For people that don't or wont comprehend the situation, curious about how it's funded and who does the stalking. I'll tell you it's a hierarchy.
The peons that follow you are usually low lifes, paid in drugs or givin objects that are taken or stolen from the victims for playing their part. Jobless people who have low self esteem that feel a sense of power by taking part in a group activity. They aren't given details about the victim besides appearance, habits, and whereabouts. Usually they don't do much except follow you until told otherwise at which point they are accompanied by a higher ranking gang member(trainer) who takes orders and actually gets paid, again, with dirty money. The hope is to eventually move from peon to payout for their unquestioning loyalty.

The last physical confrontation I had involved being drugged at a bar. What are the odds of a young male being drugged by an adult female. I narrowly made it out of the situation safely but the mysterious woman intended to do something I don't know what.
Whatever drug it was was Nasty!
The joke went that I'm bummed I didn't get raped(she was hot) but glad I woke up with my sanity and my kidneys.
After that point the tactics changed as I said but I can still pinpoint when a random conversation isn't so random and involves a lot of probing about my understand of the order of things/who runs the show on this planet. Shortly thereafter I'm psychically harassed for several days which can be very debilitating. If I didn't work for myself I would have lost my job by now on account of how long it can take to recover from this style of harassment.
Still learning to keep my mouth shut in public.