You might be a Spook...and Not Know It !

I thought I might pass along an interesting / odd personal experience from several years ago. I'd like to get some people's input or "take" on what might have been going on because I have no explanation.

For background, suffice to say that I work for a large multi-national engineering firm in electronic systems. I had been offered an assignment overseas in Malaysia. It was a 24 month post. Malaysia, for those unfamiliar, is a highly diverse and cosmopolitan country with people from all over the world. It is also an international hotbed for clandestine activities of the three letter kind. I didn't know this at the time, but it turns out to be very true.

Thinking it might be a nice change, I accepted the position. Now, I should probably add here that the systems I was assigned to work on were sometimes considered sensitive, but for the most part are in no way "classified". I had been in the country for about 18 months when one night I had an experience which shook me almost to my foundation.

It was a Saturday night and a friend and I had decided to travel to a bar we'd heard about. It was supposed to be a real popular place. We had agreed earlier in the day to meet there at a predetermined time (seems like it was 8pm or so). One thing you could never underestimate in Malaysia was the traffic. One day it would take 15 minutes to get somewhere and the next it would take 2 hours to get to the same place. Well, on this particular night I arrived almost right on time, but my friend was nowhere to be found. Thinking he probably got hung up somewhere in traffic I decided to go sit at the bar and have a cocktail.

It was still pretty early by bar standards and there weren't a lot of people there yet. There were only 3-4 people sitting at the bar itself. I pulled up a stool. A couple of doors down from me was a guy just sort of sitting there staring into his drink. I guess about an hour went by when at one point this same guy looks over at me and with a heavy German accent calls me by name! He asks if I like this place. Shocked, I wasn't even sure he was talking to me at first, but there wasn't anyone else really even nearby who he could have been talking to. I responded to him by saying "Beg your pardon?" hoping he'd repeat what I thought I'd just heard from a perfect stranger. What he said next just about blew my mind!

He then resumed..."It's okay Mike (pseudo-name) it was just an ice-breaker. I see you've been sitting here for quite a while, did you date not show up?" Still in disbelief this guy knew me somehow, I just explained that it wasn't really a date, but just a buddy of mine. Next thing he asks is if I have a minute to talk someplace a little more private. I'm thinking this is pretty bizzare, but what the heck, got nothing better to do so I obliged. He gets up and we walk over to a booth at the far end of the bar and sit down. On the way over I had even glanced down to make sure I hadn't accidentally left one of my badges on (nope)...and that was how he knew my name.

After a couple of minutes of idle chit chat about Malaysia and the recent weather he cuts to the chase. For the next 10-15 minutes this guy tells me virtually every single move I've made for the past 18 months, where I live, what car I drive (even the plates) and with almost perfect accuracy more things than I even remembered. He told me about my house back in the States and elements of my life there...it just didn't end. He was literally telling me about stuff I'd forgotten about. At that point, in complete disbelief, I stopped him. "Enough about me; what is it that you want!!?? I asked him.

"Your friend" he said "the one sitting over there" nodding in the direction of a table with a lone character sitting at it. I'd never seen the guy before in my life, and said as much to my new 'friend'. He said "Ahh, well seems he knows more about you than even I do...not a very good person, that one. I'd watch out for him if I were you." The experience had turned from weird to downright spooky at this point. Wanting to end the conversation sooner rather than later I told him I needed to leave. "Before you go, Michael, let me give you something." He pulled out a pen and wrote a phone number on the inside of matchbook. "Call if you'd like to talk, we can help."

I took the matchbook and stuck it in my pocket and abruptly left. I hung around for a little while longer waiting for my buddy, but he never showed and I wasn't liking this place so much anymore anyway so I left.

Later that night back at my apartment in the middle of the night there was a huge bang on the door. I grabbed an ice-axe I had from trekking in the Himalaya's the year before and went to investigate. Guns weren't allowed in Malaysia (not by citizens anyway). Already kind of freaked out by the earlier experience, I ripped open the front door only to see a exit stairway door closing down the corridor. I went over and looked in the corridor and saw nothing, but heard a door 3-4 floors below closing. Nothing else happened that night.

In the remaining 6 months of my stay I never heard nor saw either of these two guys, and nothing like that ever happened again. I will say though, I spent that 6 months constantly looking over my shoulder. I never could shake the feeling that I was somehow part of something I didn't understand without knowing it.

Any notion of what that might have been all about?

well, it looks like you were approached to turn into a spy.

you must have information or access to information that could be valuable.

or you could have been tested to see if you are loyal or susceptible to espionage.

it looks like those two guys worked to together. he planted fear into you and gave you his number.

the same guy or his partner knocked on your door to spook you and establish trust with the guy who gave you his number if you call him.

you are american, you can contact your government if you want to. they might even turn you into a double agent feeding false info to those guys if they are not actually working for the c.i.a.

it's highly doubtful a foreign agent would know so much about you without an american intelligence agency knowing about it.

it could also be just be a security check by your immediate employers. since they know so much about you.

What happened to your friend that didn't show?

Were you perhaps lured there by him to have this encounter? You said it was a bar "we'd" heard about. Are you sure it wasn't something he brought up first?

Did your friend also know the things this guy knew?

I don't get the "that guy over there is bad" thing. Wouldn't the guy know or wonder who he was also? Something real fishy about that.

Are you sure they aren't still watching you?

I agree with random. Did your position require a security clearance? Seems to me the only people in a position to know as much, especially the stateside stuff, were your own employers. Sounds like a setup from our own guys.

Only strange think that happen to me is after 6 to 8 month of posting on ATS
We started to get a few strange customers. One more than the other
He did not fish or hunt he just walk around a lot all over as if he was looking for something.
He has been back three times since. Maybe he looking for my none existence bunker.


But then I do work in a Diamond mine very high security more camera then Vagas.

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


My friend actually did show, but much later. He was just as surprised about the events as I was.

And no, he didn't have anywhere near the details of my life that this guy had!

As for the other guy whom he alluded to, I never talked to him and had never seen him before. What he knew, or didn't know, is unknown to me. However, just based on what the guy I talked to knew, I just wanted to extricate myself from that situation.

edit...oh, additionally, the guy I was talking to clearly seemed to know quite a bit about the guy he pointed to. I wasn't really in a position to start asking what he knew about the other guy because I had no idea who the guy I was talking to was even.

Lastly, clearly this guy had information (minimally) on me that went back for quite a while. Whether they still have any interest is unkown to me. I didn't know it then, and I don't know it now. I don't have any reason to believe that someone is looking over my shoulder now though...primarily because I'd probably catch 'em

It could have been a tap but really that not usually how they go down tends to be a lot more subtle than that. Although if what you say is true I can’t really think of any other explanation, could have been some kind of con.

reply to post by OtherSideOfTheCoin


Well, the whole thing was pretty hushed in the moment, and he didn't really ask me to give up anything really. I did cut him off pretty well though. He just gave me the number. I never called it.

I'm calling BS on this. Such an encounter would call for some pretty hard questioning. Anyone in that situation would have grilled the guy about who he was, who he was working for, how and why he knew so much about you and to what end. It would appear that you just sat there, said nothing and left. Hmm !

I'm calling BS on this. Such an encounter would call for some pretty hard questioning. Anyone in that situation would have grilled the guy about who he was, who he was working for, how and why he knew so much about you and to what end. It would appear that you just sat there, said nothing and left. Hmm !

There could be some industrial espionage involved, but after watching the The Real Hustle series of programs it also appears quite easy to find out about people using computers and wireless connections.
Wireless connections are often not safe in hotels, and most people reveal more than they think with social networks.
If they could have gotten any of that information by co-reading your mail or social posts then I think you have your answer.

I think you might have been set up for a scam, but somehow the group got cold feet, or decided scamming you wasn't safe for them, or you weren't the right mark, and they withdrew at the last moment.

reply to post by sayzaar


You would do so in a foriegn country, ten thousand miles away from home, alone in a bar???

And to what end do you think this would have gotten you? Do you think for a moment that, upon questioning, a person with this level of information would just roll over and spill his guts??? It was pretty clear to me that wasn't going to happen and I'm not the average timid little mouse either!

I know what happened, you can call it what you wish.

Thanks for your input though.

If you want more information he did give you a phone number... Sure it might be a setup, he might lie about his true intentions or he might just get straight to the point if you asked. He knows he has a heads up on you so should provide some leeway in trying to verify the actual relationship, otherwise be careful.

reply to post by kwakakev


It's all in the past now, wouldn't matter anyway. The phone number seemed like a double edged sword; calling it might have stirred up more trouble. I didn't know the guy when I walked in the place, and I wanted to know him and his kind even less when I left.

I dunno, but If it was me I would have at least said:

"Who the hell are you?"

*shrug*

I'm betting it's internal security for your company. They might have noticed corporate espionage from a competitor following you around, and sent someone to make contact with you.

Um...how about you call that number and see what happens? Hey, it might make life a little more interesting!

After telling your story you seem curiously uncurious about the event, almost nonchalant. And you didn't answer my question. Perhaps you just missed it. Did your position in Malyasia require a security clearance?

Originally posted by sayzaar
I'm calling BS on this. Such an encounter would call for some pretty hard questioning. Anyone in that situation would have grilled the guy about who he was, who he was working for, how and why he knew so much about you and to what end. It would appear that you just sat there, said nothing and left. Hmm !

That's not true, I wouldn't want to know or ask anything. The more you know the more trouble you can get into. The only thing is I would have immediately called consulate or FBI and the company I was working for and tell them about the encounter.

reply to post by Flyingclaydisk


Sounds like you were shook down by your companies security dept.

Usually large Corps. that are operating out of foreign countries will hire a variety of Mercenaries and ex-Military to keep their sensitive employees in line.

A U.S. Intel. Agency WOULD NEVER do what you just posted. They would watch but not let you know you were being watched.

This whole thing sounds like a bunch of amateures. Letting a person of interest know they are being watched is something a Companies Security detail would do.

Split Infinity

reply to post by sayzaar


Have you ever had a moment with someone from your past who approaches you by name? You can't remember them, but they remember you. You know that moment of confusion and embarrassment trying to figure out who the heck the person is and why they know you. Multiply that feeling a few dozen times for it happening 1000s of miles from home where this is likely to happen. Now, add in the fact this person should have no way of knowing the things they do. Gets a little weirder and worse, you begin to feel vulnerable, confused. Then they start telling you things no one should know. How weak, vulnerable, worried would you be at this point? Someone knows intimate details of your life, and they just approached you in a bar 1000s of miles from home. You don't know the city, who to call for help, or where you could be " safe. " I'm sure the OP's mind was spinning, and getting out even simple words would have been a task let alone attempting to intimidate and interrogate the man with the upper hand.

reply to post by schuyler


Great question!! I was hugely curious, but I was in the wrong place to do anything about it at the time.

In the moment, your thoughts are; run, stay and fight, run, or live to fight another day.

I know this might seem as a rather contrived story, but it is real. It actually happened. There is no embellishment, just the story. Honest.

I'm not looking for a medal, I didn't do anything. I just showed up in the place and dealt with it in the moment.

In the end, I don't think I was set up by my buddy (not so sure about my company), but it was still very strange

Very strange indeed.