CYBER creeps are hacking into cars and household appliances to stalk, spook and spy on former partners, in an alarming wave of hi-tech harassment.

The Federal Government’s e-Safety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, on Saturday revealed the first case of an Australian “car-hacking” in a domestic violence case.

“One Australian perpetrator hacked into the computer program of his ex-partner’s car to limit the kilometres she could drive,’’ Ms Inman Grant told The Sunday Mail.

“Every time she drove more than 5km, the car would stop.

“The mechanics had a hard time identifying the issue, because the car would just stall.’’

Ms Inman Grant would not identify the model of the car, but said the offender had accessed it while still living with his wife.

A Sunday Mail investigation has revealed that cyber-savvy offenders are misusing the “Internet of Things” to change security alarms, control lights and airconditioners and monitor the movements of former partners.

So many DV offenders are tracking women through their phones that some women’s shelter have banned smart phones.

Ms Inman Grant said one man had changed the password of the smart TV before leaving the family home.

“Every time his wife or children turned on the TV, an evil or threatening message would show up on the TV,’’ she said.

“You can have surveillance devices stuck in a teddy bear, under a pram, in the lining of a purse, under floorboards with CCTV (closed circuit television) cameras set up inside and outside the home.’’

Protective Group chief executive Stephen Wilson, who checks the homes of 80 new domestic violence victims each week, yesterday said he had found a drone parked on top of a woman’s skylight, “filming her in bed’’.

“We’ve found bugging devices in a teddy bear, in a walking stick, sewn into shoes and children’s backpacks,’’ he said.

“In one house there were a dozen cameras installed, and the perpetrator could log into his phone to play around with the garage door turn the lights on and off, change the volume of the speakers, turn the heating up and close or lock the gates.

“If you’ve shared your Apple ID or wi-fi password, they can remotely control your wi-fi and the devices connected to it to see what’s going on.’’

Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk said some women who had fled domestic violence feared their partners were still “keeping tabs on them’’.

“We know that the use of technology by perpetrators to monitor control and frighten is a very real concern for victims,’’ she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said the State Government was providing “cyber audits’’ to scan homes for spyware, as part of a trial of technology to help 270 women stay in their homes in Cairns, Caboolture, Rockhampton and Ipswich.

The women have also been given personal safety devices to alert a security monitoring service and police if they are under threat, as well as CCTV cameras and dashcams to record evidence.

Ms Inman Grant said the average Australian house has 17.5 devices that could be controlled remotely through bluetooth or cloud-based internet services.

She said the Office of the eSafety Commissioner was negotiating with 30 hi-tech companies to build-in better security for “smart’’ appliances.

“It’s an important cultural change for technology companies to undertake,” she said.

Women’s Services Network (WESNET) has given 15,000 free Telstra phones to women fleeing domestic violence, after their partners tracked them on their old phones.

“I’ve got one case where a woman’s abuser, while he was still in the home, used to beam himself onto the television by connecting his phone to the TV and live-streaming,’’ Karen Bentley, the director of WESNET’s SafetyNet program, told The Sunday Mail.

“He had put a television in every room so it was as if he was omnipresent - as if he had eyes on them everywhere.’’

Ms Bentley said she was concerned that federal funding for the Safe Connection phone-swap program would run dry in June next year.