If someone is stalking you online, the right sequence matters: document what’s happening, make sure your devices aren’t being monitored, secure your accounts, and then report the behavior to the platforms and to law enforcement. What to do if someone is stalking you online comes down to building evidence while closing off the stalker’s access, in that order, because moving in the wrong order can tip the stalker off and put you in more danger. Online stalking is a federal crime carrying up to five years in prison at the baseline, with penalties climbing sharply when physical injury, weapons, or protection order violations are involved.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2261 – Interstate Domestic Violence Every state also has its own cyberstalking or harassment laws, so you have tools at both levels.
Think About Safety Before You Act
Before you change a single password, confront the stalker, or start poking around your phone for spyware, pause. If someone is monitoring your device, they can see you searching for help, contacting a hotline, or reading this page. Abruptly cutting off a stalker’s access can sometimes trigger escalation, so a plan has to come first.
Use a device the stalker has never had physical access to when you research options or reach out. A trusted friend’s phone, a public library computer, or a new prepaid phone all work. This is the single most important safety step and the one people most often skip.
Then build a plan around your daily life:
- Choose a code word you can text to a trusted contact that means “call the police right now.” Agree on it in advance so there’s no confusion.
- Vary your routine. Change the routes you take to work or school, switch grocery stores, and stop checking in at locations on social media.
- Tell your employer, close friends, and family what’s happening. Give them a photo of the stalker if you have one. Ask coworkers to screen your calls and visitors.
- Keep your phone charged and on you, while remembering it may also be the device being monitored.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-7233, text START to 88788, or live chat on their website) has advocates trained in stalking situations who can help you build a personalized plan.
Document Everything From Day One
Thorough documentation is what turns “someone is bothering me online” into a case that police and courts can act on. Start the moment you recognize the pattern, even if you’re not sure yet whether you’ll file a report.
Take screenshots of every unwanted communication. Make sure the date, time, sender’s username or number, and the platform name are visible in each image, and don’t crop out context. Capture the full screen. Save original messages when possible, because originals carry metadata that screenshots don’t preserve.
Keep a written log alongside the screenshots. For each incident, record the date, time, platform, what happened, and how you responded. “March 12, 10:47 PM, Instagram DM, received 14 messages after blocking, created new account to contact me” is far more useful than “he messaged me again.” Chronological, specific records are what investigators and judges look for.
For harassing emails, preserve the full email headers, not just the visible message. Headers contain routing information and IP addresses that can help trace where a message originated. Both Gmail and Outlook let you view and copy the raw headers through their message options; save that text in a separate document. If you want to preserve emails long-term, use your provider’s export tool to download them in raw format with metadata intact.
Check Your Devices for Stalkerware
Stalkerware is hidden software that lets someone monitor your texts, calls, location, and browsing, and in some cases access your camera or microphone. Victims often don’t know it’s there. These apps generally need brief physical access to your phone to install, so the risk is highest when the stalker is someone who’s had your phone in their hands: an ex-partner, a family member, a coworker.
Warning signs include:2Consumer Advice (FTC). Stalkerware: What To Know
- Battery draining unusually fast with no change in how you use the phone
- Unexplained spikes in data usage
- Settings that changed on their own, especially security or location settings you didn’t touch
- The stalker knowing things they shouldn’t: your exact location, the content of private conversations, what you’ve searched for
Some stalkerware only works on a phone that has been “rooted” (Android) or “jailbroken” (iPhone), which strips the manufacturer’s built-in restrictions. A root-checker app from your device’s official app store can tell you whether your operating system has been altered.2Consumer Advice (FTC). Stalkerware: What To Know
Removing stalkerware or doing a factory reset can alert the person who installed it, because they’ll suddenly lose access. Make sure your safety plan is in place first. If you believe you’re in physical danger, talk to an advocate or law enforcement before you touch the device. The most reliable ways to eliminate stalkerware are a full factory reset or replacing the phone entirely.
Lock Down Your Accounts
Once device-level threats are handled, secure every account the stalker might reach. Changing passwords on a compromised phone is pointless; deal with stalkerware first, then move to account security.
Change passwords on all accounts, starting with your primary email, since most password resets route through it. Use long, unique passwords for each account and don’t reuse any across platforms. Turn on two-factor authentication everywhere it’s offered, preferably through an authenticator app rather than SMS, because text codes can be intercepted if the stalker has access to your phone number.
Review active login sessions on your major accounts. Google, Facebook, Instagram, Apple, and most other platforms let you see every device currently signed in and force a logout on any you don’t recognize. Check which third-party apps have permission to access your accounts and revoke anything you don’t actively use.
Block the stalker on every platform where you’ve had contact. Then tighten privacy settings so only people you’ve approved can see your posts, friends list, location, and contact information. Set profiles so they don’t appear in public search results.
Scrubbing Your Personal Information From the Web
Stalkers often find home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses through “people search” sites, which are data brokers that compile and publish personal records. You can submit removal requests directly to these sites, usually through an opt-out form buried in their privacy policy. The process is tedious; each broker has its own procedure and some make the opt-out page deliberately hard to find.
Google has a separate tool for removing personal contact information from search results. Through the “Results about you” feature, you can flag search results showing your address, phone number, or email and request their removal.3Google Support. Remove My Private Info From Google Search You can also set up alerts for new results containing your personal details. Removal from Google doesn’t delete the data from the source website, but it makes it much harder for someone to find by searching your name.
Report to the Platforms
Every major social media site, email provider, and messaging app has a reporting system for harassment and abuse. Use it. Platform reports create an official record and can result in the stalker’s account being suspended, content removed, or the stalker permanently banned.
When you submit a report, attach your evidence: screenshots with timestamps, descriptions of the pattern, and any instances where the stalker created new accounts after being blocked. Frame the report around the platform’s terms of service, which universally prohibit harassment, threats, and ban evasion. Be specific. “This user has created four new accounts to contact me after I blocked them” is more actionable than “this person is harassing me.”
Don’t expect a personal response or a quick resolution. Platforms review reports at scale, and the process can take days or longer. Keep reporting each new incident. A pattern of reports strengthens your case with the platform and builds a paper trail you can share with law enforcement.
Report to Police and the FBI
File a report with your local police department, especially if the behavior involves threats, you feel physically unsafe, or the stalking is escalating. Bring your documentation: the written log, screenshots, saved messages, any evidence of stalkerware. A well-organized file makes a real difference in how seriously the report is handled, and this is where all that documentation work pays off.
Ask for a copy of the police report number. You’ll need it if you later seek a protection order or if federal agencies get involved. Be direct about the pattern: how long it’s been going on, how many incidents, what platforms, and whether the stalker has shown up in person or made threats of violence.
If the stalking crosses state lines or involves interstate electronic communications, which most online stalking does, federal law applies. File a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.4Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Complaint Form The form asks for your contact information, details about the stalker (name, email, social media accounts, IP addresses if known), and a written description of what happened in up to 3,500 characters. A separate field accepts technical details like email headers. IC3 analyzes complaints and may refer them to federal, state, or local law enforcement. The center doesn’t contact complainants directly, so don’t expect a callback, but the filing creates a federal record of the behavior.
Consider a Protection Order
A civil protection order, sometimes called a restraining order or order of protection, is a court order that legally prohibits the stalker from contacting you, coming near you, or engaging in specific harassing behaviors. Violating one carries its own criminal penalties, including a mandatory minimum of one year in federal prison if the stalking violates a protection order and involves interstate conduct.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2261 – Interstate Domestic Violence
The process varies by state but generally follows the same shape. You file a petition with your local court describing the stalking behavior and the threat to your safety. A judge reviews the petition and, if the situation is urgent, may grant a temporary order the same day, sometimes within hours. The temporary order typically lasts 14 days or until a full hearing, where both sides can present evidence and testimony. If the judge finds sufficient grounds, the court issues a longer-term order.
Federal law prohibits states from charging victims filing fees for protection orders related to stalking, domestic violence, or sexual assault. Filing, issuance, registration, and service of these orders should cost you nothing. You’re not required to have a lawyer, though having one at the hearing helps, particularly if the stalker shows up and contests the order. Many legal aid organizations provide free representation for stalking victims seeking protection orders.
Keep Your Address Out of Public Records
If you’ve relocated or are planning to move because of a stalker, your new address can still surface in public records through voter registration, vehicle titles, court filings, and utility accounts. Address Confidentiality Programs exist to prevent this. Run by state governments, usually through the Secretary of State’s office, these programs assign you a substitute mailing address that appears on public records instead of your actual home address. The state agency receives your mail at the substitute address and forwards it confidentially.
Most states include stalking victims in their eligibility criteria alongside survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Some states require you to demonstrate a reasonable fear for your safety. Enrollment is free. The substitute address can be used for voter registration, court documents, driver’s licenses, and other government records, so your real location stays out of any database the stalker might search. Contact your state’s Secretary of State office or a local victim advocacy group to apply.
What Federal Law Covers and the Penalties Involved
Knowing the laws in play helps you understand the seriousness of what you’re reporting and what prosecutors can charge.
The main federal stalking law makes it a crime to use the internet or electronic communications in a course of conduct that places someone in reasonable fear of serious harm or causes substantial emotional distress.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2261A – Stalking You don’t need to receive a direct death threat for the behavior to qualify. Penalties scale with the harm caused:1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2261 – Interstate Domestic Violence
- Up to 5 years in prison for stalking that causes emotional distress or fear but no physical injury
- Up to 10 years if serious bodily injury results or the stalker uses a dangerous weapon
- Up to 20 years if the victim suffers permanent disfigurement or life-threatening injury
- Life imprisonment if the victim dies as a result
- Mandatory minimum of 1 year if the stalking violates a protection order
When the victim is a child under 18, the maximum sentence at each tier increases by five years.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2261B – Enhanced Penalty for Stalkers of Children
A separate federal statute covers using a telecommunications device to threaten, abuse, or harass someone across state lines, including repeated unwanted calls and anonymous contact made with intent to harass. That offense carries up to two years in prison.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 223 – Obscene or Harassing Telephone Calls
If the stalker impersonates you online by creating fake accounts in your name or using your identifying information, federal identity fraud law applies, carrying up to 15 years in prison, or up to 20 years if the fraud is connected to a violent crime.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1028 – Fraud and Related Activity in Connection With Identification Documents These charges can stack alongside stalking charges, so a stalker who impersonates and threatens you faces exposure under several statutes at once.