Cyber-Stalking/Cyber-Harrassment/

Cyber- Blackmailing/Extortion
wiredsafety.org
 The world’s largest online safety and help group, including:
– WiredPatrol.org
– WiredKids.org
– Cyberlawenforcement.org
 Provides education, awareness and one-to-one help when things go
wrong online
 Assists and trains law enforcement in cyber-investigations
 All unpaid volunteers, and conducted entirely online
 Run by cyberlawyer, Parry Aftab
An obvious trend we observed the use of social networking sites and online chat
applications, as platforms to conduct various malicious activities to-wards victims,
be it an individual, a brand or even an organization. This includes fake profiles,
cyber extortion, scams, click-jacking, doxing, elicitation and phishing.

Doxing: the action of finding or publishing private information about someone on

the internet without their permission, especially in a way that reveals their name,
address, etc.:
Doxing may be carried out for law enforcement reasons, as well as being used to
harass or victimize people.

Publicly available databases and social media websites can be used for doxing.

Clickjacking is an attack that tricks a user into clicking a webpage element which is
invisible or disguised as another element. ... The invisible page could be a malicious
page, or a legitimate page the user did not intend to visit – for example, a page on
the user's banking site that authorizes the transfer of money.

The most common social networking platform used by the perpetrators is

Facebook.
 WiredSafety.org’s
Cyberstalking Study
 Wired Safety helps thousands of cyberstalking and
harassment victims
 Its volunteers have been assisting in cybercrime and abuse
investigation and prevention since 1995
 Little is known about cyberstalking and harassment
generally
 These statistics are based upon the cases reported to Wired
Safety’s cyberstalking and harassment division and in their
help channels during 2002
Cyberstalking and Harassment
 It’s stalking or harassment that:
– starts online and moves offline
– starts offline and moves online
– targets someone for harassment by others by posting
messages online (like a sex ad)
– starts online and stays online
– targets your computer or passwords
– uses your own identity to discredit or hurt you
Example of Skype session by the Another example of chat session by the perpetrators
perpetrators towards the victim.
to the victim.
Cyberstalking and Harassment
 Online stalking and harassment is growing
 The greatest risk is offline threats
 Protecting your personal information is key
 We give lots of personal information away, without
knowing it
 Online stalking and harassment can easily turn into offline
stalking and harassment
 Many law enforcement officials don’t know how to
investigate an online crime
Reasons for Cyberstalking
 Romantic/thwarted, rejected or jilted lover, or imagined
lover (real or virtual)
 Revenge for real or imagined acts or omissions
 Hate, bigotry and intolerance
 Teaching someone a lesson/enforcing the cyber-rules (real
or imagined)
 Random attacks – the victim being in the wrong place at
the wrong time
 Cyber-celebrity stalkings and harassment – mirrors offline
celebrity stalking and harassment
Groups most at risk
 Women
– especially battered and abused women
– when they are identified as women online
 Minors
– especially from other minors they know
 Newbies – people who are new to the Net
 Minority group members
 Special ability groups
Cyberstalking Victim Statistics
(2020)
Gender of Victims Generally

18% 20%

MALE
FEMALE
UNKNOWN

62%
A Typical Victim
 Male or female depending on the age group
– in 18 – 32 year olds, females predominate
 Often involved in a real or imagined romantic or sexual
relationship
 May be a member of a targeted minority group or special
group
– ethnic, racial and religious minorities
– gays and lesbians
– cancer or other patients with serious illnesses
– adoptive or birth parents
– political or special interest group
Statistics for age of group complainants for 2016 to
2020
Percentage of Victims by Gender/Age Groups

40%
30% MALE
20% FEMALE
10%
0%

+
32

55
24

42
8

55
r1

-
de

18

25

33

43
Un
Methods Used
 E-mail and instant messaging direct threats
 Identity theft
 Building websites targeting the victim
 Posting false profiles
 Hacking
 Posting fake sex ads
 Pasting the victim’s image onto a pornographic image or
posting real sexual images of the victim online
 Provoking attacks against the victim by others
 Posing as the victim and attacking others
 Contacting victim’s family or employer
 Posting in a newsgroup or on a bulletin board, online
 Following the victim from site to site
Cyber harassment cases in Malaysia
Cyberstalking Statistics
(2018)

Case Factors

16%
27%
Physical threats
13% Hacking
Child exploitation
7% Other
Unknown
37%
Trends
 More women are cyberstalking others than ever before
 In some age groups, men are the greatest percentage of
victims
 More children are cyberstalking each other
 Certain ethnic groups are being targeted, especially from
the Middle East
 More people are Cyber-dating, and becoming victims of
cyberstalking when things don’t work out
 Technology, such as trojan horses, are used more often
than before...giving the cyberstalkers a remote control to
your own computer!
 Law enforcement is taking action more often
 Most countries now have laws criminalizing cyberstalking
and harassment.
 Cyberstalking Statistics
(2001 – 2002)
Gender of Offenders

120%
100%
25%
80% 40%
60% FEMALE
40% 75% MALE
60%
20%
0%
2001 2002
Note: 25% of offenders are personally known by their victims
Cyberstalking Prevention
 Don’t share personal information online
 Don’t fill out profiles or include personal information on
websites
 Don’t use a gender specific or provocative screen name or
e-mail address
 Don’t flirt or start an argument online unless you are
prepared for the consequences
 Don’t share your password with anyone
 When cyberdating, set up a special e-mail address
 Use a good anti-virus program and update daily
When Bad Things Happen
 Don’t reply to your cyberstalker
 Save all communications on your computer
 If there is any indication that they have your offline
information, call the police!
 If they threaten physical violence to you or your family,
call the police!
 Cyberstalking is a serious matter, take it seriously!
 If your law enforcement agency needs help, have them
contact WiredSafety.org
Forewarned is forearmed –
Google Yourself! (and your kids)
 Go to Google’s search engine, www.google.com
 Type in your first and last name in “quotes” (for example “Parry
Aftab”)
 Type in your telephone address next (no spaces, using dashes one time
and parentheses the next)
 Type in your full street address, in “quotes”
 Note all sites and URLs that contain your personal contact information
 Contact those sites and ask them to remove your information
Case #1: Perpetrator creates a fake Facebook profile by using
victim’s personal photos and family. Then, harasser posted
other unnecessary photos and bad statement in Facebook wall
to defame victim.

Case #2: Perpetrator creates a fake Facebook profile to be used

in other fraudulent activities such as cyber blackmail scam,
love scam, and fraud purchase. Fraudster creates the fake pro-
file to avoid from easily being tracked by Law Enforcement.

Case #3: Perpetrator request friends with victim through Face-

book. They chat through Facebook messenger then move to
video Skype. Victim is in teased to unclothe while chatting
same action with the perpetrator. Unfortunately, the perpetra-
tor captures victim’s nude videos. The victim is blackmailed
for some amount of money or the nude videos will be upload-
ed to YouTube or any online video websites.