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Domestic abuse charity Refuge has reported a significant rise in cases involving the misuse of wearable technology and artificial intelligence to stalk, monitor and control survivors, raising concerns about gaps in legal protection and professional understanding of tech-facilitated abuse.
The charity warns that devices such as smart watches, fitness trackers and smart glasses are increasingly being weaponised by perpetrators to conduct surveillance, track movements and exert coercive control. These patterns are emerging alongside more established forms of digital abuse, including cyberflashing, online harassment and financial exploitation through technology.
Refuge’s specialist Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment team recorded a 62% increase in referrals in 2025 compared with the previous year, with the final quarter of 2025 representing the highest number of referrals ever received in a single quarter. The charity attributes this rise not only to increased prevalence but also to the growing complexity of cases involving interconnected devices, cloud-based accounts and data-sharing across platforms.
A notable proportion of referrals involved younger survivors. Refuge reported a 24% increase in cases concerning individuals under the age of 30, suggesting that digital surveillance and control are becoming a more common feature of abusive relationships among younger adults.
Frontline practitioners at Refuge have identified a growing trend involving smart accessories that can record audio or video without a user’s knowledge, as well as health-tracking devices that allow perpetrators to monitor location data, physical activity and, in some cases, sensitive reproductive or fertility information. The charity has raised concerns that many of these products are brought to market without sufficient safeguards to prevent misuse in abusive contexts.
The report also highlights the challenges survivors face when seeking protection through existing legal and policing frameworks. Refuge describes cases in which technology-enabled tracking has fallen outside traditional understandings of stalking or harassment, leaving survivors without effective remedies.
One case cited by the charity involved a survivor who was tracked via a smartwatch left behind when fleeing domestic abuse. Although the device was eventually recovered, access to linked cloud accounts enabled continued surveillance, and the survivor was later located again through suspected technological tracking. Refuge reports that police initially concluded no offence had been committed on the basis that no physical harm had occurred.
Refuge argues that such responses demonstrate a lack of understanding of coercive control and technology-facilitated abuse, and reflect a gap between the realities faced by survivors and the application of criminal and protective law.
The charity has called for stronger regulatory oversight of wearable technology and for survivor safety to be embedded into product design. It has also emphasised the need for improved training for police, lawyers and safeguarding professionals, particularly in recognising non-physical forms of harm and evidencing digital abuse.
For family law practitioners, the findings are likely to be relevant in cases involving non-molestation orders, occupation orders, child arrangements and safeguarding assessments, where technology-enabled surveillance may continue post-separation. Refuge’s data underscores the importance of considering digital and wearable technologies as potential tools of ongoing abuse, particularly where survivors have fled the family home.
Refuge has announced a series of professional webinars examining emerging forms of tech-facilitated abuse, reflecting growing concern that legal and safeguarding systems have not yet caught up with the pace of technological change.
