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?

Trust your instincts.

Do you live in a house ? If so just take a photo of the garden from a upstairs window and then crop the photos to just that of the garden… or just don’t send a photos.

you don’t need to send a photo of anything but your garden.

Block and move on. Weird request. Trust your instincts.

Could be innocent chat. Or not.

Contrary to what PPs have said, please don't send pictures of someone else's garden though, just in case he is trying to burgle you....

Yes, if Location Services* are switched on for the camera then the photograph's metadata (called 'EXIF') may include information which can be resolved to a fairly precise longitude and latitude. You can switch that off in settings.

📢 ℹ️ Apple Support: Stop and remove location metadata in Photos
*that's what it's called on iPhones, may go under a different name on different smartphones.

There is a jokey-but-serious website called "I know where your cat lives" in which someone has taken publicly-shared cat pics with location information included and geolocated them on a map https://dig.watch/resource/i-know-where-your-cat-lives

Conservationists have also asked people to be careful if taking photographs of endangered animals (or rare plants) as poachers can use location information to work out where to find the animal(s) of interest. EXIF data can also help people find out about animals' movements (so it can be a positive or negative depending on who's using the data).

John McAfee was arrested after a photo of him, with EXIF data included, was published https://athenaforensics.co.uk/john-mcafee-and-the-photograph-exif-metadata/

As another example I've put the random address "13 Acacia Avenue" into Deliveroo which is in Hale / Altrincham (I don't live there!). The URL contains a geohashed version of the address (I've made that bit bold):
https://deliveroo.co.uk/restaurants/manchester/hale/?fulfillment_method=DELIVERY&geohash=gcqrdvfn41rs

• putting that "gcqrdvfn41rs" geohash into any geohash converter gives very precise Lat / Long information. In the example given it shows a satellite image of the row of houses, and you could also put the info into Google to get the local map.

OP - I wouldn't rush to give a stranger a photo of your garden. In addition to EXIF location info, or inferred from location markers in the pic it might also give information about the value of the property (small or large garden, well-tended flower beds) and if it's fancy and landscaped you might have a gardener or be fit enough to weed and mow the lawn etc ;)

People can find location information in the wildest ways. My favourite, and I'm sure I've mentioned it here before is Glass Reflections in Pictures + OSINT = More Accurate Location (OSINT = Open Source Intelligence) in which someone worked out the hotel and floor of the hotel someone was staying in from a photo of the view 😮

Jo

Seems suspicious. If he does live in your area will he then be walking around trying to find your house based on your garden?

A lot of good responses here - i agree with the send another photo thing and see if he then explores his ask.... either that or just block straight off the bat - those spidey senses we need to take more care of them and pay attention to them - for some reason he has your hackles up. Dont ignore that.

I'm going to be a bit middle-of-the-road.

Can you not give him the benefit of the doubt and trust your instincts at the same time?

"Enjoying chatting but don't feel I know you well enough to send pics of full garden. I'm sure you understand 😊"

He may just be a decent guy, avid gardener - in which case, you haven't totally overreacted by immediately jumping to the worst conclusion of a genuine request, nor have you gone against your instincts to not send it.
If he is decent- you're fine.
If he's not - his response will likely tell you!

That's how it starts...

First, requests of garden pics and before you know it he's wanting pics of your bobs and vagine

🤣

I’m imagine you were already uncomfortable before his question because of other things he’s also said/ done that didn’t sit right but you were either ignoring those little niggles or rationalising them.

I dread to think of the things women have walked into for fear of being impolite/ rude/ stand offish/ changing her mind. We have that little voice that says RUN for a reason and we have a block button to save ourselves the need to find a polite excuse now too.

This!!

Hahaha - that's why my garden is a state. Keeps me safe from those with dishonorable intentions. One look at my garden and ain't nobody going to ask for any other pics 🤣🤣

I wouldn't be sending anyone pictures of my herbaceous borders, not at this time of year. 😉

JoBrodie
Thank you for that information. I hadn’t realised that a location could be accessed through a photo. Now I know how to block that being accessed.

It literally says in the OP

yesterday he asked if I could send a photo of all the bulbs in a full garden photo
even hiding the data in the photo does not stop anyone using Google maps to try to find your house.

As can Instagram annd, unless you have the settings switched on, they can see exactly where a picture was posted from. I only found this out very recently.

Is he trying to get your EXIF data and from there your location?

“Lovely spring bulbs, Stormwet, but can you possibly send a picture of your whole garden so I can walk around looking for it and you”

Er, no! Block him!

He’s trying to see if you have money OP

block.

Send him a photo from Kew Gardens and block him.

Stop taking to randomers on Instagram.

You're old enough to know better.

Probably a pedo too.

He may want to copy your garden.

Send him a stock image :)

Send him pics of a random garden nowhere near you!