A surveillance market targeting spouses is growing in Turkey and Northern Cyprus: a week of monitoring costs 75,000 liras, hotel records up to 350,000

Turkey has seen the emergence of a market for services offered online under the guise of private detective work. The issue came to light following an investigation by Milliyet: journalists contacted a person claiming to be a private detective and found out the rates for monitoring spouses and obtaining information that could potentially be used in divorce proceedings. According to the report, physical surveillance in Istanbul by two employees with a car for eight hours a day costs 75,000 Turkish liras per week. Installing a tracker in a car costs around 30,000 liras, wiretapping costs 8–10 thousand liras per device, and when two devices are used, the price can reach 60,000 liras. The most expensive service was obtaining hotel records: the quoted price for information that could confirm a spouse’s stay at a hotel with another person ranged from 250,000 to 350,000 liras. At the same time, the person interviewed acknowledged that the methods being offered were not legal.

The story is important primarily because it concerns not an official service regulated by the state, but a market in which clients are offered access to other people’s private information. A private detective does not automatically have the right to access the closed databases of hotels, telecommunications operators or other organisations. Therefore, a promise to «obtain» a hotel record for hundreds of thousands of liras does not mean that the person will actually receive a lawful document or evidence admissible in court.

Such services are particularly in demand in divorce conflicts, when one spouse suspects the other of infidelity. In such situations, clients try to obtain photographs, information about movements, surveillance camera footage or other materials that can be presented to a lawyer. However, the desire to gather evidence does not give anyone the right to violate another person’s privacy. Covert wiretapping, installing a tracker on a car or unlawfully obtaining personal data can create separate legal problems for the client and the service provider.

A similar situation had previously been recorded in Northern Cyprus. In May 2024, the local outlet Kanal T reported on websites offering «private detective» services in the territory of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The services advertised included monitoring spouses, collecting evidence for divorce and child custody cases, investigating suspected infidelity, and searching for hidden cameras and audio-recording devices. The advertisements mentioned offices in Nicosia, Kyrenia, Famagusta and Güzelyurt. The possibility of obtaining hotel records and instructions on how to monitor a spouse were also advertised separately. At the same time, the publication itself pointed to the illegal nature of such activity.

For residents of Northern Cyprus, the issue is particularly relevant because of the close ties with Turkey and constant movement between the island and the mainland. In family conflicts, spouses may live in Northern Cyprus, own property or operate a business in Turkey, and regularly cross the border. This creates demand for searching for information across several jurisdictions at once; however, the technical ability to obtain information about a person does not mean that there is a legal right to obtain or use it.

The TRNC has its own legal system regulating the protection of personal data and privacy. Therefore, an attempt to obtain someone else’s hotel records, install a concealed tracking device or arrange wiretapping without the appropriate legal grounds may have consequences regardless of where the subject of surveillance is located — in Northern Cyprus or Turkey.

Ultimately, the story involving a price tag of 350,000 liras shows how commercialised a conflict over marital infidelity can become. Clients are offered the chance to pay tens of thousands of liras for several hours of surveillance and hundreds of thousands for alleged access to hotel data. At the same time, a high price does not make the service legal, and a promise to provide «ready-made evidence» does not guarantee that the material can be used in court. For residents of Northern Cyprus, this is a particularly important warning: offers to monitor spouses and obtain confidential personal data are already appearing on the local market, so in such situations, seeking legal advice is considerably safer than turning to illegal «detectives».