
(You might even want to have a separate email address for social media)

It's the intent to intimidate, which is the defining characteristic of cyberstalking. While most cyberstalking victims are women, 20 to 40 percent of victims are actually men.Ĭyberstalking goes a lot further than just following someone on a social network. But who are its victims? You might be surprised. They might also engage in identity theft and create fake social media profiles or blogs about their victim. Often, cyberstalkers will spread malicious rumors and make false accusations, or even create and publish revenge porn.

Social media stalking can include faking photos or sending threatening private messages. For instance, cyberstalkers might target their victims on social media, trolling and sending threatening messages they might hack emails, to communicate with the victim’s contacts, including friends and even employers. Cyberstalkers have been known to fit GPS devices to their victims' cars, use geolocation spyware on their phones, and obsessively track their victims' whereabouts through social media.Ĭyberstalking can include other behavior that's intended to intimidate victims or make their lives unbearable. Cyberstalking's definition is quite simply, “the use of the internet, or other electronic means, to harass and intimidate a selected victim”.Ĭommon characteristics include (but aren't limited to) classic 'stalking' behavior - tracking someone's location and monitoring their online and real-world activities.
