Or… Shoot’em a dirty look?
I just walk in a circle, at speed, and start following them.
6 Likes
“This only works if you are being “rough shadowed,” a private investigations industry term that means following someone at close range with the intent of being noticed.”
2 Likes
Diagonals, man. Diagonals!
Hal Roa (best teacher ever) always said, “Run in a zigzag, not in circles.”
Although I also like Spadley’s suggestion.
In my youth, I was with three friends in a mall, and we noticed that we were being followed by an undercover security guy. We split up and two of us started following him while he was following the other two.
4 Likes
If you’re in a car and being followed by someone reasonably close, driving all the way around a roundabout (if your country has any) is a good way to lose them and/or make it clear that you know you’re being followed.
One summer in the late eighties, I was walking down the main shopping street in the city when I walked past a woman talking into her handbag. I walked on a few steps, thought, “That’s unusual,” then turned around to check. Her back was to me, but I could see that she was still talking into her handbag and had what looked like a two-way radio in there. “That is unusual,” I thought.
I bought an ice cream and crossed the road, while keeping watch on her from the corner of my eye, then sat on a bench eating my ice cream while watching the woman through my sunglasses. She was too intent on her target to notice me. I couldn’t spot who she was tracking, it was a busy street, but I watched her move up the street a bit and back, occasionally talking to her purse. After a few minutes she was joined by a couple of buff young men and they had a small conflab while trying not to look as though they were staring at whoever it was they were tracking. They moved off after that, and I let them go.
It was kind of obvious, once I knew what I was looking at, but if I hadn’t had my curiosity piqued by a casual glance at close quarters, I would have missed seeing what was clearly a professional surveillance team (police, PI, other?) at work. These days, of course, she would have been casually chatting on her phone, or pretending to thumb-type while videoing her target, and I wouldn’t notice a thing.
2 Likes
So how do I shake off the little fly-shaped drones that follow me every day?
2 Likes
5 Likes
Can’t I just turn on the left turn signal on my utility belt, then turn right?
2 Likes
I’ve only ever been followed by creepy guys rather than anything like PI whatever, but I did use the technique of going into a business with big glass windows as well as jumping on public transit. With the light rail trains here it’s also pretty easy to get off a train and then run to a different door and get back on - it’s hard to notice a person doing this with a lot of people getting on and off all at the same time. I’ve done this to lose someone who wanted to follow me home.
2 Likes
Soap, water, & Risperdal.
2 Likes
Serpentine! Serpentine!
3 Likes
… and you’re in a Three Stooges movie.
3 Likes
Yes.
Public places are key. I’ve had to “shake off” mental disturbed people. Staying in public, and asking for help, was essential.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
