Hidden trackers, spyware, drones — increasingly sophisticated DV surveillance feeds new era of fear

Violent men are using everyday items including teddy bears, pot plants, prams and cars to keep tabs on their victims in a bid to extend their terror. Frightening new ways of victims being kept under surveillance are uncovered almost every week and are becoming so sophisticated they require advanced tools to detect them, sector experts warn. In one case, a victim’s child was contacted while at Perth refuge Starick after his estranged father created an avatar in an online game to try to find out details of where the pair had gone, services manager Tahnya Wood reported. Apple AirTags or tile trackers are common methods, but experts warn it can be more covert and victims often can’t work out how the monitoring is happening. Hidden apps sharing real-time locations or even “mirroring” software to watch a victim’s every keystroke on their phones or computers have become the new norm of tech abuse. Lucy Saw Centre chief executive Anne Moore said smartphones had become 24/7 weapons. Ms Moore said it was a contrast from when she started working in women’s refuges three decades ago, where a single communal phone was the only line in and out. She said her staff had to keep reminding stressed and emotionally-wrought clients — who often did not understand how location services could be used to track them. “They don’t think about that because they’re too busy thinking of everything else,” she said. “They’re sewn into bags and teddies. We’ve had a court-ordered contact case (where) the dad brought one of those fluffy toys that said ‘hello’ but inside that was a tracking device. “People think it’s innocent, until it’s not.” Indigo Junction family and domestic violence services manager Janine Bell shared a similar sentiment. “We had one in a pot plant but we didn’t find it until right at the end of her stay,” she said. “She just wanted to bring some of her stuff from home, which is fine. But when she went to move out of the rooms she was like ‘wait, what is that?’” Home CCTV or video doorbells are also posing an increasing challenge for outreach workers trying to visit victims at home, as alerts automatically go to the perpetrators — allowing him to see who comes and goes in real-time. Lucy Saw Centre manager Helen Lauwers said it was common for perpetrators who worked FIFO or interstate to install cameras throughout their home to keep tabs on victims while they were away. “That’s quite common. They put cameras in homes to see how people are getting on while they’re away. But that has also been helpful in some cases because they’ve incriminated themselves,” she said. And if it’s not obvious in the home, the cameras can be found in air conditioning or furniture. Staff at the national peak body for specialist women’s domestic and family violence services, Wesnet, have found it increasingly common that perpetrators use children to continue abuse. A tactic includes gifting a device to children to pit the parents against each other, with fathers commonly seen as heroes for giving the child technology and then the mother forced to take it off them. “Unfortunately, I think that in domestic violence, we often see children used as either a vector or a way to continue the abuse,” chief officer Karen Bentley said. “We see abusers trying to harm the relationship — often between mother and the child — because she ends up having to be ‘bad cop’ on the tech because she knows how risky tech is. “She’s seen as the person who’s stopping the technology, whereas maybe the abusive parent is facilitating it by handing over nice gadgets.” Ms Bentley said younger generations were also more at risk because their location is often shared for convenience on apps and services like Life360, Apple’s Find My or Snapchat. “We’ve got a new generation of young people and children now who are digital natives and they’re very used to sharing information,” Ms Bentley said. While it’s mostly covert, abusers can also demand their victims provide passwords to devices or online accounts by threatening or perpetrating violence. Some men prohibited women from even having a phone, or they’ve placed the phone and wi-fi under their account, allowing them to see the call logs and search history of their victim. It isn’t limited to stalking and can also involve using devices or platforms to harass, verbally or text abuse, monitoring, humiliating or punishing victims. “I’ve been working in this area now since about 2011 and it’s pretty regular that I will hear about another new way, somebody has decided to misuse technology,” Ms Bentley said. “It goes way beyond phones. The abuser will use a whole range of different things to try and restrict freedom. “Unfortunately, the information about how to do it is very readily available and shared. Searching bank PayIDs from call list numbers is common, as is stalking geolocations through photos. Where 15 years ago perpetrators would track victims and appear at what had previously been well-hidden refuges, these days staff are finding drones hovering above. “We will put systems in place where we will park the car away from the refuge and travel her back and forth until we can get someone to assess it,” Ms Wood said. “But unfortunately, there is no expert in WA that can fully assess a car to make sure a tracking device isn’t on it. Funding for dedicated technology safety specialists in WA is vital, according to many in the sector. Currently, referrals are made to the national charity Wesnet, which represents about 350 women’s refuges, shelters, safe houses and information/referral services in Australia. The organisation was a favourite of pop princess Olivia Rodrigo, who donated a portion of ticket sales of her GUTS World Tour in Australia in October. As part of its service, it hands out about 6000 phones to FDV victims each year — 10 per cent of which went to WA. More phones are going into areas that are deemed “very remote”, “remote” or “regional” than the metropolitan and often to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. A staggering 641,500 Australian women were subjected to having their movements tracked by an ex-partner in 2021-22, a sharp rise from 455,100 in 2016, according to an Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey. Experts are working alongside tech companies, telecommunication services, social media platforms and the government to try to put measures in place that cut off the techniques that perpetrators use. Wesnet is also continuing to work with researchers on external studies into the issues. Ms Bentley said anyone providing a tech product or services — like an AirTag or phone — needed to have the worst-case scenario in mind. TOP SAFETY TIPS: Support is available from 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), 1800WESNET (1800 937 638), or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.