Abusers increasingly use AI and smart devices to control victims, charity warns

Domestic abusers are increasingly using artificial intelligence, smartwatches and connected home devices to track, control and intimidate their victims, according to Refuge.

The warning comes as the charity sees a sharp increase in technology-facilitated abuse cases in the UK in the latter part of 2025, involving women, technology, and coercive control.

Refuge has seen a record number of women referred to its specialist services in the last three months of 2025. The charity has seen a 62% rise in its most complex technology abuse cases, at 829 women, and a 24% rise in referrals involving women under the age of 30.

Recent cases handled by Refuge include perpetrators using wearable devices such as smartwatches, Oura rings and Fitbits to stalk women through location tracking. Others used smart home systems to control lights and heating, while AI spoofing tools were deployed to impersonate people or manipulate digital evidence.

Refuge Head of the Tech-Facilitated Abuse Team Emma Pickering said devices are often released without safeguards for vulnerable users. "It is far too easy for perpetrators to access and weaponise smart accessories, and our frontline teams are seeing the devastating consequences," she said. Pickering added that women’s safety must be built into both product design and regulation.

One survivor, Mina, reported that her abuser was tracking her via a smartwatch that she had left behind when she fled. Despite her reporting the problem, the police told her that no crime had been committed. She was eventually found again when a private investigator was allegedly using technology to track her movements.

Pickering has warned that technology is also being used to create fake videos and fake documents to discredit victims or to lure them into danger. She is afraid that future uses of medical technology could be life-threatening.

Refuge is urging the government to improve their response to digital abuse, invest more in specialist investigations, and hold technology companies to account.

A spokesperson for the government stated that violence against women and girls, including technology-enabled violence, is one of the government’s highest priorities in its current strategy.