Identify a Craig’s List Stalker With a Reverse Email Search

Posted by : Mohadeseh Pourbehzadi | Monday, August 30, 2010 | Published in

Do you know about Craigslist.org ? At Craig's List you can rent a room,find employment,hire an escort and even get harassed by a cyberstalker . It's a free classified ad web site founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark. Since then it has taken off like wildfire and now attracts over 25 million visitors every day from all around the world. When an online community is this popular it inevitably attracts cyber stalkers and con artists as well. A reverse email search can locate or identify a Craig's List stalker.

What is a Craig's List stalker and how do they operate?

A Craig's List stalker is a person that is taking advantage of the privacy the site provides. Craig knew that people online like to remain anonymous so he utilized a free email forwarding format for users to communicate.

Craigslist.org is also mostly part a free service. There are small fees for help wanted ads and real estate ads but you can post person ads or rants and raves for free. A Craig's list stalker will use both of these features to use Craig's list as a platform to stalk and harass their victims.

1.They will post the victims name address and phone number to harass them.

2.They will adversities garage sales and post the victims address.

3.They could post an ad in the escort service section and post the victims name and address and phone number.

If you are a victim of an online stalker you can use a professional reverse email search to locate and identify that stalker. Even if they are using Craig's list.under a fake name and set up free anonymous email accounts like Hotmail.com or Yahoo.com to stalk you.

Once you have identified this stalker and documented their online harassment you can file a lawsuit to recover damages and file a criminal complaint with the police. You can even get the court to issue a temporary restraining order that will prevent the stalker from even using a computer until the case is tried before a judge.

If you are a victim of this type of online harassment you can hire a professional investigator to do a reverse email search investigation into the online activity of your stalker. They can locate the stalker and return their full name address and phone number. But be sure to do your homework when hiring an investigator. Do a an online search of their name to see if they are recognized as an expert in email tracing and online stalking intervention.


http://www.cyberstalkinglaws.com/category/cyberstalking-laws-articles

Cyber Stalking Facts

Posted by : Mohadeseh Pourbehzadi | Wednesday, August 25, 2010 | Published in

Cyberstalking is a recent form of criminal behavior involving persistent threats or unwanted attention using the Internet and other means of computer communications.
With more and more people going “online,” the opportunity to target someone on the Internet is becoming limitless. Cyberstalkers visit chat rooms, discussion forums or message boards in search of victims. The range of cyberstalking can range from aggressive and hostile email, chat room bullying, leaving abusing messages in guest books to sending e-viruses, tracing a victim’s computer and identity theft.
Like regular stalkers, cyberstalkers want to intimidate and control their victims. Cyberstalkers do it with the use of the Internet. The Internet can be used to trace the victim’s real name and address. For instance, it is remarkably easy to find out what party a victim is planning to attend and when by checking the information on a site such as Facebook.
The use of technology makes locating a victim easier than ever before. Anyone can type in certain key words into the computer which will bring up a myriad of internet datafurnishing companies that supply private records and information online, either free or for a nominal fee. The internet can do what private detectives of the past only dreamed of doing.
States are attempting to deal with this new form of criminal behavior. Early in 2009, the state of California enacted a set of new stalking laws. These laws make it a misdemeanor to publish information on the Internet which describes a teacher or his or her family or mentions where the teacher lives with the intent of having another person commit a crime against that teacher. The penalty is up to one year in prison and/or a $1,000 fine. This law can also be invoked to protect people other than teachers against cyber-threats. It is now considered a misdemeanor in California to place any person in fear of his or her safety by means of Internet threats and threats using cell phones, PDAs, video recorders or pagers.
Several cases of cyberstalking have been prosecuted under California’s new cyberstalking laws. In the state’s very first case, the state prosecuted a man who used the internet to impersonate his victim, a young woman who’d spurned his attentions. Pretending to be the victim, the man posted her phone number and address and stated that she had rape fantasies she wanted fulfilled. Strange men started to show up at the victim’s apartment ready to rape her and became angry when she refused. The cyberstalker was sentenced to six years in prison.
In another case, a graduate student from the University of San Diego cyberstalked five female students for a year. He sent hundreds of threatening emails. The graduate student was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. He told police the women were ridiculing him. The victims, in fact, had never met this man.
Prior to California’s anti-cyberstalking laws, the crime was difficult to prosecute. Deidre Des Jardins, a student at UC-Santa Cruz, started getting violet emails from her ex-boyfriend. Some threats were directed at her, others dealt with violence in general. Local law enforcement agents were unable to do anything since the act of cyberstalking had not been clearly defined as a crime. The campus police, also, were unable to act, even though the threatening emails continued for several years. Deidre was told that since some of the messages dealt with violence in general and not specifically with her, it didn’t fit the definition of cyberstalking. Her ex-boyfriend was never arrested.
Cyberstalking can evolve into real-life stalking where the victim is harassed by excessive telephone calls, vandalism, trespassing and even physical assault.
Some cyberstalkers know their victims. Others have some kind of imaginary connection to the ones they stalk. It is not unusual for a celebrity cyberstalker to become violent when his fantasy is threatened. In a recent news story, a cyberstalker sent cyberthreats to a Knox County state’s attorney because the stalker believed that the state’s attorney was interfering in his relationship with model Cheryl Tiegs. The cyberstalker was obsessed with Tiegs and had been stalking her for years. She had never met him. The relationship existed in the cyberstalker’s mind only.
Cyberstalking is a real threat. Due to limited laws, the only real defense to use caution when revealing personal information on the Internet. The less, the better.



http://www.cyberstalkinglaws.com/category/cyberstalking-laws-articles/page/6

Researchers seek to find true level of cyberstalking

Posted by : Mohadeseh Pourbehzadi | Tuesday, August 24, 2010 | Published in

A new survey has been launched in an effort to find out the true level of cyberstalking in the UK.
It comes a day after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) unveiled new guidance to prosecutors and promised to get tough on cyberstalkers.
More than one million women and 900,000 men are stalked in the UK every year, according to the British Crime Survey.
But until now no research has been done to find out how many people are stalked or harassed online.
On Friday the Electronic Communication Harassment Observation (Echo) survey, commissioned by the charity Network for Surviving Stalking, was launched by researchers at the University of Bedfordshire.
They are hoping to find people who have been stalked, harassed or threatened through e-mail, on internet chatrooms or on social networking sites like Facebook.
Project leader Dr Emma Short said: "There are stalkers for whom the internet and mobile phones are just convenient 'tools of their trade'.
"But we think there are also vast numbers of internet users who are engaged in harassing behaviours simply because they don't know the rules of appropriate online communication.

"At the moment there are very few widely agreed guidelines or rules about how to behave online - we hope Echo will define behaviours that are generally experienced as anti-social or likely to cause distress in online communication."
On Thursday the CPS's community liaison director, Nazir Afzal, said the new guidance to prosecutors was the first time stalking - and cyberstalking in particular - had been officially recognised.
'Fear and trepidation'
Mr Afzal said: "Stalkers steal lives, that was the message I picked up from speaking to victims. Victims stop trusting those they know and every stranger is seen as a threat.
"People often can't answer the phone, receive texts or go to a familiar place without fear and trepidation. We want to give people their lives back."
Alexis Bowater, chief executive for the Network for Surviving Stalking, welcomed the new CPS guidelines.
She said: "This will go a long way to improving the lives of victims and to making sure that perpetrators are treated appropriately by the courts. Recognising, in particular, new forms of stalking such as cyberstalking is groundbreaking."
Liz Lynne, Lib Dem MEP for the West Midlands, said: "The crime of cyberstalking has exploded across Europe with the growth of the internet and social networking sites.
"It is not just celebrities who attract stalkers, nor is it just something that affects teenagers."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11404284

Fun run in memory of shot woman

Posted by : Mohadeseh Pourbehzadi | Monday, August 23, 2010 | Published in

Hundreds of people have taken part in a fun run to raise awareness of stalking, harassment and domestic violence in memory of Kent woman Clare Bernal.
 
Ms Bernal, 22, was shot dead by former boyfriend Michael Pech in September 2005 while she was working in Harvey Nichols, in Knightsbridge, London. The fun run, at Mascalls School, in Paddock Wood, was raising money to help harassment and stalking victims.

Ms Bernal's mother, Tricia, said the aim was to set up a national helpline. "Stalking and harassment is on the increase," she said.  "We are now getting a lot of cyber stalking via the internet and mobile phones and there is nowhere for these victims to go."

At the time of the shooting, Pech was awaiting sentencing after admitting harassment. After killing Ms Bernal, who grew up in Tunbridge Wells, he turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. Last year, Mrs Bernal helped to set up a charity, the CRT Trust, in memory of three young women, including Clare, who were murdered by stalkers.

Participants in the fun run were allowed to walk, jog or crawl - and dogs on leads were welcomed.
About 400 people were registered to take part in the event.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8042759.stm

The law enforcement response to cyberstalking

Posted by : Mohadeseh Pourbehzadi | Saturday, August 21, 2010 | Published in

Cyberstalking is a relatively new challenge for most law enforcement agencies. The first traditional stalking law was enacted by the state of California in 1990 Since that time, some law enforcement agencies have trained their personnel on stalking and/or established specialized units to handle stalking cases. Many agencies are still developing the expertise and resources to investigate and prosecute traditional stalking cases; only some of agencies throughout the country have focused attention or resources specifically on the cyberstalking problem.


Law enforcement response: awareness and training are key factors

Based on recent informal surveys of law enforcement agencies, it appears that the majority of agencies have not investigated or prosecuted any cyberstalking cases. However, some agencies – specially those with units dedicated to stalking or computer crime offenses - have large cyberstalking caseloads. The New York Police Department's Computer Investigation and Technology Unit and the Los Angeles District Attorney's Stalking and Threat Assessment Team estimate that 40 and 20 percent of their caseloads, involve cyberstalking-type cases.

The dissimilarity in the activity level among law enforcement agencies can be attributed to a number of factors. First, it appears that the majority of cyberstalking victims do not report the conduct to law enforcement, because they feel that the conduct has not reached the point of being a criminal offense. Another reason can be that law enforcement will not take them seriously. Second, most law enforcement agencies have not had the training to recognize the serious nature of cyberstalking and to investigate such offenses. Unfortunately, some victims have reported that rather than open an investigation, a law enforcement agency has advised them to come back if the cyberstalkers confront or threaten them offline. In several instances, victims have been told by law enforcement simply to turn off their computers.

Another indication that many law enforcement agencies underestimate the magnitude of the cyberstalking problem is the wide disparity in reported cases in different jurisdictions across the country. For example, one state attorney general's office in a midwestern state indicated that it received approximately one inquiry a week regarding cyberstalking cases and that it is aware of approximately a dozen prosecutions last year alone. In contrast, the state deputy general's offices in neighboring states indicated they have never received an inquiry into this type of behavior. Although one would generally expect some disparity in differing jurisdictions, the size of the disparity suggests that some law enforcement agencies do not have the training or expertise to recognize the magnitude of the problem in their jurisdictions.