Are you being followed?

So, you think you're being followed. Two questions: first, who do you think you are? Are you really so secret and important that someone is prepared to spend time and money watching where you're going?

During the 1980s miners' strikes the press reported that an associate of Arthur Scargill fled the United Kingdom, convinced that the British "secret police" were following him. Why should they? It would have been perfectly obvious where he was and what he was doing: organizing strikes is hardly clandestine. (He took refuge in East Germany, of all places.)

Second question: is there someone out there who very badly wants to know what you're doing, who believes that surveillance is the only way to find out, and who is able to follow you themselves or pay someone else to? Unless such a person or organization exists, forget it.

But if that does apply to you, how might you tell you're being followed?

How to tell you're being followed: a few caveats

Don't bother looking for men with turned-up collars, who peer round corners or keep tying their shoelaces. Real surveillants will never be seen doing anything odd; they are chameleons who strive to look ordinary, matching whatever environment they're in. They'll dress as poorly or well as is appropriate. They won't dawdle or stare, but will move purposefully as if hurrying about their business.

Anyone who draws attention to himself is almost certainly innocent. It's ordinary people who do strange things. Take 15 minutes to watch a street and you'll see people go in and out of the same shop three times, pausing at an empty road then crossing when it's busy, retracing their steps, catching buses at the last second, dropping things, listening to War and Peace on their headphones, staring about as if they've just fallen off the moon and gazing forever at a hairbrush in a shop window.

If you must check for surveillance, don't keep glancing over your shoulder. Appearing to suspect you're being followed suggests you're doing something to merit it.

Followed by a professional team

This is sometimes called gangstalking, and it does happen. The question, again, is: are you worth it? We won't go into all of the symptoms of someone being after you per se (signs of someone being in your home while you're away, strange phone calls to you and relatives, etc) -- the scope of this article is detecting and losing a tail.

If you're being tailed by a serious outfit they won't only be behind you, but ahead and to the side as well. There won't just be one or two people on your case, but a whole team, with others in reserve. Maybe the whole street is following you.

And your followers will keep changing their appearances in ways you won't notice -- women in particular can use a scarf, a shopping bag, or a coat to alter themselves in seconds.

Such a team would long since have learned your patterns by the time you get suspicious. They'll show up ahead of you, the places they know you'll be going.

There could be an above average amount of "street theater" events that interact with you in some way. Accidents, or random people, that hold your attention or divert your daily routine.

If you want to identify a tail, train yourself to look at shoes: they are hard to change. Move frequently between crowded and empty places: this forces them to keep closing for fear of losing you, drawing back, then closing again. This makes them conspicuous.

But don't jump on or off trains just before the doors close -- that's for the movies. Remember, a good surveillance team will already have someone on the train, as well as on the platform. They're not trying to catch or chase you, just to track or even house you -- to see where you live, where you're going, whom you're meeting.

Don't try to shake them off by speeding. Cause them more problems by driving slowly.

The same principles apply on the road. That solitary black Mondeo following you doggedly (assuming you're moving at all) is probably not a tail; instead, your followers will be in many different cars, some near you, some ahead, some behind and out of sight -- and some not on the road at all.

Don't try to shake them off by speeding -- they're better drivers than you. In fact, you cause them more problems by going slowly because anyone else proceeding at your snail's pace will be conspicuous.

Followed by a single stalker

Depending on his reasons for stalking you, he very well could be an exception to the "ordinary people do strange things" rule. He might even try to manipulate you into direct interactions. Here are some signs that could be cause for suspicion (use your best judgment).

  • An uncanny ability to coincidentally be near you.
  • Phone to his ear as if in a conversation, but saying little or nothing.
  • Putting on an act of waiting for someone or something by repeatedly looking at his phone (for time) and then scanning his environment.
  • Uncertainty about whether they're in a hurry or not: hurrying past you but then suddenly having all the time in the world.

If you suspect you're being stalked, use the crowd-space-crowd trick until you find a place (a shop with more than one exit, say) where you can observe if he tries to close in. Note everything -- shoes again -- and tell the police.

Or, if you're confident, become the hunter: follow him and house him (again, meaning to find out where he lives or any other useful info). If in a public setting, you could confront him. You might find you enjoy it.

The one that got away

Even professionals are fallible. After the second world war, new recruits to MI5 were trained by a martinet who took justified pride in his invisibility. When the martinet died, his followers decided to attend his funeral -- secretly, of course.

One of them told me how their cars joined the procession at a distance -- not easy because slow vehicles, like slow people, are hard to follow discreetly. Sometimes they had to overtake, at others drop back or take a parallel road.

They performed these maneuvers with a professionalism they were sure he'd have been proud of. But they lost the cortège, missing the funeral entirely and leaving -- they imagined -- the old boy raging in his coffin.

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  1. 16 years ago
    Marco

    The article is not much practical use to me (or maybe it is and I don't know it?) But it sure is entertaining. Thanks so much, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

  2. 16 years ago
    Elize

    After living in Johannesburg most of my adult life, i got used to glancing in the windows, just to see who walks behind me. Very funny article 😀

  3. 16 years ago
    Visitor

    The article starts with how you probably aren't being followed because following people is such a hassle, and you probably aren't worth it. Then it completely contradicts itself, and says that if you are being followed, you will be followed by a professional team of people. Utter bullshit. The price someone is willing to pay to get something accomplished is directly proportional to the value of the accomplishment, and the price of failure. If you are a suspected terrorist/spy, perhaps you will have a team. If you are cheating on your girlfriend, it will probably just be 1 or two people. Usually (about 90%), when someone is being followed, they are being followed by one person who is not a professional. Perhaps this article is a good one for learning how to handle being followed by a team. However the surrounding, "if you are important than you must be so important that you warrant a team" suggests otherwise.

    • 16 years ago
      Nathan

      I love it when people throw random stats around to make themselves sound confident and credible. About 90%, indeed! What study are you citing? When did you count up and tabulate this data? Or could it be that you're just making things up out of the whole cloth? Oh, and by the way, learn the definition of "contradiction."

  4. 4 years ago
    Stolen mail-in votes

    "if you're being tailed by a serious outfit they won't only be behind you, but ahead and to the side as well; there won't just be one or two people on your case, but a whole team, with others in reserve"
    Fiscal year predicting SOCMED lynch "mobs" as if it didn't have sufficient amount of it. Of course, none of matters because regardless, corporate - and cliques/shills/trots - has all the cattle by the neck with nonstop lense tech., the Jude Real ID star of 2020, mandatory detainment, and so on.
    Point is, not one "follower" will ever be stopped or appeased; that type of figure will move on and continue mentioned activity one target by the other.

  5. 3 years ago
    Anonymous

    I keep getting mysterious phone calls from all over N. America; Ontario, Utah. I answer and nobody is on the line. So I called one back and got this young lady who said she was at work and knew nothing about it. I said "what company do you work for?" and she said "I'll have to discuss this with my supervisor" and hung up.
    Then half an hour later another call from Utah. I called that back and got an automated answer that said my number had been added to their block list.

    I did a search on their numbers but nothing came up.

  6. 3 years ago
    Stalked by my local PD

    I was driving my family's expensive truck to work. But due to getting a new job, I bought my own car. An old 90s Toyota.
    150k miles, paint chipping, steering is a little screwed. But I bought it for $2k & I'm using it as a beater car, rather than pay for a new car in the current market where everything is 10k+ MSRP.

    I've been driving this car for 2 weeks and now every time I go anywhere I'm stalked by the police. They ride my ass, follow me for 15 minutes to work, I pull into my driveway & as I'm unloading groceries I see a cop following me.
    What the frick is up with this?

    Am I really being persecuted because I'm driving a piece of shit car? Honestly. What the frick?

    • 3 years ago
      Anonymous

      get a dashcam that record rear views. Record and gather evidence. Or set your phone on a dash tripod so it can.
      I was once stopped in my town when I had a beater with missing hubcaps. He said I went over the center line which was BS. RECORD my friend. RECORD.

    • 3 years ago
      bt

      Its because u are flagging as an untraceable vehicle.

      > Bluetooth mesh Networks
      The Bluetooth in new cars interacts with receivers on the side of the road and highway system.
      Also if the tires are too old they don't have RFID chips in them.

      https://www.bluetooth.com/blog/mesh-in-large-scale-networks/

    • 3 years ago
      no meme

      I drove a beater car for a while and cops would tailgate me, pull me over and ask to search. Never agree to it. We know cops pull over opd cars with white drivers and plant drugs on them as they cant afford to fight the 100k court fees and even if they win it just means a cop lost and was exposed for beong a crook and the rest of the department is pissed at you because you lost them money and a fellow crook.

    • 3 years ago
      Anonymous

      Why don't you just follow them back?

      • 3 years ago
        Annoying

        Annoying a police officer is a crime. Try it and see how fast you get ticketed or in jail.

        • 3 years ago
          Anon

          i do it all the time with my dashcam when i see cops on the freeway going over 65mph

          i get behind them matching their pace, remove the camera to show my speedometer usually around 80-85mph then place it back. follow them all the way to the starbucks or burgerking , wait until i can confirm they werent responding to a work call and are just ordering food, then submit the video to their internal affairs department. so far i have gotten 2 officers placed on temporary probation but i live in a cuckstate so it helps that my govt is already anti police

          i get very mad when these frickers brazenly do shit they write us tickets about. i know most of my complaints havnt done shit but all complaints get logged and it still goes in the officers file even if it doestn mean shit to their employer, the more complaints they have the worse it looks. its a numbers game

          one thing that used to really piss me off was the homosexual cops parking outside the coffee/donut shop in the meter parking, WIHTOUT PAYING THE METERS. id watch the little city metercucks drive by on their 3 wheel cuckmobiles checking the meters, SKIPPING THE COP CARS PARKED IN PLAIN VIEW then moving up even writing tickets on citizen cars. i kept filing complaints about that shit and nothing happened. so i sent a video of it to the local news and they actually ran a story about it and guess what after that the cops stopped parking there at their daily breakfast meeting spot, and when they did they fed the meters

          i dont care these frickers need to be held accountable to the same shit they force on us

          • 3 years ago
            Anonymous

            I sent this email the other day. he was riding my ass so I just did 54 in a 45 all the way home.

            • 3 years ago
              Anon

              if you grab specifics they can usually trace who it was. i recommend everyone get a dashcam for evidence, even for regular driving. you never know when some idiot will do something stupid on the road and then try to claim it was your fault.

              but try to look for numbers on the car, usually squad cars have numbers. if you cant find one try to get the plate #. if you cant do that then give them the exact location and time in the complaint and make sure you send it to internal affairs, and use the specific language "conduct unbecoming of an officer" (thats what gets them demerits)

              the IA should be able to pull location data from their central command since almost all agencies have satellite tracking in duty cars. also dont hold your breath, this shit is so low priority for them you might not hear back ever, and if you do it might be months or even years

              • 3 years ago
                Anonymous

                Yeah I see your point but I live in bum fricked TN and these guys are real good about yanking the chains of their little stupid rookies. I sent them an email about speeding on my road and they had radar set up next day. I mean as long as you have tags insurance and license you should be good to go. A lot of them think they're RoboCop or something and are going to try to intimidate somebody but if you don't let them they really can't do shit.

    • 3 years ago
      Advice

      Shitty car = Possible drug user/thief/gang member etc.

      Most arrests for drugs are traffic stops. Keep your interior really clean and you won't have issues when they pull you. After 1-2 times you'll just be that guy with a cheap car.

    • 3 years ago
      Anonymous

      >Am I really being persecuted because I'm driving a piece of shit car?
      Yes.
      My moronic friend had a beat up white Nissan with purple tints, covered 360 degrees in catalog stickers. I was pulled over with him in that car more times in one summer than the rest of my life total.
      >thought you didn't have your seat belt on
      >clocked you going 27 in a 25
      >idt I saw a turn signal
      >your buddy didn't have his seat belt on
      >my computer pinged your registration must be a glitch sry
      They just want an excuse to pull you over to smell for weed.

    • 3 years ago
      lol

      You picked the wrong fricking car. The 90s Toyota is the vehicle of choice for people who make bad decisions and can't afford to maintain a normal car. It's almost impossible to kill these, so you don't need to spend money on maintenance, so you can drive it until the wheels literally fall off and then just buy another one for $500, leaving you with more money for weed, malt liquor, cigarettes, paying child support, and buying $300 Nikes.
      You are being profiled because you drive the car of choice for junkies. You should have got a 10 year old Ford Focus if you wanted to be ignored.

    • 3 years ago
      cu next tuesdays

      Cops frick with poor people. Poor people are more likely to have issues with addiction than the more affluent of society.
      Thats why when they see a beater car they will just follow it around until they feel like they have something to pull them over for so they can search the car and run the occupants for warrants.
      The real redpill that black people cant seem to understand is that race has very little to do with why they get profiled.
      Cops are worthless c**ts and are exceptionally lazy.

    • 3 years ago
      Anonymous

      have you tried walking into the local police department, bringing them a few free pizzas and introducing yourself as a stand-up, involved member of the community so they don't suspect you're a drug dealer? believe it or not, cops don't want to waste their time any more than you do. they are following you because you're in a criminal car. if you show them you're not a criminal then they'll stop bothering to follow you next time they recognize your car. using big words like "persecution" won't help you, since they are entirely within their rights to follow you wherever they want, however long they want on public road ways. you will NEVER get them to stop unless they want to stop. so think of ways to make them want to stop. you literally have no other options so go ahead and ignore me if you want, i don't really give a shit about you or what happens to you.

    • 3 years ago
      Martin

      >Am I really being persecuted because I'm driving a piece of shit car?
      In a way, yes.
      I know a cop. He claims that there's two kinds of car you can always count on when it comes to writing a fat ticket; a super clean European car or a claptrap Jap sedan.
      His reasoning goes, the Euro car has some jagoff driving it who won't use turn signals, speeds and is quite possibly a dope dealer. The Jap car driver has an obvious disregard for the state of his car, so he's probably a douchebag scofflaw who uses dope and makes other bad decisions.
      Either way, if you pull one you'll probably find a violation or two to write up.
      I think it's a shitty way to look at your fellow man, myself, but this butthole keeps writing tickets, so there might be something to it.

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