How to Handle a Cyber Stalker

Surfing the web, a formerly exhilarating experience, can become frightening if you are being cyber stalked.

Being the victim of a stalker is a harrowing experience. It is no less scary if the stalker operates online. Cyber stalkers can raise your stress and anxiety levels and make you feel unsafe in your own home. This type of harassment is unfortunately not always taken as seriously as it should be by law enforcement. Luckily, there are things you can do alone to protect yourself and prevent further stalking.

Instructions

1. Disengage from all conversations with the person stalking you. You may be tempted to try to talk the person out of harassing you, but this approach may further aggravate the situation and will not likely help. Instead, refrain from talking to your stalker under all circumstances.

2. Block your cyber stalker to prevent further contact. This means blocking their e-mail address and screen names on any instant messaging services. You may also have to change your blog settings, if you have one, to prevent anonymous comments. Think about changing your e-mail address and screen names so that your stalker can't find you. If your stalker creates new user names to circumvent you blocking him or her on messaging services, change settings so that only people you approve may send you messages.

3. Protect yourself by changing passwords. It could be that your cyber stalker is after personal or financial information or access to your records. Many people have security questions to get new passwords with easily accessible information. With enough sleuthing, your stalker could easily find out your mother's maiden name, for example, and change your passwords to various accounts. Change your passwords by making them more complicated and change your security question answers to facts only you know.

4. Remove all personal information that is publicly available on the internet. Scour your social media networks and delete or heavily restrict access to your contact information, such as your address, phone number and workplace. Limit access to your social media networks to people you know personally.

5. File a police report. Alhough the police may not conduct a thorough investigation, if the level of stalking is severe enough and threats have been made, press them to commit some man hours to try to track down your stalker. Save all conversations you have had and messages you have received and forward these to the police to be included in your file.

References

• CNN; How to Handle a Cyberstalker; Andrea Bartz et. al; 2010

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish