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

reply to post by Flyingclaydisk


Interesting story and a good read as well!

Assuming that you didn´t just want to test your short story skills on us, I would go for a trial contact as well.

I have never heard of anything close, but it would seem reasonable to me that your reaction (you were probably visibly uncomfortable I can imagine, at least I would have been hehe) would have indicated that you´re not the guy they were looking for.

Sounds really weird, I can understand that you were pretty shook up from that.

It´s definitely way to elaborate for a joke or prank, and I do not see any reason for your own company to do something like that.

And nobody does anything just for fun, so all the research about you and that "meeting" must have had at least a potential reason. Considering your line of work I would see an interest in company information as the winning ticket.

The knock on the door could have been a coincidence, it doesn´t really fit into the picture. What would they gain from that, it is too vague to be considered a threat. The thing was ended in the bar with you leaving imo.

Anyway. Thanks for sharing this with us! Keep us updated if these guys return.

Well now he knows you cant be trusted to keep your mouth shut, he'll either back off or you're going swimming with de fishes.....

Originally posted by SplitInfinity
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

Yes, it does seem like some kind of corporate espionage. It's unclear whether the two were working together or not. If it prevented the OP from talking about his work to people he didn't know, then the trick seems to have been successful.

My father has a semi-funny semi-scary story about the USSR. He was visiting for a scientific exchange, and during the trip intended to take the train to another city for work and sightseeing. He is by himself, gets to the train station and looks up at the large real-time display in Cyrillic and attempts to make out his destination. After standing around with some difficulty for a minute, some anonymous man comes up to him and says in heavy Boris-n-Natasha accent, "Doctor XXX, ze trrain zu vant iz on track six", and then seems to disappear.

reply to post by Flyingclaydisk


In my humble opinion, this is either a well written, fictional story (with a few glitches) or as someone suggested, it's a spy.

As you mention, Malaysia has many people visiting it as foreign investment is being poured into the country, making it an emerging company. You mentioned working for a multi-national engineering firm and that the fellow who spoke to you had a German accent (possibly). As far as I'm aware, Germany has a fantastic engineering industry and he gentleman could've tried to lure you to work for German military projects or just a new job in Germany with a big pay rise etc.

That's some damn fine creative writing

I would believe you, but the fact that you decided to title your thread "You might be a Spook...and Not Know It !" just strikes me as oddly out of place and incongruent to events in your story. I don't expect someone who had in incredibly odd experience to name their thread like that. It is like your intentionally trying to lead us on...Maybe it was genuine and if so, I apologize---but something about your title just doesn't strike me as being in-step with your story.

-Ghoster

As I have noted previously, I really don’t have any reason to make any of this up. I was there, and I know what happened. Again, my principle purpose in posting this account was to inquire about a notion that has vexed me for some time; could one be put in some seemingly normal situation with collateral purposes other than the job at hand(?)

My stay in Malaysia (95-97) was a very interesting time period in their history. There were many sweeping events which took place during this time frame. For the history buffs, 96-97 was a time when the Malay economy (and the rest of the SE Asian region) very nearly collapsed. The value of the Ringgit (the Malaysian dollar) had been decimated. The Prime Minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad (Dr. M), very vocally blamed the events on the currency trading markets and George Soros in particular. The economy of the region went from the highest of highs crashing to the lowest of lows almost overnight. Equally, there was considerable unrest during this period with virtually unrestrained illegal immigration from Indonesia, Bangladesh and other countries trying to cash in on the region’s wealth. As testament to the economic boom of the region, the Petronas Towers (then the tallest buildings in the World) were built during this time.

Malaysia was also very interestingly positioned on the world stage at the time as well. As a former British colony, it was very westernized. From a population demographics standpoint the makeup of the population was 50% Malay, 25% Indian and 25% Chinese. Labor was cheap. The technical language was standardized on English by law. In fact, 60% of the World’s electronic circuitry was manufactured there at the time. China was still a decade or more behind Malaysia in the area of electronics. Chances are good that better than 50% of the computer you are typing on right now was manufactured in Malaysia. At the time they were an emerging 3rd world county seemingly on top of the world.

To be sure there was a lot going on, but as noted, this all came to a screeching halt in 1997. Westerners, once hero’s, became the economic enemy virtually overnight. In Malaysia’s eyes we had gone from being part of the solution to being part of the problem. It was a strange time.

In any case, I really don’t have any reason to make any of this up as some have suggested. It was just a very strange moment during a very exciting time in Malaysian history.

Well, alright--you strike me as an honest guy, so here is an idea. The mysterious guy at the bar gave you a card with number and told you to call him, right? Well, I always say if you can't solve a mystery from the outside, get deeper into to it. So, why not just call that number again and try to establish contact with that guy. Yeah it's risky, but maybe you will get to the truth. Anyway, I hope you solve this mystery, I know how it feels to live with tons of questions and no answers.

-Ghoster

reply to post by mbkennel


Yes...a good sized Corp. that is operating out of a foreign country with employees that are working on sensitive Tech. would without a doubt have their security detail do something as was described here for the purpose of scaring such employees.

A U.S. Intel. Agency would have a totally different goal than to just keep such employees in line. They would want to find out the network as well as just who it is or what group or country that is running such a network.

This means they would watch and listen without ever tipping off anyone until they needed to bring the hammer down.

Split Infinity