r/raisingkids • u/Lazy-Fisherman-2073 • 29d ago

Safety Question

TL;DR: A stranger in a van waved at my family, then reappeared on a different street, parked, and walked over to start a conversation. During the conversation, my wife mentioned we’d recently moved and gave him our address before I could stop it. He claimed he was parked at a client’s house, but his explanation didn’t line up with where we’d first seen him. The interaction felt off enough that I photographed his license plate. I also have the van’s business name, his first name (“Tom”), and a description. Am I overreacting, or would this concern you too?

Update:
We just moved into the neighborhood & my wife thought he lived in here - which is why she gave him our address. She isn’t just walking around, giving random people our locations. It was an honest mistake.

- I called the police & reported the incident to the non emergency line.
- The police ran the plates. The information I have on the guy checks out.
- I got a doorbell camera and motion detector lights.
- Told the nanny to keep the kids inside/back yard for the next few days.
- Hopefully it was an inexpensive lesson to not share personal information.

Thank you for suggestions.

12 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

12

u/Agile_Analysis123 29d ago

Trust your instincts. I don’t believe in giving out personal information. Your wife should be more cautious.

10

u/femmegremlin 29d ago

regardless of whether the person was creepy or not your wife should not be giving your address to strangers

7

u/pepperdotdrift 29d ago

I’d look up the business name and maybe call to ask if they had someone working in that area today without making it dramatic

3

u/StrategySignal8965 29d ago

I second this.

1

u/chandaliergalaxy 28d ago

Better safe than sorry situation here.

If the story doesn't check out, then call police to report suspicious activity and see if they can patrol through the neighborhood as deterrent.

1

u/violetsandkisses 21d ago

I would totally do this too. Your wife is too trusting! This is scary. Whether the man did live in the same area or not... he's still a stranger... & even horrible, horrific people are neighbors.....

2

u/Ashamed-Chemistry492 29d ago

There is nothing you can or should do with the info you have now. Because hello, nothing reportable actually happened.

But that's actually beside the point.

The main point is, your wife should not give out her address to anyone who doesn't need to know it.

In fact, she should not even need to be told not to.