The National Stalking Helpline has warned that stalkers are able to track the whereabouts of their victims, as well as monitoring their conversations – all via apps and spyware available online at a price so cheap that “stalking is becoming legitimised”.

According to the helpline, victims are having their movements tracked, their phone calls listened to or their webcams turned on – and over 200 stalking cases reported to the helpline involved use of such apps, it says.

The number is likely much higher, as many victims will be unaware of having been tracked. Some items – including cameras, bugs and GPS devices – can be “easily disguised as household items”, meaning that many are tracked without realising. One victim told the helpline that a listening device shaped like a USB stick had been put in her handbag – meaning her stalker could listen to all of her conversations. Such devices can be bought on websites including Amazon and eBay – some for less than £20.

And a mother received texts from her ex-partner “detailing the bedtime stories she was telling her stories”: it turned out that he had bought an extension cable with a listening device and placed it in his children’s room.

“They’re really easy to get, they’re really easy to use,” Clare Elcombe-Webber, manager of the helpline, told The Guardian. “I think for some stalkers it really legitimises what they’re doing. The message it sends to victims is there are all these technological advancements that help your stalker, but not you.”

How stalkers are using apps to track their victims