To think there is something strange with my neighbours

[Tahdahdah]

New neighbours moved in a few months ago. Hard to work our who lives there. Have passed them in the street and said hello trying to be friendly, but they don't engage. Middle aged woman seems to be the only consistent one at the property. She regularly walks up the street, waits outside someone else's house for 10/15 mins, eventually someone comes and picks her up in a car. Later on sge gets dropped off but never outside her own home. Have seen semi official people talking to her on the street - they wear lanyards. She never seems happy to be speaking to them. It always looks quite heated and she seems very defensive.

It just seems odd that if she's waiting for a lift, why not just wait in her house or on her own drive. Why does she never invite the lanyard wearing people in.

I know I seem like a right nosey neighbour, but I can't help feeling something isn't right with her. What if she needs some help? Is she a victim of people smuggling/modern day slavery?

AIBU yes - mind your own business and keep well our of it
No - it is odd and you should follow your gut.

Yes, the OP seems more strange and nosey than the neighbour. 🙄

When we lived at a previous address a guy knocked on our door asking if we'd seen a woman around or a specific car...I hadn't, but even if I had, I wouldn't have told him (he wasn't an official or anything) a) because I had no idea who he was and b) the way he was asking gave me the creeps!

What I did do was call 101 and report it just in case there had been someone housed in the street who was fleeing domestic abuse or in some kind of witness protection.

What I wasn't expecting was for about 30 minutes later a policeman to knock at my door to get more info about the guy. He tried to tell me that the bloke was probably an opportunist thief - I just nodded an smiled while thinking it clearly wasn't because there is no way they'd send a police officer out that quickly after a 101 call (I also work in children's services hence my suspicions in the first place).

Anyway, my point is, I could have 'minded my own business' but that could quite possibly have led to someone vulnerable ending up in trouble.

@Tahdahdah - if you speak to her to ask her to move from the end of your drive, why don't you introduce yourself properly and be a friendly neighbour, get to know her a bit. That way if she does need any help in the future, she will have someone in the street she can turn to if needs be.

She could be newly released from prison and the lanyard wearers are probation officers

I agree with PP, if it was a man, there would lots of suggestions that he had no business doing that, and to call the police immediately.

if you speak to her to ask her to move from the end of your drive, why don't you introduce yourself properly and be a friendly neighbour, get to know her a bit. That way if she does need any help in the future, she will have someone in the street she can turn to if needs be.

YES. Just talk to her and be friendly.

TheDowagerCountessofPembroke
Yep and the little ones school.

Why ? It’s accurate.

Could she be Ruja Ignatova, the Cryptoqueen? Obviously she's had a truckload of plastic surgery and looks nothing like she used to. Does it say OneCoin on those lanyards? She's on the FBI top ten most wanted list.

Anyway, don't waste any time: Ring up the FBI and tell them that you've found Ruja and would like to claim the 5 million dollars reward (you might need to embellish a bit like the people she was talking to were wearing OneCoin lanyards and they repeatedly called her Dr. Ruja) and use the money to move to an area with less dodgy people.

You can thank me later (I will obviously need a commission cut).

Must say TBF all you can, and should do if you're concerned is just be vigilant but not overly nosey, for want of a better word, go about your daily business, and if your paths cross a "hello there" in passing, who knows they may in time become more chatty..

I hate the MYOB if genuine concern, it pulls me back to reading of the dad that had died yet no one knew, and his little boy suffered the same fate.

It's an opinion. Obviously opinions vary.

i Would be very curious too but I wouldn’t be routing around in her business or discussing her.
the lanyards and blue vest would stop my worrying though

My bet would be on her doing prostitution sadly.

Wish we had more neighbours like you.
If your gut alerts you to
unusual behaviour it's usually right.
It could be nothing , to being monitored by some social
service , prostitution ( odd guy said straight away house no 40 , did he not look at house no first ) , drugs, handing something else over, you name it.
Societies and neighbourhoods work by others watching out for others.
Obviously some don't like it.
I'm
sure Sara Sharif and other poor innocent victims were surrounded by " keep out of it " people too.
How that could have happened is beyond me.

This
Keep your nose out

You have no idea who the lanyard wearers are and neither does the op, which is why she is asking for advice.

Ask one of them then easy! they can tell you or try to sell or preach to you.

The best thing to do here is just to be friendly and neighbourly towards this woman as pp said. That way if she ever does need anything, she knows you’re there.
What you’ve described is mildly unusual but certainly not enough to report to any authorities. You can’t just assume she lacks capacity because she talks to people with lanyards on. Maybe she has a relative nearby who gets some kind of support and they check in with her after they’ve done a home visit. Something like that would explain why they don’t enter her home. You absolutely shouldn’t try to speak to them and ask who they are etc. They won’t tell you anyway. How would you feel if one of your neighbours approached an on call doctor/ district nurse/ carer who came out of your house and asked them why they were there and was everything okay?

Safe house? 🤔

Do pimps have to wear a lanyard nowadays?

If more people took an interest in what's happening around them, children might be saved from being murdered.

So. I’m going to go against the grain.

friend I knew was worried about his neighbour. Kept saying that something was wrong. Same thing he’d see people on the door arguing and just thought something was off

turns out she was kept captive by this family, it made the news. Wasn’t long ago. So I would always trust your gut. People recommended he contact social services.

Is she Korean?

She may have some mental illness. Mental illness manifests in many ways and people with such display all sorts of behaviours that might odd to others. Just carry on being polite and make her feel welcome.

You can’t win - ‘mind your own business’ and then if something happens it’s ‘why did nobody help?’

If she is blocking your driveway I don’t think you are a nosey neighbour - she’s causing you an inconvenience - I’d be asking questions too.

You should make yourself a lanyard and ask her what she is doing. She might be a spy.

I should warn you though, IF she is a spy, it's unlikely she will reveal that she is a spy. They are trained at spying-denial.

Unless she is recruiting other spies. Then she might say "Yes. Being a spy is the best job in the world". Then, "have you got a long trench coat type thing (brown ideally)"

If she isn't sure of how potentially good at spying you are, she may suggest a few games of Eye Spy With My Little Eye.

Honestly though, since you have noticed her, several times, I would suggest that either....

A) She isn't a spy
B) She is a spy but not a very good one.
C) She wants to be caught and made a double agent.
D) She is a spy and a decent one but you are an experienced Spy catcher yourself
E) You are both spies. Desperate to pass on the secret coordinates but you are being spied upon, so you are using this forum as a means of contact.

Uh oh.

Really sorry if I've just blown your cover.