How to Ditch a Cyber Stalker

After you've contacted your local police department it's vital to stay off social media to remain safe. Take down your Facebook, stop posting on Classmates, and delete your Tweets. The stalker doesn’t have to be a hacker to find your personal information online. Depending on your privacy settings, a site like Facebook can be a gold mine for stalkers. If you’ve defriended the stalker, he/she could always friend your friends and family or attempt to friend you with a dummy account. Deleting your social media presence can prevent the stalker from finding the names of businesses you frequent, places you hang out, and people you spend time with. Before you get off social media, inform everyone you know that the individual is dangerous and no longer welcome in your life.

Most people who are serious about finding you can also use public records, credit reports, and utility statements. Some stalkers could go as far as lying to extract information from phones companies and banks since if he/she is seriously after you they’re probably not going to care whether they’re breaking the law. If you want to get away from a stalker of this stature then you have to be every bit as creative as they are.

A successful escape is all about doing the best to cover the path you’ve taken while creating false trails to throw off the stalker. We’ve already discussed destroying your social media footprint. If you decide to move to a different home because of the stalker, provide the utility company with contact information to a women’s shelter or police department. Then if the stalker has hired a private investigator, the investigator might think twice about helping him/her.  If you’re not relocating it’s important to find the information a stalker could use to find you, get in touch with the people who provide that information, and tell them they’ve got the wrong information on file and you want to “correct” it. For example, say the stalker knows you like gardening. He/she could call gardening magazine companies, claim they are you, and check what address the magazines are being sent to. The goal is to mislead anyone trying to snoop through your records. At best, the stalker will be stumped. At worst, he/she will have to take additional time to find you. With some luck your stalker could run out of patience.