Are peeping Toms spying on you through your computer? It's more likely than you think as one woman discovered when she watched a DVD on her laptop in her bath By Paul Bracchi You are at home and your computer is switched on. It could be on a table in the dining room or in the bedroom or even resting on a chair in the bathroom, where you might be enjoying a DVD during a relaxing soak with a glass of wine. Suddenly, a light, no bigger than a 5p coin, appears at the top of the screen. It could be green or red depending on the make of the computer. You probably don't even notice it - computers have lots of little lights. Except this one is watching you; spying on your every move, possibly from hundreds of miles away or even from another country. For behind the light is a webcam, a tiny video camera built into most new computers that feed images in "real time" to another computer. And behind that computer is someone who has now gained control of your laptop or workstation remotely, without your knowledge. Hence the reason your webcam has turned itself on. It might sound like a science-fiction film, or a scene from Poltergeist, but countless young women and teenage girls across Britain have fallen victim to webcam perverts and Peeping Toms. Some have been brave enough to share their chilling stories with the Mail. So do you have to be a technical genius or geek to spy on someone in the privacy their own home? Hardly. Anyone could do it. No special skills required. In fact "spy software" is freely available on the internet and is usually accompanied by a step-by-step guide on how to use the technology. One boasts: "Five mind-blowing, easy-to-implement methods . . . set-up time three to ten minutes." All a potential voyeur has to do is download the package then send you, the intended "target," an email. If you open it, an attachment automatically installs a virus - known as a "remote administration tool" (RAT) - into your computer. This will give him - and such individuals are almost always male - total control of your machine at any time. He will be able to operate the keyboard, access your personal files, and, of course, activate the webcam, or cyber eye. Effectively, he is in your living room. He might be a paedophile, secretly spying on your unwitting child in their bedroom. It's that simple. Examples of "ratting," as the phenomenon is known, are coming to light all the time, according to the Government's Get Safe Online campaign. Only this week, it was the subject of a BBC Radio 5 Live investigation, which revealed how adolescent girls have been sent internet links advertising diet tips or celebrity stories, concealing the hidden RAT virus. Our own inquiries confirm just how prevalent this disturbing trend has become. The evidence is there on YouTube, among other places, where footage of young women, secretly filmed in their own homes, have been posted on the video-sharing platform by the culprits who spied on them. They refer to these women as "slaves," because they have managed to "enslave" their computers. Among them is a pretty young blonde. She is sitting at her computer using her mobile phone, oblivious to the fact she is being observed until a message, written in white on a black background, appears mysteriously on her screen informing her that she is now the "property" of a (named) hard-core pornographic website. She looks aghast as the words materialise, then quickly turns off her machine. It is clear that the motive for these sinister voyeuristic activities is not just sexual but also a desire to humiliate and embarrass the target. Why else would she be taunted in this way? Her Facebook profile, clearly showing her name, has also been included in the minute-long clip, which has been viewed 2,700 times in the past few months. Other "compilation" videos capture the reactions of stunned victims when they realise their computers have been hijacked. In one, a mother is sitting on a sofa in her lounge with her son. Next, we see a hacker click the "stereo" and "speak" options on their computer and moments later a string of obscenities and sexual remarks about the mother's appearance can be heard coming out of her own PC in the lounge. How long had she, or the young blonde woman, been monitored by these webcam predators? A few minutes? Days? Weeks? We just don't know. Nor will any of these victims be aware that, even now, they are still being viewed on the internet. Someone can use your laptop to spy on you when you least expect it to happen The illegal practice, punishable under the Computer Misuse Act by up to six months in prison, has led to a burgeoning black market where photographs of girls captured illicitly on webcams are exchanged or traded online for just a few pence along with access to compromised computers. On a notorious forum specialising in this twisted pastime, one hacker even advertises for new "owners" of his "slaves" while he takes a break from the scene. "I have 15 or 17 that are in need of a new home," he boasts. He has posted photographs of five of the girls on the forum. One is pictured on her 20th birthday wearing a plunging top that shows off her cleavage and another in a skimpy top in her bedroom. The offer has attracted a string of excitable responses, including the following: "really great work . . . can I get the 4th one . . . plz can I get it . . . ratting from long ago but m not able to find girl slave . . . plz I will be really thankful to u." Another enthusiast gloats about his sleazy hobby: "Mostly I pick up the best bits, the good (sexual stuff) and categorise them (name, address, passwords etc) just for fun. For me, I don't have the feeling of doing something perverted, it's more or less a game, a cat-and-mouse game, with all the bonuses included. The weirdest thing is when you see the person you've been spying on in real life. I've had that a couple of times, it just makes me giggle. Could there be a more unnerving insight into the mindset of those who inhabit this dark subculture? The site itself has a staggering 23 million posts about webcam voyeurism; yes - 23 million. Many are from British men. Behind those "best bits," as that previous predator puts it, are real women: wives, daughters, sisters, girlfriends. Women like London-based architect Jacalyn Burn, 32. Mostly I pick up the best bits, the good (sexual stuff) and categorise them (name, address, passwords etc) just for fun Unbeknown to her, her computer had been contaminated by a RAT virus. Over eight weeks, the perpetrator built up a profile of her daily routines and network of family and friends. Once he had become familiar with her habits and people close to her, he began sending out emails in her name and sending her messages she believed were from her husband and social circle. "I might have had an argument with my husband and I would get an email saying "hi honey," or "hi gorgeous, how are you," " Jacalyn recalled. It seemed a bit weird but I just thought it was my husband apologising, so I thought nothing more of it. Only when a friend in her company's IT department asked her about an email she had apparently sent him, but which she knew nothing about, did the truth begin to emerge. An internal investigation was launched and the police called in. "It's pretty unsettling to find out that someone had been keeping track of everything I was doing and was probably spying on me through my webcam - totally without my knowledge," Jacalyn said. Who was the culprit? It was a former colleague who had recently left the firm. In the end, he received a formal police caution after admitting hacking into Jacalyn's computer, but there was not enough evidence to prosecute him for the more sustained spying campaign. "I thought he was just a normal friendly guy," she said. One of the victims in the Radio 5 Live investigation was Rachel Hyndman, 20, a student from Glasgow. She also spoke to the Mail. Rachel was in the bath watching a DVD on her laptop which was placed on a nearby shelf when the indicator light on her webcam flicked on. She knew what was happening because she also works in a computer shop. "It was like a ghost was operating my computer and I couldn't gain control of it," she said. It was horribly violating. To think someone had been looking at me during such a private moment was terrifying and I wondered how often they had done it before without me realising. The use of webcams by paedophiles to groom youngsters is not new. In 2006 more than 40 children in Kent were persuaded to perform sex acts by Mark Bedford, 27 Rachel says she did not go to the police because she feared they wouldn't believe her. Neither Rachel or Jacalyn Burn can pinpoint the moment they received the contaminated email which allowed them to then be spied upon. Victims are often enticed with offers of free software such as Microsoft Office (for writing documents) and Adobe Photoshop (for editing pictures), all containing viruses. Webcam hackers almost always target devices using Windows, so, in theory, iPads are not at risk, but some Windows-based tablets could be susceptible. "My method is to offer free programs," one "expert" in this shameful trade boasts. A lot of girls require these things so I can confirm I do have lots of sexy pics. In 2006, for example, more than 40 children in Kent, aged nine to 15, were persuaded to remove their clothes and perform sex acts by Mark Bedford, 27, who lived 4,000 miles away in Ontario, Canada. He admitted ten charges, including making child pornography, and was jailed for three years in 2008. Using computers to spy on victims without them knowing seems to be a more recent development. There has certainly been less public awareness about it. With the increasing ownership of webcam devices, on desktops, laptops and phones, people are at a growing risk of this happening to them Will Gardner, Child Net International But the warning signs have been there for a number of years: "Peeping Tom" software that could invade homes and businesses has been around for more than a decade. There have been few prosecutions, however. Is there anything you can do to combat the RAT virus? "If by mistake you open an email from a hacker, good up-to-date anti-virus software will alert you to the danger in most cases and block the virus," said cyber security expert Lawrence Jones, who runs internet firm UKFast. Software companies fight very hard to stay one step ahead of the hackers, but it is very difficult. Once a rat is in your computer it is very difficult to get rid of. Like real rodents you might get rid of one but others might be hiding inside. One of the first recorded cases was in 2005 when a middle-aged man was arrested in his native Cyprus for activating a webcam in the bedroom of a 17-year-old girl. It heightened police concern around the world about the danger posed by such technology, according to a report in The Times. In 2010, Matthew Anderson, 36, was jailed for 18 months after infecting hundreds of computers from his mother's home in Banffshire. Anderson had spied on dozens of women in their own homes. "He's not available," his mother said, when we called at the house yesterday. With the increasing ownership of webcam devices, on desktops, laptops and phones, people are at a growing risk of this happening to them,' said Will Gardner, chief executive of Child Net International, an organisation campaigning to make the internet safer for children. Some people might not even know their device has a webcam, so it's important they become more aware of the risks. My advice is to be careful where exactly in the house you use a webcam. Keep the computer in public areas, not in bedrooms and always unplug or turn off your device. There was a time when this advice would have been solely aimed at children; no one who has read the accounts of Jacalyn Burn or Rachel Hyndman, and countless unnamed victims of webcam predators, would think that now.