Amazon is accused of promoting stalking by selling GPS tracking devices that target suspicious partners

By Jonathan Bucks for The Mail On Sunday

22:04 18 May 2019, updated 22:04 18 May 2019

• The top result for “tracking devices” is a device that is supposedly “perfect for tracking teenagers.”
• Spytec's portable GPS tracker can be attached to vehicles or a victim's belt
• Comes after the National Stalking Helpline received more than 4,300 calls last year

Amazon has been accused of promoting stalking by displaying dozens of GPS tracking devices on its website that specifically target suspicious partners.

Using these devices, stalkers can track their victims, listen to their phone conversations and even operate their computer cameras.

Under UK harassment laws, spying is illegal if it causes “distress or alarm”, but the GPS devices can be purchased on the Amazon website for just £10.

Spytec's portable GPS tracker can be attached to vehicles or a victim's belt and track their movement in real time over the Internet.

The top result for “tracking devices” on the site is a device described as “perfect for tracking vehicles, teenagers, spouses, elderly people or assets.”

Spytec's portable GPS tracker can be attached to vehicles or a victim's belt and track their movements in real time over the Internet, it says.

The National Stalking Helpline received over 4,300 calls from desperate victims last year.

Suky Bhaker, deputy chief executive of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which works with stalking victims, criticised the sale of the devices.

The top result for “tracking devices” on Amazon is a device described as “perfect for tracking vehicles, teenagers, spouses, elderly people, or assets.”

She told The Mail on Sunday: “We run the National Stalking Helpline and our work on the ground has shown that many stalking offenders use such technology to track and spy on their victims.”

“The experiences of tens of thousands of victims we have spoken to show that the impact of stalking on the lives of victims and their entire environment is absolutely devastating.”

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of reported stalking cases increased by 46 percent in the year to December 2018.

Suky Bhaker, deputy executive director of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which works with victims of stalking, criticised the sale of the devices

In January, a stalker was sentenced to 14 months in prison after placing a tracking device on his estranged wife's car to spy on her movements.

Stuart Carless, 46, waged a two-month stalking campaign after suspecting his wife Victoria, 45, had left him for another man.

And last year, a jilted husband bugged his wife's purse and placed a tracking device in her car after he suspected she was dating other men.

Andrew Hunter, who also sent abusive text messages to his wife Joanna and took photographs of their meetings, was sentenced to 18 months' community service.

Amazon declined to comment.