A thorough review of the effectiveness and efficiency of tagging offenders is needed before the system is extended any further, the probation union Napo has warned.
Publishing a dossier of 120 cases where probation officers have "real concerns" about the working of the electronic tags, Napo said there was no research showing they helped reduce reoffending or prevent crime.
The report came as a review of a different 120 cases by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation found no instances of any technical failure with the tags.
But the Napo report warned that concerns over faulty equipment, offenders being recalled to prison unnecessarily, and high-risk offenders not being monitored properly meant more evidence on their use was needed before any extension of the system.
Napo said around 35,000 offenders are tagged at any one time, either as a condition of a community order or while on early release from prison on the home detention curfew scheme.
Harry Fletcher, the union's assistant general secretary, said: "Tagging has become a massive, profitable industry.
"The time is right for a thorough review of the effectiveness and efficiency of tagging to establish its impact, or not, on reoffending before the Government embarks on any massive roll-out."
He went on: "Tagging companies often have a vested interest in its expansion as those tagging companies are increasingly running jails, which is where those on the tag end up if they are in breach.
"Over the next three years there could be a six-fold increase in the number of persons tagged, possibly for 24 hours a day for up to 12 months.
"This is bound to lead to a sharp increase in the number who are breached, and ironically to an increase, not decrease, in the number of people who are incarcerated."
In its dossier of complaints from 21 of 35 probation trusts in England and Wales, Napo said the tagging regime was "gratuitously mechanistic, rigid and bureaucratic".
Problems involved delays before tags were fitted, damage to the tags and problems with the signal, and staff being unable to find an offender's address, the report said.
Some tags were even removed before the order had expired, it added.
In Warwickshire, for example, a young violent offender living in a rural area was ordered to be tagged for eight weeks, but had still not had his tag fitted seven weeks later, the report said.
In Cheshire, there were problems with tags slipping off offenders' legs, and in Durham, an offender's tag was changed after problems with the technology, but he was later recalled for breaching the original tag that staff had replaced.
The report also noted problems with the signal from the tags cutting out while offenders were in metal baths have been reported in South Yorkshire.
It comes after one offender tricked staff into tagging his false leg last year.
Christopher Lowcock wrapped his prosthetic limb in a bandage and fooled staff when they set up the tag and monitoring equipment at his Rochdale home.
But Liz Calderbank, the Chief Inspector of Probation, defended the two firms responsible for tagging offenders, G4S and Serco, saying they were "doing what is required of them."
"When we looked at what they were doing, in the majority of cases they were taking reasonable action to meet their obligations," she said.
Mark Boother, the lead inspector who carried out the review, added: "People tell lots of urban myths. I personally believe all those stories are unfounded."
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman added: "We have asked Napo to supply details of the cases they refer to. They have refused. If they bring these cases to our attention we will investigate where appropriate."
A G4S spokeswoman said the firm monitored around 14,000 people at any one time, and a total of 500,000 since 1999, adding: "The vast majority of interactions are completed without incident and equipment failures are extremely rare.
"Surveys undertaken with over 16,000 offenders found that nearly 90% said that being on tag had stopped them offending, and more than 70% had reduced alcohol and drug use as a direct consequence of being on tag."
A Serco spokesman said: "Serco is one of two companies providing electronic monitoring services to the Ministry of Justice and the report covers all such services, not just those of Serco.
"We are therefore not able to comment on the individual issues.
"Serco is regularly audited by the Ministry of Justice against stringent requirements and has a very good record for delivering those requirements."
Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said: "The Tory-led government are proposing a large expansion in the use of electronic tagging.
"They clearly see it as a cheaper option than prison, and a major component in Ken Clarke's overriding drive to reduce prison numbers by 3,000 and to save a quarter from his budget.
"But tagging alone will not deliver an effective criminal justice system that both punishes and reforms.
"Tagging has to be accompanied by effective programmes that address offender behaviour, support education and skills and allow individuals to hold down employment. This Government are totally ignoring this important element, and not addressing re-offending.
"We urgently need the Government to look into the concerns raised by this research and undertake its own investigation as it appears that the private companies responsible for tagging are not being properly supervised and monitored."