AIBU for being mad at my little sister for telling three hoodies where she's from when they asked her "You from around here?"?

[concernedbigsis]

My little sis is 23 and does vlogs when she goes out because it's her hobby.

A few days ago I found a new video where she was out shopping, alone, and three white males, all capped, hooded and around her age, approach her to talk to her.

In the video one of them asks her if she's from around here, the other two are like "yeah where are you from" while squinting a little when they asked, and she mentioned the street she lives on.

She began to have a friendly conversation with them after and thankfully nothing happened to her. We live on a small street so I'm freaking out.

For those who are unaware, I'm worried this might've been g checking which from what I've looked into is asked with malicious intentions.

Told her they probably went easy on her because they assumed she was one of them/in their gang because she wears a full track suit to stay warm (she's got circulation issues) but she really should not have answered that question or at least gave a bs answer.

Am I overreacting? I'm her older sis we live together and I'm worried and can't sleep because I'm worrying over this so much

Wrong.
ANY teenager or young person who strays into an estate or streets that are not their territory is at risk of being assaulted.
They could be 'going about their business', have absolutely no connection to gangs, but if they are in a street in a different territory they can be targeted.

Possibly a young person who was with adults, e.g. with family to visit relatives in another part of town, would be ignored. But if they were alone, or with another teenager, they would be at risk.

In my nephew's case, he explained that pretty much every child in their secondary school knew and recognised the graffiti markers, and knew where they could and could not safely walk. Even the nice kids from decent homes knew this.

This is an ordinary medium sized city (not a small town) in England.

I think you've been watching too much Topboy and the like. Trainers with bubbles in? Most sporty people wear these, hoodies the same and as for baseball caps, and I've not led a sheltered life, most of it in East London where gangs are rife.
Most of these are kids copying each other's fashions, real gang members would not be interested in someone like your sister.
The worst thing she did was post it onto the Internet.

So you’d rather she lied and took a beating on your behalf? Because that’s how it reads.

I live in a scuzzy area of one on the cities on the list up thread, never seen any of this. People in hoodies are generally just people with questionable fashion sense, nothing more sinister. I agree that answering with a vague area would be better then giving a street name, but think you're possiblely worrying unnecessary.

She could have said another road in nearby.

Well said @Growlybear83 👏👏👏

Again, well said 👏 some on this forum absolutely do live in a safe bubble.

Strangely enough I am not alone in my views laughing emoji or otherwise, my points still stand. Many haven't a clue what's going on in other parts of the UK.

Having awareness isn't a bad thing.

I am aware, but I tend to avoid areas where gangs hang out. We have drug users and dealers in our village, but not gangs.

Agree
There is a lot of naivety on here. It is just a shame that instead of educating themselves about what is going on around them that they choose to try and belittle and make fun of the OP.

Instead of being sniffy about people's naivety I think it is important to remember that an awful lot of people do know about what happens, but make a point of avoiding areas where gangs congregate.

I'm under no illusion that this happens, but while we do have people in our village who carry out illegal activities, I can honestly say that I have never seen any gang activity here. I tend not to go out in towns in the evening anyway, so that is why I don't witness groups of gangs.

Having lived in Leeds, the outskirts of Bradford and Sheffield, visited Newcastle and Liverpool many times to visit family (all on the list of the most crime riddled cities) I have not seen any gang activity there either, but I tend to stick to areas where gangs don't tend to congregate.

Why do you think that people who haven't witnessed gang activity are naive? I genuinely haven't seen any.

Also, if a gang member asks you where you live, unless they know where you do live how would they know you are lying?

It's more the posters who deny it happens at all and try to ridicule the OP when they are clearly clueless to what goes on. It's isnt always possible to avoid areas where gangs congregate. Normal decent people love in these areas too.
Gang activity isn't always in your face though. You probably have witnessed gang activity but were naive to what it was you were seeing.

Fair enough. You might be right. Although I would prefer to use the term unaware rather than naive - please. I do watch and read the news.

It's the same demographic that were doing "Happy Slapping" in the mid 2000s.

Certain "gangs" wear specific uniforms. It's not just trainers it's the combination of the items I mentioned worn all at once.

These people aren't sporty. They always dress like that no matter where they are or what they're doing.

Even now, people know to cross the street if they see a group of men dressed in that combination of clothing.

Also if people here know what an Australian "Eshay" is, these people are the British equivalent to those.

the "uniform" and associated behaviour are pretty much identical.

They often travel around in groups, loiter in parks, loiter around corner shops, etc. and are generally up to no good