Before you contact an attorney, make sure to undertake a thorough investigation
Stalking is a serious crime. It can involve threats of violence or sexual intimidation. What differentiates stalking from other crimes is that stalking is a continual course of conduct. Stalking include behaviors like making unwanted phone calls, sending unwanted mail or emails, following and/or spying on the victim, giving unwanted gifts, or posting untrue or salacious information about another online. Stalking that occurs principally via electronic means is referred to as cyber stalking.
Unfortunately, the police don’t always take complaints of cyber stalking seriously. Thus, a victim’s only recourse is often to find their own attacker and then seek a restraining order barring that individual from further offending conduct. While a cyber stalking attorney is often necessary for the latter step, the first step should be handled by other professionals.
Cyber investigators can identify your online stalker
One of the reasons cyber stalking has proliferated is that the perpetrators believe they can hide behind the anonymity of the internet and carry out their crimes without consequence. Many employ sophisticated technological tactics that make it nearly impossible for the lay person to track them. That’s where cyber investigators come in.
Simply put, cyber investigators are extremely well-trained in thwarting the tips and tricks used by these offenders to hide their identities. A cyber investigation team will often start by identifying the IP addresses the stalking is using to carry out crimes. Most of the time, this narrows the field of suspects to a city or neighborhood within a city.
From there, cyber investigators will work with the victim to further narrow the field of suspects. Over 85% of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know. Consequently, identifying the offender’s locale is often a the most critical step in the identification process. Additionally, however, cyber investigators have proprietary methods for determining the true names of individuals who hide behind fake online identities. They can also use data bases of known offenders and other tools to make a solid identification.
If law enforcement won’t step in, turn to a cyber stalking attorney
Once the perpetrator has been identified, a victim can take all evidence supporting that identification to the police and seek to have the person arrested. In the event the police are untrained in cyber stalking or hesitant to get involved in a crime they don’t understand, retention of a cyber stalking lawyer is the victim’s best bet. Cyber stalking attorneys deal with these offenders all the time and can usually put a stop to their behavior using one of two methods.
First, the attorney may be able to motivate the police to give the situation the attention it deserves. More often than not, however, the most effective method is for the cyber stalking attorney to seek a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) against the offender. Once a TRO is in place, the police will have no choice but to get involved should the offender continue the stalking behavior.
If you have questions about how Cyber Investigation Services can assist you in dealing with a cyber stalker, please contact us at investigations@cyberinvestigationservices.com. You can also follow us on Facebook or LinkedIn.
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