Activists sent details of child & threatening letters from government/MI5/DWP

An activist with a child was sent strange letters from the Department of Work & Pensions detailing his child benefit & details of his parents pension. He was then telephoned with the warning "We know everything about you & if we want we can get your parents pension money interfered with at any time". The activist said the person phoning was a woman & that she had " an Australian or New Zealand accent. What's scary is that he did not any time given the DWP his mobile phone number.

The activist, a student who has only recently attended climate, animal rights and anti fascist actions and meetings was sent odd letters with personal details on. One of the letters stated "We are going to change the way in which you are paid back" with his parent's pension details on the letter. He was then sent another letter with details of his child benefit that had, other than a few minor details, the same wording. He is young, new to activism and was understandably freaked out by it. He said that it seems like the government have stooped to a new and frightening low in trying to stop people being activists and admits that this has put him off a bit although he still goes to actions but won't tell people his real name in future or give out his phone number so readily at actions. He said it was really worrying and that he at no time gave the DWP his mobile phone number, can't work out how they got hold of it and he believes that MI5 could have been behind it the intimidation. He doesn't believe that it was a joke played on him by other students who wouldn't have access to National Insurance numbers and other DWP details that were on the letters.

We expect that anti activists will write silly replies with "Oh come on now" or "who is the activist" or "now you are really are losing it / getting paranoid" but we believe that he received the phone calls and the letters are genuinely weird.

Anon Activist

Comments

Hide the following 20 comments

indymedia link from no borders on surveillance

04.02.2010 15:26

https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/02/445668.html

anon

Private investigators

04.02.2010 15:34

Private investigators based in London, start your searches with them. Almost everyone working for them is ex-police or ex-army and they have friends still working in government departments who can access this sort of data. Many large companies contract out these services (everything from wire taps to information diving), to spy on activists they don't particularly like. Happens to anti-arms campaigners trade campaigners quite a lot.

If the activist has done something to piss off particular companies, suspect the private investigators who have their noses firmly buried in the blood money pile. They'll lean on anyone who is new or percieved to be weak.

The police when they do it tend to be more open and will openly approach you with an offer to be an informant in return for benefits like money or crimes knocked off your record. So my first hunch is private investigation companies.

Tell em to piss off

HLS?

04.02.2010 15:55

possibly

Activists have also been threatened with : "We / they have a tap on your phone"

04.02.2010 16:04

This is another one that they use along with threats. Unfortunately they possibly do have taps on phones.

Whoever this was has access to DWP and campaigns/activists

04.02.2010 16:39

Whoever this was has links to both. Might be able to catch them but probably not.

no logo

Might be worth..

04.02.2010 20:08

putting in a complaint to the DWP they will almost defineately say that it was none of their staff. Main thing is to stand up to them and point blank laugh at this pathetic threat. Maybe if this chap goes public he might be in a stronger position if he has evidence,

Lynn Sawyer

Go public?

04.02.2010 20:36

Maybe it is worth going to the media with this? A sympathetic journalist may be abe to help investigate the issue and bring it to wider attention - this may have happened to other people who aren't speaking out through fear?

Media

publicity is your friend

04.02.2010 21:56

and can help defeat these sort of attacks on activists. What the state want is people to be frightened, to be nervous and for people to feel like they are being singled out and isolated. The best thing we can do is publicly support all targeted like this, and not be afraid to publicize that the police are engaging in these underhand tactics. Protest is a right - don't let them take it away from you.

FTP

Record your CallS

04.02.2010 23:03

Get a recordyourcall account, give public authorities this number, and all your conversations will be recorded with them on your account.

www.recordyourcall.co.uk

Try...

04.02.2010 23:21

sending a copy of the letter to the DWP asking for an explanation as to whether it was them, and if not, then how did someone get your family's personal details.

Send copies of the above letter to the DWP, to your MP, other local representatives, and the local press and other media, and see what results. Remember you have nothing to hide and have done nothing wrong, so give this publicity.

It's worth remembering though, that the Secret Police treat peaceful protesters who use their democratic rights as terrorists and domestic extremists, so it is only wise to take simple precautions against interception of your private phone calls, email etc. The political charge of 'Conspiracy' relies on hearsay and gossip.

Don't be paranoid, but expect the pathetic individuals who work in the secret state to intercept the communications of anyone who stands up for human rights. It feeds their sense of self-importance.

ACOP ECUNT

It is probably MI5 in conjunction with "security" [ bullies] for Big Pharma

05.02.2010 02:23

It appears that NETCU and MI5 [ie the Secret Poilce] are working with security firms [thugs, bullies and gangsters from the criminal underworld & people who are possibly ex army] to protect big business rather than the public.

This happened with the miners ...remember the Scargill Affair? People were fitted up with things they didn't do, were harassed, bullied, beaten and burgled etc.

Seamus Milne has correctly noticed and pointed out that "animal rights and environmnetal activists would be next".

Contact your MP. Write to a newspaper. Any Antipodeans working at DWP?

05.02.2010 02:40

Unfortunately this will be hard to prove. If the letters look dodgy, you'll have a job proving that "the DWP were behind it". How did the person behind the phone call get your details? These days so much info on all of us is available for research, marketing and believe it or not to "protect against identity theft".

The DWP are a government department and it wouldn't take much for one of them to be paid to pass on information [or to do so unwittingly] or to take a job there for the specific purpose of finding information that can be used against or to threaten activists.

This sounds nasty and it is possible that this has happened to other people. Write to your MP and a mainstream newspaper as this should be exposed.

In the meantime look out for and avoid any Antipodean activists that know you and work for the DWP!

Don't record all your calls via the phone company. Record them yourself.

Be afraid....

05.02.2010 10:28

The Police and presumably the spooks can access the information on the DWP computers and almost any other government agency. Don't regard any information held on you on computer is in any way confidential.

Don't EVER register your phone with the service provider. Use pay as you go and top up with cash. Just give the number to trusted friends. May be have a second phone which you use to give to people you don't trust, ie everyone in government.

Switch phone off when going to anything you want to keep secret.

Aktion Direkt

logic

05.02.2010 14:52

You have observed two things:

[a] a person gets involved in activism

[b] the person gets some weird letters & phone calls

If both of these things were very rare, you would have reason to suspect they might be causally linked. As they are both common events, there is no reason to believe there is any causal connection.

You might as well say, "Yesterday I bought a cabbage. Today I overslept. From this I conclude that I have been poisoned by cabbage farmers."

Better make yourself a tinfoil hat baby!

olaf

Has this happened to anyone else? Any Aussie / NZ / SA activists at the DWP?

05.02.2010 15:35

Has this happened to anyone else? The woman phoning has a slightly hard to define accent, like a mixed Australian / New Zealand, SA accent?
It's someone probably working for a security firm connected to ACPO but we doubt we can ever prove that if you haven't recorded the calls. As for it being NETCU accessing DWP computers ie hacking in...it's more likely they have an informant. They are less likely to be caught like that as hackers get found out and then what would NETCU do?

The REAL terrorists.

05.02.2010 16:34

Your local Plod can access the DWP computer system as well as local councils (have you paid your Council Tax) as well as most other official computer systems. Don't ask me how they obtain access but I have experience of this myself. It doesn't need any of the nasties to be involved, the local lot can get information if they want it.

In theory the DWP computer has an audit trail, they should be able to identify anyone who has looked at a particular person's details. There are ways round this to avoid detection.

I believe it is common for Plod to investigate people they don't like irrespective of the justification for doing this. Upset the Freemasons and you get the attention of the Plod brigade. The Data Protection Act is a very sick joke.

Aktion Direkt.

Vile Ms Aussie / New Zealnd / South African is the one playing a sick joke

05.02.2010 17:43

Whoever this was is playing a very sick joke and I hope she is caught and sacked. I wonder what the Daily Mail / Guardian / Independent would say?

If it was plod, from who did they get the Job Centre / DWP letter heads? Or did someone forge them? MI5? Are MI5 at the DWP?

Danny?

09.02.2010 16:26

Aktion Direkt: Simply turning off a phone isn't enough, it will still be broadcasting it's cell site.

The battery needs to be removed.

OP, is that danny of scotland by any chance? Sounds like one of his stories.

@iccus Finch

to Aktion Direkt : It's not just your phone that acts as a transmittor.

15.02.2010 00:24

Computers [PCs and laptops], blackberrys, digital TVs, basically anything that's a transmitter especially if it's computerised can be got into by MI5 and all kinds of people.
1984 is here.

Call Recording

04.03.2010 23:22

Hi,

I used that www.recordyourcall.co.uk site and got them to ring me on one of thier numbers, actually it is really good as I downloaded it as an mp3 and used it as evidence, meaning I could put it on an ipod and play it back or whatever!! :)

Best of all, the whole thing was free, thanks guys.

Got ya!

Jason