Ok. Got a homework assignment from an earlier post about this. So here goes. My last assignment in the military was as an Operational Security (OPSEC) trainer. Basically, this means I was a trained professional cyber stalker. Often, people don’t realize how the seemingly innocuous things they do can provide tons of information to others without too much effort. It also trained me to pay lots of attention to information on display in the physical world as well.

I have several friends who are sex workers in various capacities, I do tech support and back end for a couple of friends who are OF providers and have been a regular client to several amazing providers. Im all that time, I have noticed a few things that keep coming up that apparently warrant a post. These are things you might not think about as a provider, but I have heard all the horror stories of stalkers and people trying to dox providers for various reasons, none of which are good, so I figure I will make this PSA in hopes of keeping that from happening to anyone I can. So, in no particular order, here goes:

1- Your work phone and email need to be completely separate from your personal life. Never connected in any way to your real name or any real accounts. When I am thinking of seeing a new to me provider, one of the first things I do it google their number. Mostly I am looking for history of ads, similar pics on multiple sites, just trying to get an idea of whether you have an online presence or not. Several times in doing this, I have been able to find a link from a number/email to a facebook page or other real world identity. I do not pursue these links any farther, but it would be a simple matter for someone with bad intentions to dive a little deeper and track you down.

2- If you offer incalls at hotels, make sure you check the TV screen(s) in your room. I visited a provider once and the “welcome Real Name” message was scrolling across the screen the whole time I was there.

3- Take your purse into the restroom with you. I have had multiple providers leave wallets/purses/bags out in the room or restaurant while they went to the restroom. Maybe I just seem like the trustworthy sort, but it would have been a simple matter to find IDs, credit cards, etc while they were gone.

4- Keep your work electronic payments completely separate from your real world accounts. Make separate payment accounts. This is sort of conjecture, but it is the only explanation I can think of for some things I have noticed. There have been some providers I have seen where their emails/numbers did not link back to them, but after sending electronic deposits/payments, these providers real world accounts have come up as friend suggestions on my facebook. The only link I can think of in this case is the electronic payment system. There may me another explanation, but it hasn’t happened with anyone I haven’t sent an electronic payment to.

5- Amazon wish lists- be careful with these. I have not set one up, so not sure how the backend works, but somewhere you must be able to change your display name on the wish list and limit what information is revealed to the buyer. During purchases for a few providers I wanted to thank, I was able to see real names and city/state they live in on the shipping portion of the purchase process. This is easily enough for a stalker to find you. Not sure how to correct, but I know there are others I have sent stuff to that I only see their professional name and “ Pro Name’s gift registry address.” So it’s somewhere in setup. Have a friend send you something and watch the checkout process to make sure you aren’t giving out info you don’t want to give out.

That’s all I can think of for now that have come up in my experience. Finally, I would recommend regularly googling yourself, by your professional name, by your professional email, your professional number, etc just to see what information is out there attached to those pieces of data. Better for you to find it and fix it than someone else finding it for nefarious purposes.

I will edit/add to this as I think up anything else, if anyone has any questions or feedback please feel free to reach out. You are all amazing people, even if I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you, I thank you for what you do, the world is a better place thanks to your service, and I am happy to do anything I can to help keep you safe from the assholes out there.