Stalking self-help

Breaking Contact With Your Stalker

In respect to halting an online stalking problem, the primary aspect to consider is eliminating ALL avenues of contact that this person is utilizing to harass/stalk you. To appreciate the importance of this step, you must first understand the basic psychology of a person that resorts to this type of behavior.

Regardless of the type of stalker you are dealing with, almost all share similar characteristics.

Most are socially inept and find it difficult to deal with any kind of rejection or adversity in an adult manner. Instead, they use the anonymity of the Internet to exact revenge on their victims through the use of confrontation, fear and intimidation.

This "need" to repeatedly punish the victim is only satisfied by the knowledge that their harassment is being received and is having the desired effect.

Remaining a target of a stalker will almost guarantee that the assault will continue and probably escalate in method and/or intensity, as time goes on. For this reason, it is imperative that you break ALL contact with the stalker, as early as possible in the attack.

This action can be effectively accomplished by taking the following steps:

Not Responding to Your Stalker

The first step in ending unwanted contact is to NOT personally respond to any further contact from your stalker, no matter how he/she may try to provoke you.

Assuming that you have already made it clear to your tormentor that you do not wish any further contact from them, any additional communication is not only counterproductive, but also extremely dangerous.

Historically, any kind of direct response by a victim has been proven to not only re-enforce the behavior of the stalker, but also irritate an already bad situation.

Generally, there is nothing you can say at this point to convince the stalker to voluntarily stop the attack, and the longer you maintain contact, the better the chances are that your personal information may be discovered.

Another real danger of responding involves the fact that, when confronted by the authorities, some stalkers have been known to use excerpts from their victim's communications to try and prove that it is they who are being harassed.

Instead of responding, keep copies/logs all communications for evidence. Do NOT edit or alter them in any way.

This "proof" can not only provide clues to law enforcement for determining your stalker's identity, but can be critical to proving criminal intent if legal action is warranted in the future.

As an added precaution, maintain any electronic copies/logs on some kind of removable media such as 3.5" floppy diskettes, ZIP disks, or CD ROM. Do NOT retain this information on your hard drive.

It is not uncommon for stalkers to attempt to gain access to your machine, either while you are online, or by the use a virus sent to you through infected e-mail. If you believe that this is a possibility in your case, please answer "Yes" in the following question:

Yes

No (continue with online cyberstalking text)