBay and Walmart, these products are designed to catch cheating spouses, keep tabs on nannies, monitor children and catch thieves. Reviewers have praised their ability to uncover adulterous behavior. As one reviewer of an alarm clock spy camera wrote, “Nice. Caught husband cheating. Alimony went up.”
But they can also be used for much more harmful purposes.
In a recently-unsealed case, FBI investigators scoured the house of a teenage girl who’d been surreptitiously filmed in a bathroom and a bedroom, and discovered a hidden camera disguised as a black wireless phone charger. The footage had ended up in a chatroom on Amazon-owned app Wickr where users shared footage of nude children caught on spy cameras. The FBI noted in the warrant that the spy camera was currently available for purchase on Amazon. Ultimately, the suspect was arrested for possessing child sexual exploitation material.
In at least nine federal child exploitation investigations between 2018 and 2023 reviewed by Forbes, federal agents showed how spy cams purchased from Amazon and eBay had been used to film minors in their bedrooms, bathrooms or in one case the toilets of a music school. In two cases, the cameras were bought from eBay. In seven cases dating back to at least 2020, they were purchased from Amazon, and in some of those investigations the company was ordered to provide purchasing histories of defendants accused of spying on minors with hidden cameras.
That was the case with Cameron McAbee, who was suspected of producing child sexual exploitation material with hidden cameras bought from Amazon. That year, a search warrant filed with Amazon asked it to provide records relating to the suspect. McAbee was found guilty of running a Kik Messenger group that “required members to show proof of access to a child victim and they were expected to share images and videos of the sexual abuse of that child to maintain access to the group,” the DOJ said in announcing his sentence of life in prison in August 2023.
However, one victim of such spying has also sued Amazon directly for its role in selling the cameras. The company is currently fighting a case against a Brazilian minor who claims that she was spied on with a camera bought on Amazon while on a foreign exchange trip in the U.S.
Amazon had previously argued that it was not liable in U.S. court, but in December the judge said the plaintiff’s claims, including negligence on behalf of the retail giant and product liability, should be heard. Late last month, Amazon again asked for the case to be dismissed, writing in a motion that it was not at fault and that the blame should lie with the man who allegedly spied on her and/or the foreign exchange program Council for Educational Travel of America. The man accused of spying on the anonymous plaintiff is facing trial in West Virginia.
Whether it’s Amazon, eBay or Walmart, online retailers may not be legally liable in cases where cameras are abused, says Eva Galperin, Electronic Frontier Foundation director of cybersecurity and cofounder of Coalition Against Stalkerware. “Yes, it is abusive to spy on people in your house without their knowledge, but depending on how it is done and what jurisdiction you are in, it is not necessarily illegal,” Galperin told Forbes. “A lot of it depends on how the camera was used… and what language was used in marketing.”
When it comes to marketing, Amazon, at least, appears to have kept its store clean of advertisements that explicitly promote use of spy cams for snooping on people in states of undress in the bathroom or bedroom. This was not the case with eBay and Walmart, according to a Forbes’ review of product listings. Multiple sellers on both sites were flogging “nanny cameras,” including some hidden in AC wall outlets, with images of women dressed in just their underwear. Others contained images of couples appearing to have sex. Two more on eBay were clearly intended for use in the bathroom, with cameras concealed inside a toothbrush holder and a soap dispenser.
“Hidden cameras that are marketed in a manner that appears to be for use in a bathroom or changing room, or to record someone undressing or engaged in intimacy are prohibited on eBay,” said eBay spokesperson Scott Overland. “Listings found to violate eBay policies will be blocked or removed.” After Forbes highlighted eight product listings to eBay for appearing to breach those rules, all were removed from the site.
Neither Amazon, which has a moderation team that deals with products that fall outside of its policies, nor Walmart had commented at the time of publication.
Though their products are legal for the time being, sellers of spycams could soon suffer, should courts decide their products are entirely illegal, as is possible in the Amazon civil case. “The court’s analysis could indicate that all surreptitious hook cameras are categorically illegal to sell, even when buyers plan to use it completely legally,” wrote Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman after the judge’s decision to allow the case to proceed. “That makes this a dangerous ruling for the spycam industry and Amazon.”
