How To Avoid Becoming A Cyber Stalking Victim

Today when everything has gone online, threats and fears also have found their place on the virtual world.  People are being threatened for no apparent reason and receive unsolicited mails, chats and messages on their social profiles or phone number. Their information is stolen by cyber criminals to be inappropriately used. If anyone is dealing with any or all of these activities, he has become a victim of Cyber Stalking.

Being stalked is already a very scary feeling because you don’t know who is following you; what you are dealing with; and what can it lead to. When done online, the consequences can be unimaginable as well as unavoidable.

Following are some precautions an individual can take to not to become a prey to a cyber stalker:

1.       Keep your personal and public email id different and use them as they are meant to.

2.       Unless absolutely necessary don’t give the personal (correct) information on social sites. If you do, there is no need to make it public.

3.       If you are not sure of the privacy policy of any site, better would be to avoid it. For social sites, choose not to publish the photos (as well as names) from which identifying you is easy (or identifying at all).

4.       Keep resetting your passwords routinely.

5.       Consider your privacy as a treasure and give out only what is absolutely required.

6.       Keep a track on how your name is being used (or abused) for that matter. Set up a Google alert of your name, so that every time you name is talked about on the web you know. If you find something unauthorized, request moderator for removing it from the page.

7.       Take only those services that have strict prohibiting policies for cyber stalkers.

If, despite all the above precautions, you are being stalked online, you can do the following:

·         Block the people you are suspicious about.

·         Remove yourself from the web platform for a while, just to ensure that the stalker gets bored while trying to find you and leave the idea altogether.

·         Save the messages and emails as proof of the offense stalker is liable for. Rather than deleting the comments all together, just don’t publish them.

·         File a complaint if you find the stalker publishing negative or inappropriate thing about you on the Internet. You can also ask the moderator to remove it.

·         If the harasser is believed to be in the workplace, let your employer know about it. This would help reducing damage of professional reputation.

Last but not the least is to not suffer in silence or isolation when you receive cyber threats. Friends and family can be a great support if you give them a chance to be one

Author: R Smith
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