Online “friend” asking for photos of my garden

[Stormwet]

So a guy started following me on instagram about two months ago and DMed me three weeks ago complimenting my artwork which I post on there. He told me he lives in my area. We have been talking on there since then and he seems pleasant. On Friday we got talking about gardening and how mild the winter has been and I mentioned my bulbs were up early this year. He then asked for photos of my flowers which I find a little strange. Hasn’t he ever seen a few daffodils and crocuses before? I sent him a zoomed in photo of the daffodils and then yesterday he asked if I could send a photo of all the bulbs in a full garden photo. I’m not comfortable with him seeing my whole garden as I’m concerned he only wants to see the garden so he can see the background streets and find out where I live.

Am I being too anxious or is this a proper cause for concern?

I’m very into plants and have often swapped garden photos with other plant nerds online. In fact I asked someone on a thread yesterday if I could see pictures of her amazing sounding plant collection. She said no, and that’s fine. People have different approaches to online safety.

I’ve even met up with gardening folk I’ve met online and made good friends.

But you’re not comfortable, so don’t.

Block.
Sounds like he's trying to find out access into your home.

Why are you dm this stranger??? Stop being so polite! Just slowly stop replying or say you don’t feel comfortable. Yes he probably wants to work out where you live. Could be just nosy or sinister.

My first thought was that his garden looked awful or he lives in a flat and he wanted a photo of OP's garden to post on an online gardening group and pass it off as his.

Get a snapshot from Google images with watermarks all over it, and send it to him. Make it sound as though they're flowers from your garden

Bulbs in flower in your lady garden? Very unusual, probably worth a photo in the Guinness Book of Records.

Just let him know that it’s too identifying and you’re not comfortable with that.

Send him a random online picture of a garden. If he then says he’s checked the metadata and it’s from 100 miles away or Massachusetts or something then you know he was using the photo to try and stalk you.
you then block.

Instincts are there for a reason.

Who knew about Meta data? (fuck I'm so tech backwards, that needs a PSA in AIBU!!)

I garden, I'm friendly I'm always pottering in the front gardens, I know lots of people from chatting about gardening, it's nice.
However one man was just a bit too friendly, started talking about us. "we are lucky to be able to that" "not everyone is like us" all quite subtle, but I didn't like it.
If I see him coming I go inside now 😂 all my friends think I'm crackers and he could be a potential boyfriend.
I'm a firm believer in instinct, keeps us safe.

Catfish vibes. Trust your instinct and block. People are often far weirder than one expects! I had a similar one a couple of years ago, lots of pics of him and his greenhouse. Was a long game catfish that was so strange ( never sent him any cash ofc when the convoluted request finally came!)

@Stormwet

Agree with the majority here. Block him. He is trying to find out where you live. BLOCK HIM. Have no more contact whatsoever.

And yes metadata is key. You can tell so much about a photo. When and where it was taken, what date etc.

Insurance companies have caught people out with metadata. Someone rings in on a Monday and says they had their rolex watch stolen last Friday, and they email a photograph of it that they claim was taken a month ago. And the metadata tells the insurance company the photo was taken a few hours ago. 3 days after the claimant said it was 'stolen.'

as others have said block. He might be wanting to get a sense of how much your home is worth to see if you are worth tapping up for cash

@NobbyNobbs Just to be clear, others weren’t talking about it being just identifiable on Google Maps. Yes, it may be possible to tell where you are from something called “metadata” which your phone puts on your photos. You can turn this off (Google your model of phone and how to turn off metadata). But that’s how your phone does little things like say, “oh, all these photos were taken in New Zealand,” or something. So even if you sent someone just a picture of something inside your house with no indication of your location, your metadata could tell them where you are.

Came here to say this. Police etc can do this can’t they so the technology’s out there….. also phones know where you are to the address so highly possible….

Trust your gut OP, always trust your gut.

Just block him. It's creepy I'm pretty sure he wants to be able to identify your garden and ultimately your house

So this is the important part about Instagram. They DO scrub that data to keep you safe. Here’s the info:

1. Instagram: Instagram also removes most EXIF data, including GPS coordinates, when you upload a photo. However, it may retain some technical details like the camera model.

So that could be why he’s now asking for a picture of the whole garden, to use Google maps or find it in the neighborhood or… just trust your instincts, @Stormwet .

For everyone worried about how much data is attached to their photos on each social media platform, here is a page that says:
https://exifviewerapp.com/exif-data-in-social-media-what-you-need-to-know/
Scroll down to “How Social Media Platforms Handle EXIF Data.”

Trust your gut

Always trust your instincts, better safe than sorry, every time. Who cares if some rando is offended. Block him, forget about him.

Oh I didn’t realise this thanks!
Was going to say don’t send anyway OP, I’d assume he’d be on google maps trying to find you

I’m a gardener. It is quite normal for me to ask for photos of my friends’ gardens. He may just be trying to find common ground with you, or just have an interest in flowers, but it is easy to assume the worst. If you like talking to him I would see where he goes with this.

DON'T send him anything at all. Block him. He might be genuinely only interested in your flowers but his behaviour sounds creepy and obsessive.

I stupidly showed a bloke on online dating picture of my dogs in my garden, a really distinctive shape for the street (( he lived in my city) wrote back oh you live in xxx area and looks like you live in xxx road. At that point I blocked

It sounds as though he was asking for pictures of your spring flowers not the whole garden.It is probably just to seem interested and prolong the conversation- oh yes I have tried that variety but didn't have much luck-when are you planting them, what is the soil like etc etc.it is very easy to change the settings on your phone to not reveal location.