The Internet Helps American Citizen Realize the FBI is Spying on Him

It all started innocently enough with a trip to the local garage for an oil change. As the attendant lifted Yasir Afifi’s car the two men noticed something peculiar – a wire sticking out near the right wheel. Upon further inspection Afifi learned that the wire belonged to some kind of strange device with a battery pack that had been hidden underneath his car. But what was it?

Naturally Yasir did what any other 20-year-old would do – he consulted the internet. His friend Khaled posted a picture of the device on Reddit asking “Does this mean the FBI is after us?” A short time later they received their answer – a reader identified it as an Orion Guardian ST820 tracking device made for and sold only to law enforcement.

Yasir briefly considered putting the tracking unit up on Craigslist – it was, after all, essentially given to him in a sense. But he wouldn’t have the chance to. About 48 hours after the Reddit post went live a team of FBI agents showed up at Afifi’s Santa Clara, CA home demanding the device back. Yasir complied.

It seems Yasir, a US-born citizen, had been under surveillance for close to three to six months. His recently deceased father was a prominent member of the Muslim community and Yasir knew that he was already on a federal watchlist.  Yet during their encounter the FBI  displayed an unnerving level of knowledge about several aspects of Yasir’s life. The restaurants he frequented, his girlfriend, his new job. They even arrived carrying a print-out of a blog post Khaled had made some time ago referencing “a mall or a bomb.”

The agents took the device with them noting, “You don’t need to call your lawyer. Don’t worry, you’re boring,” before shaking his hand and leaving.

How comforting.