FBI called me up, said they are interested in one of my friends and told me they wanted to sit down for an interview. They called from a RESTRICTED number. Now I'm lowkey freaking out.
1. How did they get my number and know that I'm friends with this guy? ….. Is it due to Facebook/Twitter or did someone snitch ?
2. What will happen if I decline the "interview"? ….. Will they start pressuring me and attacking me indirectly? ….. Will I become a person of interest?
AFAIK no one else in my circles has ever been contacted by the FBI before. I don't even know whether or not I should tell people that the FBI contacted me. Because the call came from a "RESTRICTED" number I can't even be absolutely certain that the call came from the Bureau (rather than a hoax).
what do Zig Forums ???? Have you ever had any experiences with the FBI????
Unless your friend is planning some terrorist activity, don’t talk to them.
Christian Smith
You brought them here, they followed you.
Brody Jackson
Freaking the fuck out, just said "uh huh" and "ok" for the duration of the call
As far as I know, he has a 0% chance of doing anything violent.
Dylan Turner
I bet the whole board is bugged now.
Good going OP, you've brought The Feds to Zig Forums.
Brandon Diaz
Did you verify it was FBI with evidence? Did the agent give you their relevant contact information and the extension for their office? Did they tell you which branch office they were calling from? If you did not get this information: it was a scam.
They didn't properly identify themselves. Warrants cannot be served over the phone, nor are they announced ahead of time via phone. They can't really threaten you to "stay in town" like those movie/TV cliches show. If they don't put you under house arrest you can simply leave. The FBI may be investigating, but usually… they are tactful and leave their goddamn name and a call-back number you can google search. There are many reasons for all of this but a more likely answer is: someone in your group is trying to spook you by pretending to be FBI for some stupid reason (testing opsec so they can carry out more extreme, organized actions in the future).
Brody Scott
lmao what a retard you should have just hung up on them
Brandon Rivera
I've had some experience with something like this. I was on my way home from work and they called me and told me they were outside my door and that they wanted to talk. Sure enough, an unmarked crown vic and a local cop car parked right outside when I arrived. Due to my circumstances which I won't go into detail about, I let them not only interview me, but search my home. In hindsight I wish I hadn't, but in that moment it seemed like the better choice. There was nothing, of course. I didn't have anything to "have" in the first place. The government agent asked me about my collection of books on communism and Marxism, to which I answered something along the lines of "Well I also have books by Smith and Ricardo", though I should have obviously pointed out how constitutionally inappropriate such a question was. I was hoping that my cooperation would demonstrate to them that I was not a threat and that they were severely mistaken, but instead I was placed on a watchlist as thanks for my naivité, and now every time I fly internationally Homeland Security waits at the gate to interview me and search my luggage. They quite literally check passport by passport until they come across me, infront of everybody. All of this was based on complete nonsense on their part, I had done nothing at all to be worthy of a visit by them. For a long time afterward even seeing a cop car roll past the house was terrifying, hearing sirens, etc., so I understand that anxiety that you're talking about very well.
The reason I'm telling you this is because I learned the very important lesson the very hard way: these people aren't looking to be your friend, or to understand you, or to understand the situation, or to help you. They don't want to listen to you. They have an agenda, and they literally start out trying to trick you, no matter how honest you might be, or how much good faith you engage them with. They're also fucking cryptic and won't answer any of your basic questions, like "what is this about?" If it is possible to decline and stay the fuck away, I would do so. I would definitely consult with a lawyer regardless before making any moves. ==UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ENGAGE WITH THEM WITHOUT A LAWYER PRESENT.== I think they say your local bar association can help you find affordable and/or pro-bono lawyers if you are strapped on cash. And CLEAN UP AT HOME! Get rid of anything that might be illegal, and anything that makes you stick out at a radical, such as political propaganda associated with organizations, etc.
Camden Wood
Turn off your computer and consult a lawyer.
Samuel Stewart
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Owen Edwards
LAND OF THE FREE
Ryder James
Dont go or tell anything. You know nothing about this person or anything else.
You're not under arrest and they can't legally make you get interviewed. If they show up to your house, ask to see a warrant for arrest/search. If they have neither, close the door on them, contact a lawyer.
Carter Cook
If it's just an E-Fren or some shit that you just talk to a lot they will basically just sit you down and say "So do you think this guy's a terrorist? Ok no?" But if they are an IRL Fren and they already know their going to do something then your a bit fucked if you say no
Adam Gomez
Good. More resources they redirect into monitoring this mongolian basket weaving forum means less resources redirected into upholding status quo
Good post. This board should actually have a sticky thread with all kinds of tips, how to protect yourself from the feds.
Isaiah Mitchell
He did give me his name, office, and contact info. They were also not serving a warrant or asking me to stay in town. They simply asked me if I'd take part in an "interview."
That's what I thought. Yeah, I'm not under arrest; if they do come to my house, I'll probably just tell them to go bugger off and come back with a warrant.
It's just spooky.
Connor Rogers
True. Don't argue with them, let a lawyer handle this. The feds are educated rhetorics, they will make a rope out of your own words.
Isaac Myers
Tell them that you don't communicate with law enforcement without a lawyer and leave it at that. Maybe alert others in your group that LEOs are trying to contact you. Itll be worse in the long run if they figure out that you were talking to law enforcement without telling anyone. They might think you are a snitch (assuming you aren't already one). Be careful around glow in the darks OP. They aren't like local pigs, they got education and can use a higher level of intimidation and mind games
Isaac Butler
Another consequence of this is that I will pay for this mistake for a long time beyond just the bureaucratic asspain. I can't really properly associate with leftist organizations and groups as I do not want to bring undue attention by federal eyes onto comrades. Cops have groups dedicated to this kind of stuff, uc's taking close-up pictures of peoples faces with telephoto cameras and shit like that, at rallies and public meetings. That information then goes to big information clearinghouses where it's checked against other information, and all the sudden they know that this socialist group has a "potential terrorist" involved, so it just isn't realistic for me. Even the absurd idea of starting something myself would be tricky, since I live in a sparsely populated area, and I'm probably the only person there who is a communist and on a watchlist, so they could just check if there are any people that have been of federal interest in the area this new group has been spotted. Many times cops will take note of propaganda like stickers and such, and forward that to the same national security structure that tracks "extremism". If there is ever some sort of interning of communists, like for example with the Japanese during Truman, or worse, another unfortunate consequence is that they'll know who I am, where I live, what I look like, and I will be on their list.
Use a proxy and search up this info online Oh one more thing: If they threaten you by saying something like "If you don't let us search now, we're going to come back with a warrant." Disregard this, it's a bluff. Don't let them into your house. Don't consent to anything. If you believe you have anything incriminating on your computer, encrypt it with something AES-256, or put a password on your computer (need a search warrant for password-protected electronic devices according to US Supreme Court).
Lucas Parker
You should go to the interview and ask to record it. If you won't allow you to record, then don't go, citing your safety and protection. If anything goes down then you have evidence that you can share with the public to further the cause of the MANY crimes that the FBI has committed.
Where you may see this as something to "freak out" over. tbh I see this as an opportunity.
If Op takes this route; Don't forget to request Immunity and sign a legally-binding contract as such overseen by your lawyer.
Ayden Walker
Nothing to see here folks.
Leo Foster
Do capitalists believe their own lies when they fearmonger about the Stasi or the KGB when they do this shit?
Justin Cooper
Once you get past the genocide, you'll notice just how not unique neither the core beliefs nor the modus operandi of the Nazis are among the right-wing.
I doubt it, I think they are aware of it and actively help in it. There's the Domestic Security Alliance Council, for example. I'll let them describe themselves, this from a 2005 brochure:
Sounds like some newspeak bullshit to me. In practical reality, they were active in the suppression of OWS, there are some articles if you google it that go into more detail, but basically private banks and other monied interests, federal, state and local government and even private educational institutions, partner together in this Democrat Cops of AmericaC, and used their combined intelligence and data in one big information clearinghouse to track and probably catalogue OWS activists. In the case of the educational institutions, they together with campus police departments would inform on OWS activity and students who were associated. I don't think it takes much thought to understand what they were preparing for. They essentially treated them as potential domestic terrorists. And we all know what little potential for that there was in OWS, how disorganized it was, etc. It actually seems that the feds were aware of this to some degree, that OWS was peaceful and non-threatening. Maybe the "organic" nature of OWS was what was so threatening to them. I can only imagine the safeguards and measures if there was an organized revolutionary effort or otherwise well-organized movements.
Isaiah Gutierrez
D.S. A.C wordfiltered to Democratic Cops of America. Goddamn wordfilters.
Landon Evans
Damn dude this is spoopy. But it makes sense given their history…
1. Get a librebooted/corebooted laptop (usually thinkpad x200/x220) with an fsf approved distro 2. put TailsOS on a flashdrive and use it everytime you access the internet. 3. get rid of your home internet (you don't need this). Only connect to when out. aside from privacy encourages you to get out more as well as focus on other stuff when at home. 4. prism-break.org/en/categories/gnu-linux/ use this as reccomendations for what and what not to install. 5. Look at technology as a tool first and foremost. A tool ever increasingly more necessary and restrictive but can provide great freedom when used right.
Julian Cooper
Good advice here. In my case, they wanted to search all my devices. My phone was brand new thankfully, nothing in it. I had literally acquired it the same day, hours earlier. My laptop, while it didn't have anything illegal on it, had some private things and personal data that I definitely did not want the fed to see. Nothing I need more than them including my dick size on the watchlist. By some miracle, it booted into the boot selection menu that you sometimes get on Windows if shut it down by cutting power. It wasn't in English, so the fed was confused. I had told him that I had had some problems with it earlier while he was "interviewing" me, so he must have been expecting something. I decided I would play my hand, and managed to quickly choose the backup partition before he was the wiser, and start the formatting. Fed gave up eventually as it was taking so long to load, unbeknownst to him it was formatting. Stupid fucker. I use Tails on my laptop these days.
If they do not have a warrant, they will ask you to sign a piece of paper that essentially gives them the right to search your tech stuff. Never, ever, ever, give them permission. Tell them to fuck off, come back with a warrant, and then take that time to do whatever you might need to do to clean up at home. I know I sound like a broken record, but these people will fucking manipulate you by pretending to be concerned for you, no matter how genuine you might be trying to be. Never, ever let yourself be fooled by that fucked up shit. This goes for cops as well for that matter.
Brayden Rodriguez
I'm tempted to do this, but I always end up giving up, thinking that the Feds have some unknown firmware backdoor somewhere in the various components. Or worse, that they end up noticing that their suspect has gone dark and a van shows up outside my house like . I remember after watching the movie The Baader-Meinhof Complex I looked up some of the Red Army Faction's writings referenced in the movie out of curiosity. Midway through I realized the watchlist that probably landed me on. A few days later I was backing out of the driveway to find a cop car parked outside my house, he was only stopping so I could get out but for a few moments my heart just about stopped.
Henry Scott
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Colton Wood
Are you and your friend involved with organizing? Which groups do you have membership in? The only one I could see the FBI giving a shit about is Redneck Revolt.
Cameron Green
What the hell? How common is this? I use a VPN nowadays for most stuff but for a long time I didn't, I've pirated a lot of shit and anyone with access to my data would be able to tell I'm a communist pretty easy. I haven't committed any crimes outside of that tho, so I'm wondering wtf OP did that made them move from "you're on the list" to "we're at the door"
Get a lawyer. Don't you dare take bribes and become a snitch. Also start talking to newspapers right now
Eli Nguyen
Subversives who want to destroy America get put out first. Reformation is key and I'd like you to consider what you bring us. The Feds are the least of your problems. Where do you live OP? We are going to replace the FEDS in time. Now, what is it that you believe in and what is your friend's name? Does he have any ties to violent orgs?
Tyler Parker
zizek everyone
Joshua Jackson
Redneck Revolt and SRA are honeypots, everybody in those groups is 100% being watched.
