1. Tell-tale signs
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Being a victim of cyberstalking can be incredibly distressing. It can be a comfort to learn, though, that cyberstalking is actually a criminal offense in many countries including the US and convictions can lead to a restraining order, probation, or criminal penalties, including jail. Here are some tell-tale signs of whether you have an online stalker.
2. Getting excessive messages?
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You might suspect whether you are a cyberstalker if you are constantly receiving a huge flood of online messages, emails, direct messages, comments on social media posts, and so on. And often these have absolutely no valid reason or sometimes contain incessant questioning.
3. The feeling that you're being followed
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Another sign that you might have an online stalker is feeling like you're under surveillance, particularly because your cyberstalker seems to know the ins and outs of your online activity, even the obscure details that you just wouldn't expect them to know.
4. Invasive comments
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With your excessive unsolicited messages, a cyberstalker might also leave a tsunami of comments on your social media posts. And you've noticed that these comments tend to be inappropriate, invasive, or threatening. Comments with clearly harmful intent can be incredibly distressing to receive.
5. ...And fake friend requests
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Getting friend requests on your social media accounts can give you a boost, however, you might have noticed that it is happening way more often than is considered normal by you. And the profiles that are requesting to be your friend are generally unknown and suspicious.
6. Harassment
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The avalanche of excessive messages, fake friend requests, and invasive comments constitute harassment and it might be relentless. You might receive constant insults, threats, or derogatory remarks, and it feels like each time you unlock your phone, there are hundreds of notifications.
7. Tracking devices
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Unfortunately, cyberstalkers might have the ability to use quite sophisticated technology to track your devices. You might experience your smartphone or other devices might be compromised with spyware or keyloggers so they can track your online activity.
8. Stalking might take place across different platforms
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Cyberstalkers probably won't just use one social media platform to stalk either. In fact, it is highly likely that their stalking will be across multiple platforms. This means that you are less likely to catch a break from the cyberstalker, especially when they have found your different profiles.
9. Inappropriate sharing
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When you log on to your social media accounts, you might notice that there are inappropriate posts about you circulating. Cyberstalkers might post intimate or private content about you which might include photos or personal messages without your consent.
10. ...including doxxing
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As well as inappropriate posts, cyberstalkers might even take part in an act called doxxing. Doxxing is where your personal information, including your home address, phone number, or workplace is posted online without your consent, potentially endangering you and putting your job at risk.
11. Blackmail
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Whether this inappropriate sharing and doxxing has happened yet or not, cyberstalkers might engage in blackmailing their victim. They might threaten to disclose sensitive information or intimate content unless you comply with their demands. This can be incredibly emotionally distressing.
12. Threats
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Cyberstalkers might threaten you with sharing personal content, but they might not stop there. In fact, there have been reports of online stalkers threatening their victims with threats of harm, violence, or damage to their personal or professional life.
13. Social media sabotage
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There might also be endless attempts to damage your online reputation and sabotage your social media accounts. They might hack into your accounts and share damaging content or they might start to share false information about you, usually with the intent to harm.
14. Defamation
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In their quest to sabotage your social media accounts and damage your online reputation, a cyberstalker might post excessive false and damaging information about you online. This is with the intent to harm your reputation, character, or credibility.
15. False accusations
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Another harmful action commonly taken by cyberstalkers is to attempt to damage your reputation by spreading false accusations about you. You might be falsely accused online of actions or behaviors that you didn't actually commit and that are totally uncharacteristic of you.
16. Obsessive posts
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You might have an uncomfortable and distressing experience of someone making excessive obsessive posts about you. This might be a sure sign you have a cyberstalker, especially if you notice that they're repeatedly creating content focused solely on you.
17. Impersonation
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You might notice that there are various social media accounts popping up across different platforms that are using your information and pictures. And they're not you. In fact, these might be fake profiles pretending to be you in order to deceive others.
18. Unauthorized changes to your privacy settings
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Cyberstalkers might not stop there, they might even manage to hack into your accounts to change your privacy settings. You might not notice this straight away which means that your details might be set to public for a while before you notice. This is a subtle method that cyberstalkers might use to stalk.
19. Hacking attempts
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You might also get notifications that people unknown to you have been trying to access your accounts. And cyberstalkers might not only do this to change your privacy settings. In fact, they might have other motives for hacking into your account too, including extracting personal information and using your accounts for their own agenda.
20. Trolling
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Trolling is when people post content and comments online with the sole purpose of upsetting or angering people. This is a deliberate action and seeks to cause distress to the people at the other end of it. So this could also be another sign that there is a cyberstalker at large.
21. Online vigilantism
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Sometimes, online stalkers have accomplices. They don't always work alone. So a person might encounter individuals or groups online who seem dedicated to harassing or exposing personal or false information about you on behalf of the cyberstalker. If this happens to you, alert the authorities.
22. Content manipulation
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Sometimes, the content that you post online could be manipulated. For example, if an online stalker is at large, one thing that has been reported is that photos or other content might be manipulated in some way with the purpose of harming you, and your reputation, as well as causing distress.
23. Catfishing
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Catfishing is when someone takes content including images and personal information from someone else to create a new online persona for themselves. They might use this online persona to create fake social media accounts and use them to contact their stalking victim, making them believe that they're real.
24. Infiltration of personal circles
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Another sure sign that a person might have an online stalker is if they discover that their alleged stalker has infiltrated their personal or professional circles online. When a cyberstalker does this, it's generally with the purpose of damaging a person's personal and professional relationships.
25. Isolation
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If the online stalker is successful in their quest to damage their victim's relationships with their family and friends, as well as colleagues, this could lead to complete isolation from their personal and professional circle. They might also overtly encourage or persuade their victim to isolate themselves.
26. Gaslighting
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A cyberstalker might also gaslight their victim in order to manipulate or distort their perception of reality. And you might not even know it's happening straight away. Gaslighting can have the potential to make you experience confusion and self-doubt.
27. Unwanted contact
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The contact that you receive from someone that you suspect might be stalking you online will probably be unwanted. But no matter how clear you make it by ignoring them, overtly telling them, or blocking them, they still carry on contacting you. If someone is stalking you online, you should always notify someone.
28. They might use methods to evade your blocks
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It feels like that no matter how many times you block them, they always seem to get through and contact you again. They might create new accounts or use proxies to evade your blocks and restrictions and they're absolutely relentless in their efforts to contact you.
29. Feeling unsafe
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If you are experiencing any of these signs, there's probably a good chance that you're feeling unsafe. This is probably a persistent feeling of unsafety and vulnerability and there's no doubt that the stalker's presence online causes you a lot of distress.
30. What to do if you think you have an online stalker
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If you suspect that you're being stalked online, it's so important that you prioritize your safety and well-being and don't engage with it. Know that online stalking is a criminal offence and the police will take any report of it very seriously. Make sure you have support from family and friends, as well as seek assistance from law enforcement and online platforms to protect yourself.