What is Cyberstalking: Types, Laws, and Examples

Cyberstalking has become a growing issue. 41 per cent of Americans have experienced online harassment, according to the Pew Research Centre. While most victims of cyberstalking are women, 20 to 40 per cent of the victims are men.

What is Cyberstalking?

Cyberstalking is a type of cybercrime that uses the internet and technology to harass or stalk a person. It can be considered an extension of cyberbullying and in-person stalking. However, it takes the form of text messages, e-mails, social media posts, and other media and is often persistent, deliberate, and methodical.

Cyberstalking often begins with seemingly harmless interactions that escalate into systematic, annoying, or frightening behaviour. Some individuals even find the initial stage of cyberstalking amusing and harmless, but this perception changes when the interactions persist despite the recipient’s expressed displeasure and request to stop.

The content that is directed at the victims is often inappropriate and disturbing. A cyberstalker might terrorise a victim by sending messages several times a day and from different accounts.

Cyberstalking does not necessarily involve direct communication, and some victims may not even realise that they are the victims of online stalking. The victims can be monitored through various methods, and the information gathered can be later used for crimes such as identity theft. Some stalkers even go as far as harassing the victims offline as well, and even contacting their friends.

Some common characteristics of Cyberstalking behaviour include tracking locations, breaching data privacy, monitoring online and real-world activities, obsessively tracking victims’ whereabouts, and intimidating victims. Social media stalking may consist of sending threatening private messages or faking photos.

Oftentimes, cyberstalkers make false accusations, spread malicious rumours, create fake social media profiles or blogs, or create and publish revenge porn.

There might be a misperception that because it does not involve physical contact, Cyberstalking is not as severe as the physical form of stalking. This is not true in any case. The internet has become an integral part of everything that we do, be it personal or professional. This has only eased the way communications take place, along with the increased access to personal information.

In 2025, cyberstalking has evolved with the misuse of AI tools such as deepfakes, automated tracking, voice cloning, and AI chatbots, making it more difficult to detect and more harmful.

Cyberstalking Examples

Cyberstalkers use a variety of tactics and techniques to humiliate, harass, control, and intimidate their victims. Many cyberstalkers are technologically savvy as well as creative in their ways. Here are some examples of how Cyberstalking might take place:

• Posting  offensive, suggestive, or rude comments online
• Sending threatening, lewd, or offensive emails or messages to the victim
• Joining the same groups and forums as the victim
• Releasing the victim’s confidential information online
• Tracking all online movements of the victim through tracking devices
• Using technology for blackmailing or threatening the victim
• Excessively tagging the victim in irrelevant posts
• Engaging with all online posts made by the victim
• Creating fake profiles on social media to follow the victim
• Posting or distributing real or fake photos of the victim
• Excessively sending explicit photos of themselves to the victim
• Making fake posts intended to shame the victim
• Repeatedly messaging the victim
• Hacking into the victim’s online accounts
• Attempting to extort explicit photos of the victim
• Sending unwanted gifts or items to the victim
• Using hacking tools to get into the victim’s laptop or smartphone camera and secretly record them
• Continuing harassment even after being asked to stop

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Consequences of Cyberstalking

Cyberstalking is a form of stalking that can be just as harmful as physical stalking and leads to consequences that can be detrimental to the victims both physically and mentally. Victims who are harassed online experience fear, anger, confusion, and insomnia along with other health issues. Cyberstalking affects the overall well-being of victims. They often suffer from anxiety, distress, depression, PTSD, and suicidal ideation.

If you are experiencing Cyberstalking, it is important that you reach out for help. You can contact a loved one, see a mental health professional, seek legal help, or even file a police complaint against the stalker if you think that you are in immediate danger.

Difference between Cyberstalking and Cyberbullying

Here you will know what cyberbullying and Cyberstalking are and the differences between them.

In Cyberstalking, the victim is harassed online through electronic communication devices, instant messaging, social networks, discussion groups, etc., for the purpose of revenge, anger, or control. A stalker may be a stranger or an acquaintance of the victim.

Cyberbullying is mostly when a child, preteen, or teen is harassed, humiliated, tormented, threatened, embarrassed, or targeted through the internet, interactive and digital technologies, or electronic devices by another individual of the same age range. If adults are involved, it is considered cyber-harassment or Cyberstalking.

Cyberbullying happens in a repeated, deliberate, and hostile manner. It can be as simple as repeatedly sending emails, texting, or harassing someone. Cyberbullying may involve:

• Repeated public threats
• Hate speech, pejorative labels, or defamatory false accusations
• Sexual remarks
• Ganging up on a victim by ridiculing them in online forums and discussions
• Hacking into or vandalizing sites and posting false statements about a victim to discredit or humiliate them
• Identifying victims of crime personally and publishing content meant to severely defame or humiliate them
• Posting rumors about the victim online to convince others to dislike or participate in their online denigration

Types of Cyberstalking

Let us explore the various kinds of Cyberstalking that are prevalent:

Catfishing

The creation of fake profiles or copying of existing ones on social media to approach victims.

Monitoring check-ins on social media

Keeping an eye on the activities of a victim on social media to accurately gauge their behavior pattern.

Spying via Google Maps and Google Street View

Using Street View to spy on a victim and find their location from posts or photos on social media.

Hijacking webcam

Webcams can be hijacked by introducing malware-infected files into the victim’s computer.

Installing stalkerware

Stalkerware tracks the location, enables access to texts and browsing history, makes audio recordings, etc., without the victim’s knowledge.

Tracking location with geotags

Digital pictures mostly have geotagged with the time and location of the picture if it is in the metadata format, which makes it easier for stalkers to access that information by using special apps.

Legal Implications of Cyberstalking

India continues to rank high in global statistics related to sexual harassment, and the digital world reflects this reality. According to a 2023 study by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), nearly 50% of women in major Indian cities have experienced some form of online abuse or harassment. Cyberstalking against men is also on the rise, bringing the male-to-female victim ratio close to 50:50, indicating the widespread nature of this crime.

Cyberstalking Laws in India

Cyberstalking is legally recognised as a criminal offence under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act, including amendments made in 2024. Acts considered as cyberstalking include:

• Following, contacting, or attempting to contact a person repeatedly, despite clear signs of disinterest.
• Monitoring someone’s online activities, including their social media or communications.
• Spying or surveillance that causes fear of violence, mental distress, or disrupts the person’s peace.

Legal Protections and Penalties

• Section 354D of the IPC criminalises stalking and prescribes up to 3 years of imprisonment for a first offence, and up to 5 years for repeat offences, along with fines.
• Section 66E of the IT Act penalises the non-consensual capture or transmission of images of private acts, with up to 3 years imprisonment and/or a fine of ₹2 lakh.
• Criminal intimidation (Section 503 IPC), including threats to reputation or coercive communication, is punishable by imprisonment up to 2 years.
• Harassment based on gender, sexual identity, or verbal abuse falls under multiple provisions, including Section 509 IPC and recent IT Act amendments (2024).
• Anonymous threats, vengeful sharing of media, including images or videos of survivors or victims of crimes, are strictly punishable under Section 66F of the IT Act and related cyber laws.

Legal Exceptions

• Acts of surveillance or tracking conducted by authorised law enforcement personnel in the process of preventing or detecting crime are exempt under specific legal provisions.

Reporting Cyberstalking

Victims of cyberstalking or online harassment are encouraged to report incidents promptly. Complaints can be filed through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal:

How to avoid Cyberstalking?

Increasing your privacy settings is the first thing to do to prevent Cyberstalking. Enable strong privacy settings:

• Make all posts viewable to friends only so that no strangers can see them.
• Do not enable permissions for social networks to post your contact details publicly.
• Try to have a separate email address for social media and other online activities.
• Share private information with friends over a private message rather than a public post.
• Avoid using your real name and use a gender-neutral screen name or pseudonym instead for your social media accounts.
• Leave optional fields in social media profiles blank.
• Only accept friend requests from those you know in person.
• Set your social network settings to accept friend requests only from friends of friends.
• Disable geolocation settings and GPS on your device.

Remove all personal data that is on the web. You may have to reach out to third-party websites to get some of the data taken down. In case you need to have a postal address for business purposes, use a post box address or office address and not your personal address. The best security measure is not giving out your full name online, only your first name.

Beware of calls or emails that ask for personal information, however reasonable the request may seem. In case of calls from banks or credit card companies, verify with the headquarter or branch given on your paperwork.

Securing your data will not help you if your device is hacked. To prevent Cyberstalking, ensure basic security in your online life.

• Use public Wi-Fi carefully as it can be hacked easily.
• Use a virtual private network (VPN) to hide your IP address and other details.
• Do not keep your devices lying around carelessly as someone may take the opportunity to install spyware.
• All devices should be password protected and updated regularly.
• Use anti-spyware.
• Always log out of online accounts.
• Beware of apps that want access to your Facebook or contacts list.

Conclusion

In this blog, we have tried to cover all aspects of Cyberstalking. We have also learned how to avoid this. Every country and state has its own Cyber laws. No matter the region, it is a punishable offense and should always be reported if the offender does not take it seriously and continues with the harassment. Dive into threat detection techniques in a focused cyber security online course.