I got in a political argument with some clown on Facebook. He managed to retrieve my wife’s cell phone number and our home phone which is unlisted and technically just provided by our Internet company that we never use.
None our personal info is really available on Facebook and our profiles are pretty locked down, but he called my wife’s phone a few times last week which she has blocked and never answers. Comes up as anonymous on her id.
He tried our home phone 16 times which I ignored, everything stopped, he called again tonight. I decided to answer. He said he knows where I live my wife and daughters name, and our address. He never gave out that though and that he is coming to kill us. Said that on the line
I have called my local police department. But this is rural Nebraska they said they can’t do anything or have our phone companies run a trace.
Is there anything I can do to figure out who this guy is?
As i don’t want to divulge too much, some information will be sporatic/somewhat improper.
My family dealt with a neighbor, which of whom I can only describe as a plurality of serial harassers. By that I mean we were not the first, nor the last family for this entire family to explicitly target and fixate on for at least months on end. This was before 2016 to add (they ended up right where you’d expect).
Not just a not ring camera. Seriously DM me and im more than willing to help on the technical side of setting up a Frigate local NVR. Shouldnt cost your more than $200. If you go the home assistant route, it makes it trivial to set up an alarm system with zigbee or simular devices.
Now i have to be careful, among other things the neighbor was having their kids steal our mail, we recorded evidence of such, but they seemingly had a friend in the PD. Im not saying to expect this or necessarily take my advice, but especially being a red area, the cops will not help you if it comes to it. They will be 15 minutes after a shooting is called in.
We had evideable damage and video of one of their kids trying to break in our garage.
They still put my parents enployement at the time in jeopardy.
You get the 2A side of that, but ideally you want to avoid that entirely.
We eventually put up proper cameras, and some of the derangement subsided, floodlights are of particular use.
You cannot let yourself live in paranoia. But similarly you cannot be caught with your pants down.
We were in a ranch, thus no upstairs. They would shine flashlights at our windows. Laser pointer to the eyes would stop them quick.
Your situation is a lot more - forward. But there are pieces of information i believe you could use to your benefit in a preparedness scenario.
Again, DM me if you need any technical help, I’ll be happy to
PS definitely be done with FB. Theres a lot more shit than this one clown to do with that place. Ive been trying to avert my SOs father from something similar as well, but FB is another tool of this admin ib many ways
If someone is stealing your mail, don’t involve the police. That is a task for the postal inspection service, and they don’t play. They are generally the only enforcement branch for postal issues, unless an agreement has been filed for local or other enforcement agencies.
Thank you, hopefully never will have to go for that wringer again, it was very odd seeing state cops be dismissive of clear video evidence to say the least
If he were going to physically harm you or your family in any way, he wouldn’t be harassing you on the phone. He’s legit just trying to scare you.
The best approach here is to “grey rock” him, which in this case just means not answering. You said you don’t use the home phone so just disconnect whatever device. You said your wife has blocked him so that’s sorted. Close your fb account or don’t log in or whatever.
Call the police and make an actual report to get an actual report number. Here any kind of threat made over a “wire service” is a crime. They may not investigate but that’s not the point, in the infinitessimal chance the guy escalates, you want some history.
Refresh home security without going nuts. Maybe a
ringdoor camera, make sure window locks are installed.Then just go about your life, but maybe avoid throw down arguments on fb.
Edit: don’t buy a ring camera.
Please do not buy Ring cameras, Amazons vast surveillance network is a privacy nightmare and is also regularly accessed by ICE and other law enforcement.
Eufy cameras can be used with a home base and stay offline, recording to the SD card in the base. Or if you’re into it, there are many self hosting options that give you much more control and options.
One day i will replace Echos with something better (still waiting for the Home Assistant devices to catch up). Until then, what doorbell camera A) has a battery option (rewiring isn’t currently an option) and B) will trigger Echo chimes when rung (really really handy when on the back porch or basement), C) are end-to-end encrypted (Eufys are NOT) without the manufacturer able to access the stream.when they choose
Just having driveway alarms can be useful. Battery motion sensors trigger a chime on the base unit. Enough to give you an alert that something needs to be checked.
Hmm.
This. This. A thousand times a thousand times, yes. Nobody should be blindly trusting their safety to Amazon, one of the worst abusers of trust and privacy.
(Plus they’re the most common hardware… Guess what’s getting targeted for mass exploits?)
Almost anything is better than giving Amazon access to your home.
The only thing worse than giving info to Amazon, is having no security for your home. I have a ring camera that was a gift from my previous employer when I moved states and I’m very glad to have it. It faces my street, where anybody can see anyways so privacy is not a concern. I’d never put ring cameras inside or in the rear of my house, and would rather not use ring but given what a life saver it has been since i bought my house several times, i will not be doin without until I can replace with a offline system. But being able to check in at work is nice, and any security is better than no security. Hell just bolting an old cctv camera to the side of your house without hooking it up is better than nothing.
That ring camera is still absolutely a privacy threat, if not to you, than to your neighbors. Ring is partnering with flock on mass surveillance with facial recognition. That camera belongs to ICE just as much as it belongs to you, if not more since they can have AI “watch” it 24x7.
Right and what are they gonna do with the information that I am or aren’t home? That I got oil delivered? That some random prick was banging on my door a few weeks ago? It’s on the front of my house covering my driveway and the street. Anybody can hop on Google maps and see what my camera sees right now lmfao. Like I said I’d never get one in my back yard or in my house, but I’d rather have big brothers eyes on my driveway than none! And my mom was born in Venezuela so let ice pull up they’ll see what the 2nd A is for.
Ring has partnered with Flock. The Flock network is regularly accessed by law enforcement with almost no oversight. OP is in rural Nebraska. There is a 99% chance the caller is either law enforcement or friends with law enforcement who will happily check a ring camera that anyone owns, hell, they’d probably monitor every ring camera on OP’s entire street for a month, for a 6 pack of Natty Lite.
it’s a pretty bad idea to have a political argument on Facebook, especially with your real name and photograph right next to what you’re saying
⬆️ This is what having nothing to add to a conversation and being a fucking prick look like
thank you Steven
I’m sorry that you and your family are going through this, this is a genuinely terrifying situation to be in and you’re not overreacting by going to the police or taking this guy seriously.
Considering your logistics, you should look into getting a firearm if you don’t have one already. It also doesn’t hurt to put in a police report like others suggested. One thing I haven’t seen suggested itt: if there are people in your family that are too young for school/daycare or SAHW you need to think about having a contingency plan for them in case you’re at work. This could be anything from an escape route if someone gets into the house to having neighbors show up at a phone call (or leaving family with them).
Who downvoted this?
