Car Trunk Surveillance & Vitamin Spies

The insidious nature of modern harassment takes many forms, often hiding behind plausible deniability while leaving victims questioning their own reality. In my recent experience, I encountered a textbook example of DARVO—Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender—a manipulation tactic that abusers use to shift blame onto their victims and position themselves as the injured party.

A few weeks ago, I noticed an SUV parked in front of my apartment with its trunk open and engine running for an unusually long time—approximately 30 minutes. As someone who has experienced ongoing surveillance and harassment, this immediately raised red flags. In my experience, perpetrators often use running vehicles as a means to power equipment used for network infiltration and data extraction. The positioning of the vehicle—not directly in front of my door but close to my windows—was strategic rather than coincidental.

When I initially approached the situation with civility, briefly stepping outside to see what was happening, I exchanged pleasantries with the woman in the vehicle. She claimed to be moving, despite living on the opposite side of the complex—a detail that defied common sense, as someone moving would logically park closer to their own unit. After returning to my home, I noticed the vehicle remained running for nearly half an hour with no apparent moving activities taking place.

The situation escalated when I later went outside again to observe what was happening, and the woman's husband confronted me, asking if "everything was okay" in a tone that suggested I was the one behaving inappropriately. When I replied honestly that things were not okay, he remarkably suggested that I should "not be okay inside [my] house" rather than outside my own home. This blatant attempt to control my movements in my own living space highlighted both the racial dynamics at play—a white-presenting man telling a Black woman where she should be—and the classic DARVO tactic of repositioning me as the aggressor rather than the person being surveilled.

The subliminal harassment extended beyond just the surveillance. Strategic placement of items in their vehicle—vitamins that matched those in my cabinet, references to things that would only make sense if they had access to my private information—served as psychological triggers meant to intimidate and demonstrate the extent of their invasion into my privacy. These aren't isolated incidents but part of a persistent pattern of behavior I've experienced across multiple contexts.

What makes these experiences particularly damaging is their cumulative effect. As I mentioned in the podcast, one mosquito bite might be irritating but manageable; a thousand mosquito bites every day becomes debilitating. This metaphor perfectly captures why "minor" instances of harassment can't be dismissed in isolation—they must be understood as part of a larger campaign of psychological warfare designed to wear down the target over time.

For those experiencing similar situations, documentation is crucial. Record incidents, timestamps, and patterns of behavior. Be aware of gaslighting attempts and trust your instincts when something feels wrong. Most importantly, remember that you're not alone in these experiences, even when perpetrators work to isolate you and make you question your perceptions. Speaking truth about these experiences is the first step toward reclaiming your agency and working toward justice.