Personal Safety
Someone is stalking me online
Repeated contact, fake accounts, or your photos being used.
Capture it before you block.
Blocking is the right move and it usually destroys the record. Screenshot the profile, the messages and the URL first — five minutes now, and the complaint is possible later.
What to do
- 1Screenshot with the handle and date visibleA cropped screenshot of the words alone proves nothing. The profile name, the handle and the timestamp are what make it usable.
- 2Report to the platform and keep the referenceEvery platform gives a report ID. It is evidence that you asked and evidence of when.
- 3Then block, and do not respondA reply of any kind — including an angry one — confirms the account is live and read. Silence is the only response that does not reward it.
- 4Report at cybercrime.gov.inThe national portal takes stalking and impersonation complaints, and has a route for women and children that does not require naming yourself publicly.
- 5Lock down what they can seeOld public posts, tagged photos, the friends list, and anything showing where you regularly are. Do this after capturing, not before.
Do not
- Do not engage, negotiate or threaten back.
- Do not pay anyone who says they will remove content for a fee.
- Do not delete your own account — it removes your record, not theirs.
Write this down while it is fresh
A note made the same day is treated very differently from one written months later. Keep it yourself — we do not store any of this.
- The profile URL, not just the display name — those change.
- Every message, in sequence, with dates.
- The platform report reference.