What you do if you’re being followed

If you’re being followed on foot, odds are they’re monitoring you digitally as well, unless you were just picked from the crowd (i.e. you’re walking through the wrong neighborhood and are a woman or rich-looking guy).

How to get rid of these people largely depends on who they are and why they’re following you. If it’s not something directly life-threatening, I would simply confront them – most people who are following you don’t want to make a scene about it, so the more attention you draw to it, the better off you are. Simply acknowledging that you know they’re there is often enough to scare them away, though that doesn’t mean you’re not still being monitored.

Depending on the level of people you’re dealing with, you’ll want to closely monitor your computing and internet-enabled devices. It’s also a good idea to check your car for tracking devices and your home for microphones and cameras – these can be hidden in literally anything from a light switch/light bulb to a picture frame, can of soda, etc. Look for things that are out of place – OCD is your friend when being watched.

There is a chance you’re not actually being followed and are just imagining it, but trust your instincts. 

I’ve caught people following me on multiple occasions – many of them I still have no idea who they were, but I do have a general idea of why they were following me and who they could have been working for.

Once I was sitting in a parking lot smoking a cigarette in my van at night when I noticed a man was taking an unusually long time to put something in his trunk (especially in a college parking lot). He was too far away to fully see, but I stared directly at him until I realized I made eye contact and he suddenly closed the trunk and got in his car to leave. I waved, and it freaked him out to the point that he stopped and shut off his car to hide. I immediately started my car and began to chase him, at which point, he sped out of the parking lot into a crowded street at night without his headlights and left. That guy I’m almost positive worked for the Scientologists (long story) and was not the first nor last tail put on me.

By then I was sure I was being followed and freaking out, so I called my parents (my dad is retired military intelligence) to find out what my options are. My dad called the police without telling me, and they also started tailing me. I caught them at one point by continuing to go back and forth from my car and changing up my route to be much more erratic than a normal person in order to break the cycle and catch them up. I ended up finding a guy walking away from my van who made up a story about someone else messing with my van.

I pulled out my phone and started taking pictures of anyone that seemed out of place. Soon the police started amping up their undercover op following me, and I was paralyzed with fear for a moment, realizing there’s really nothing I can do if they decided to make me disappear. I got out of my van and started calling them out as loudly as possible until suddenly two squad cars appeared and a team of 5 uniformed police officers surrounded me to interrogate me.

I lived to tell these stories because I don’t carry weapons and was not seen as a threat, despite my seemingly erratic behavior. Confronting my stalkers wasn’t ever easy, but each time it seemed to scare them more than me, as they’re not really used to people breaking the fourth wall of their monitoring.

Of course this was before Edward Snowden’s leaks revealed the vast nature of monitoring programs available these days and I realized although they had boots on the ground, it’s online where they’re really tracking your every move and can predict your behavior better than even you can.