I posted this previously in mental health.... it's still bothering me, looking for a fresh perspective
I met a guy online dating and I have convinced myself he is spying on me. We don't speak now, but it ended OK.
So, we met on POF and after a few days moved to KIK. Chatted for a few weeks, drifted then got back in touch. Not going to lie, it regularly turned a bit naughty with some photos being exchanged. Nothing too revealing, just sexy. One morning it headed "that" way and he sent me a photo. I thought I would send the same photo from my POV. I took the pic but hadn't sent it when he said "can I see a photo of {insert your own assumption here} lol... copycat". So anyway, what he asked for was the photo I had taken. Didn't really think anything of it at the time. He said something else during the chat.... I obviously won't go into details and it's only when I looked back on it I thought "huh". I should say, I used my tablet for chatting (except for a few days on POF and no photos exchanged then) and my phone for taking the pics. I'm almost sure I had the tablets front facing camera viewfinder thing covered at the time. Almost sure.
But I've got it into my head that he has embedded spyware onto one of the photos he sent me and when I've clicked on the photo it has activated it. And! The photo synced to google photos app so now must be infecting my phone. There is built in McAfee on my devices. I've since got a Norton subscription, taken one of the devices into a phone shop and they downloaded Malwarebytes and AVG ... they told me that these things leave a trace and if none of them are picking up anything then it's unlikely there is anything there. I've done online chats with various antivirus companies asking if it's possible for spyware to be embedded in a photo and a few said no, others said whilst it's possible it's unlikely and generallly not seen 'in the wild' as it is not a viable attack vector (whatever that means) and would require secondary programs etc and if there was something they would find and remove it.
I'm trying to take all this on board and think about it rationally. Like I never sent a photo of my face and right up to the end he was asking to see one. So of-course he hasn't been snooping through my photos.... because why would he be asking for one if he could already see me. Logical, yes. But then I think, maybe he just wanted to see if I sent him a real photo. And I start to unravel all over again. We haven't spoken for a few months now but I'm still thinking about it. I've pretty much stopped using the tablet, I have to use my phone but it's limited and I cover my camera finder with a plaster. I've deacativated FB and only log on occasionally in work. I've even made a little edit that says "(name) please stop spying on me" and saved it to various albums in my gallery so he can see it. I'm literally going f*cking crazy. Even now I'm wondering if he can see this (if you can, please stop).
I try to tell myself it was just a coincidence and for a little while it works. I try to tell myself that just the other week I was going to e-mail a supplier in work, pulled up his e-mail but hadn't gotten around to sending it and a short while later he e-mailed me! Just one of those things!!
I don't even think he's going to stalk me or anything, I just think he's had a nosey through my photos. I was not as keen to show my face as he was... and he did and I didn't. Maybe he got pissed off?
I don't know what I'm expecting from this, I just needed to get it out because I don't have anyone to tell in 'real life'. I just feel like I'm going mad.