As parents it is our job to warn our children of sexual predators and the dangers of talking to strangers in the real world. This is especially true if our children happen to be female. But how often do we think to warn our daughters of the same dangers on the internet. There are many people that don't even stop to think of the possibility of encountering a cyber stalker until it actually happens to us. The fact of the matter is it does happen quite often and young teenage girls are prime targets for cyber stalkers because they are vulnerable and subject to believe things that many other people would not.
In order to determine if your teenage daughter has in fact become the target of a cyber stalker or other internet predator you first must know about what kind of online activities she participates in. There are a variety of places to run into cyber stalkers including instant messages, chat rooms and even some gaming sites. Other sites such as Facebook and MySpace are also popular targets of cyber stalkers. If your teenage daughter visits any of these areas regularly, the chances that she may encounter a predator are drastically increased.
Once you have determined that a cyberstalker has aimed his attention at your child through their email account, you must act quickly to identify and stop this harassment. The best way to do this is to turn to a professional who has the ability and knowledge to perform a reverse email look-up. This type of email investigation can often be conducted in as little as twenty four hours to two weeks. This is probably the most important part of identifying the person responsible for making your teenage daughters online experiences full of fear.
When you turn to an experienced and highly skilled professional to perform a reverse email look-up, you will receive a detailed report on the findings of this investigation. Some of the information you may expect to find in this report includes the name, address and phone number of the offending party, as well as their place of employment, internet service provider and browser type. Other information that may be provided includes what internet sites this person visits, demographic information such as the location of the computer which the suspected cyberstalker may have used to send the offending emails, and even the operating system of the computer that was involved.
Copyright (c) 2010 Ed Opperman
Ed Opperman is President of Opperman Investigations Inc.If you need help with a cyber stalking investigation visit http://www.emailrevealer.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ed_Opperman
Showing posts with label cyberstalking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cyberstalking. Show all posts
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Friday, December 11, 2009
'Cyber Tracing Teams' Are on the Move
Written by Jart Armin
Is your company, or are you, being defamed on the Web? Are whistleblowers leaking your secrets? Well, call your local “cyber tracing team” -- they can fix the problem for you.
The day feared by many who advocate freedom of expression on the Internet may be upon us. Cyber tracing is fast becoming an attractive and lucrative industry with a wide range of services on offer.
Some high-profile cases that have featured cyber tracing recently include the former Yale Law School students claiming defamation on an internal college Website; and model Liskula Cohen suing Google to get access to the identity of an anonymous blogger posting derogatory messages.
These are just a sampling: Minara El-Rahman of the site FindLaw maintains that the stakes are high, and there is no shortage of victims in today’s world of widespread and instant messaging.
There are several facets to the problem of Internet defamation, however, apart from anonymous, personal attacks posted on Twitter or Facebook and widely distributed within seconds. There are disgruntled and vengeful ex-employees making false or misleading statements that can have a real impact on the fortunes of a company. There are whistleblowers believing it safe to reveal all about corporate wrongdoings in Wikileaks.
The rights or wrongs of defamation on the Internet, as well as questions of identity protection, are issues on their own, but just a cursory browser search reveals that cyber tracing is a growth industry with a plethora of law firms and private investigators specializing in this field and advertising their services in a variety of ways.
Indeed, it seems that cyber tracing is big business, and arguably more lucrative than personal accident ambulance chasing.
Although most would think this form of digital ambulance chasing would be a U.S. innovation, it is a U.K. law firm, Wragge & Co., that appears to be a leader in this area. The firm recently announced a new department specializing in hunting down the makers of anonymous online statements, and it appears they even claim the ability to trace anonymous Web users as part of the service.
Cyber-related services offered by firms like this range from tracing perpetrators of stalking, sexual harassment, and online criminal behavior to “catching your spouse cheating,” a tactic where firms search through dating databases to locate specific email addresses.
No doubt an argument in favor of these services would be that they are filling a gap in law enforcement resources, but they also raise a series of ethical questions relating to privacy and the Internet.
Yet another twist is the appearance of companies offering “reputation management services,” where a subscription buys a monthly report detailing personal advice on your up-to-date online reputation. For another fee, instances of “bad reputation” comments revealed by dedicated name searching can be destroyed (no guarantee), or perhaps, if slanderous enough, used as evidence when suing for defamation.
Victims of defamation may soon find, however, that their potential share of rich pickings has shrunk, at least in the U.K. There, the Ministry of Justice is considering allowing only one action for defamation on the Internet -- even if the same defamation is repeated several times.
The most sensible approach to defamation or reputation that I have come across, however, is provided by blogger Michael Grimes on his Website, where advice on “managing your reputation" can be downloaded in a chart format.
While some Web users may consider the third-party cyber tracing route, or in some cases the not-so-legal route as offered by some online cyber tracing services (i.e., hacking), hopefully the vast majority on the Web will see reason, and these cyber tracing teams may find their task a little more difficult than they bargained for.
— Jart Armin, Editor of RBNexploit.com, a watch blog on the infamous RBN (Russian Business Network), and HostExploit.com
Is your company, or are you, being defamed on the Web? Are whistleblowers leaking your secrets? Well, call your local “cyber tracing team” -- they can fix the problem for you.
The day feared by many who advocate freedom of expression on the Internet may be upon us. Cyber tracing is fast becoming an attractive and lucrative industry with a wide range of services on offer.
Some high-profile cases that have featured cyber tracing recently include the former Yale Law School students claiming defamation on an internal college Website; and model Liskula Cohen suing Google to get access to the identity of an anonymous blogger posting derogatory messages.
These are just a sampling: Minara El-Rahman of the site FindLaw maintains that the stakes are high, and there is no shortage of victims in today’s world of widespread and instant messaging.
There are several facets to the problem of Internet defamation, however, apart from anonymous, personal attacks posted on Twitter or Facebook and widely distributed within seconds. There are disgruntled and vengeful ex-employees making false or misleading statements that can have a real impact on the fortunes of a company. There are whistleblowers believing it safe to reveal all about corporate wrongdoings in Wikileaks.
The rights or wrongs of defamation on the Internet, as well as questions of identity protection, are issues on their own, but just a cursory browser search reveals that cyber tracing is a growth industry with a plethora of law firms and private investigators specializing in this field and advertising their services in a variety of ways.
Indeed, it seems that cyber tracing is big business, and arguably more lucrative than personal accident ambulance chasing.
Although most would think this form of digital ambulance chasing would be a U.S. innovation, it is a U.K. law firm, Wragge & Co., that appears to be a leader in this area. The firm recently announced a new department specializing in hunting down the makers of anonymous online statements, and it appears they even claim the ability to trace anonymous Web users as part of the service.
Cyber-related services offered by firms like this range from tracing perpetrators of stalking, sexual harassment, and online criminal behavior to “catching your spouse cheating,” a tactic where firms search through dating databases to locate specific email addresses.
No doubt an argument in favor of these services would be that they are filling a gap in law enforcement resources, but they also raise a series of ethical questions relating to privacy and the Internet.
Yet another twist is the appearance of companies offering “reputation management services,” where a subscription buys a monthly report detailing personal advice on your up-to-date online reputation. For another fee, instances of “bad reputation” comments revealed by dedicated name searching can be destroyed (no guarantee), or perhaps, if slanderous enough, used as evidence when suing for defamation.
Victims of defamation may soon find, however, that their potential share of rich pickings has shrunk, at least in the U.K. There, the Ministry of Justice is considering allowing only one action for defamation on the Internet -- even if the same defamation is repeated several times.
The most sensible approach to defamation or reputation that I have come across, however, is provided by blogger Michael Grimes on his Website, where advice on “managing your reputation" can be downloaded in a chart format.
While some Web users may consider the third-party cyber tracing route, or in some cases the not-so-legal route as offered by some online cyber tracing services (i.e., hacking), hopefully the vast majority on the Web will see reason, and these cyber tracing teams may find their task a little more difficult than they bargained for.
— Jart Armin, Editor of RBNexploit.com, a watch blog on the infamous RBN (Russian Business Network), and HostExploit.com
Friday, October 30, 2009
Keeping Kittitas County's residents safe in cyber space
By CHELSEA KROTZER
staff writer
ELLENSBURG — They were friends in high school. The best of friends, until they got into an argument, resulting in one, “Jessica,” being cast out from the group.
But it wasn’t over. The other one was still bitter and wanted revenge.
She created a fake MySpace page with fake photos paired with Jessica’s personal information — including disclosing her cell phone number. The profile also promised a sexual interlude with anyone who called.
“It was a horrible profile,” Jessica said. “I only found out about it because I got quite a few phone calls from guys wanting to meet up with me.”
Thankfully, one of the guys told her about the site. Then Jessica called the police.
“They weren’t threatening her harm and weren’t stealing, in theory, her identity, but it fit for cyber-stalking because the site was obviously designed to torment and embarrass her,” said Ellensburg Police Department Det. Drew Hauk.
Hauk said detectives were able to determine who posted the Web site and the girl eventually admitted to the crime.
“We had to impress upon them that pictures and identifying information and phone numbers of the victim, that places her in pretty big danger because people — pedophiles and predators — do troll the Internet,” Hauk said. “If someone had come across this, if they had found that profile, they could have potentially come to Ellensburg or been in Ellensburg and victimized her.”
EPD Capt. Dan Hansberry said cases like this, where people create fake social networking accounts to either embarrass or pretend to be someone else, happens quite frequently in Ellensburg.
“What most people don’t realize is that cyber-stalking is illegal,” Hansberry said.
Under state law, cyber-stalking is a gross misdemeanor, unless someone has a prior record — then it could be a class C felony charge.
Hansberry said the EPD does not have a lot of statistics related to cyber-stalking or cyber-bullying. What they do know is that it happens far more than it is reported.
“It’s somewhat sporadic, we may get a couple calls a month, we may go a month without getting a single call,” Hansberry said. “And that has a lot to do with the fact people don’t realize that there is something they can do.”
Keeping safe
Central Washington University Patrol Officer Marc McPherson said cyber-stalking is an issue wherever you are — especially on a college campus.
“The ones we deal with the most are social network pages, phones or text messaging,” McPherson said.
McPherson said even though it is not reported, he is sure it happens daily.
When it is reported, it often falls under a different call category, making it difficult to keep statistics.
For example, if someone posed as someone else on a social networking page, that could go under identity theft.
“I don’t think it’s something they think right away that they should call the police on them,” McPherson said. “They automatically ignore it and think it will go away before they think to report to us, which is why I think we don’t get too many reports.”
Local middle and high school officials say they haven’t had to deal with many issues with cyber-bullying or cyber-stalking this year.
Then again, they can only deal with cases that are actually reported to them.
“I can think of maybe one incident maybe last year of a student posting bad stuff about another student on Facebook or MySpace,” said School Resource Officer Tom Clayton. “I think it’s just not happening.”
This time a year ago, cyber-bullying was a predominant issue at EHS. Back then, there wasn’t an SRO.
“I don’t know if it’s contributed to my presence or not, but I haven’t seen it, or it hasn’t been reported to me very often, if at all,” Clayton said.
Over at Morgan Middle School, officials hope to keep their numbers of cyber-bullying issues low.
Principal Michelle Bibich said the school is bringing in a presentation to teach the students how to treat everyone with kindness — and how to stay safe on the Internet today (see related story).
“It’s not uncommon for students to send hurtful text messages,” Bibich said. “On occasion, we’ll be notified of something that is happening out on MySpace, which isn’t happening at school, but is still a serious matter.”
Bibich said cell phones are the biggest problem area.
“The biggest road block is that feeling of anonymity that a person gets with sending a text message,” Bibich said. “You’re not face to face. I don’t think students realize that someone real is on the other end.”
Bibich said she hopes to create an environment where people are rewarded for random acts of kindness.
“We want to make that the culture of the school,” Bibich said.
As for Jessica, she lost more than just a friend.
“I felt like it ruined a lot of things for me, just because the friendship was obviously severed — a friendship of 10 years was just gone,” Jessica said. “It makes you feel bad about yourself. People need to look themselves up on these Web sites and see if there is an alternate profile.”
staff writer
ELLENSBURG — They were friends in high school. The best of friends, until they got into an argument, resulting in one, “Jessica,” being cast out from the group.
But it wasn’t over. The other one was still bitter and wanted revenge.
She created a fake MySpace page with fake photos paired with Jessica’s personal information — including disclosing her cell phone number. The profile also promised a sexual interlude with anyone who called.
“It was a horrible profile,” Jessica said. “I only found out about it because I got quite a few phone calls from guys wanting to meet up with me.”
Thankfully, one of the guys told her about the site. Then Jessica called the police.
“They weren’t threatening her harm and weren’t stealing, in theory, her identity, but it fit for cyber-stalking because the site was obviously designed to torment and embarrass her,” said Ellensburg Police Department Det. Drew Hauk.
Hauk said detectives were able to determine who posted the Web site and the girl eventually admitted to the crime.
“We had to impress upon them that pictures and identifying information and phone numbers of the victim, that places her in pretty big danger because people — pedophiles and predators — do troll the Internet,” Hauk said. “If someone had come across this, if they had found that profile, they could have potentially come to Ellensburg or been in Ellensburg and victimized her.”
EPD Capt. Dan Hansberry said cases like this, where people create fake social networking accounts to either embarrass or pretend to be someone else, happens quite frequently in Ellensburg.
“What most people don’t realize is that cyber-stalking is illegal,” Hansberry said.
Under state law, cyber-stalking is a gross misdemeanor, unless someone has a prior record — then it could be a class C felony charge.
Hansberry said the EPD does not have a lot of statistics related to cyber-stalking or cyber-bullying. What they do know is that it happens far more than it is reported.
“It’s somewhat sporadic, we may get a couple calls a month, we may go a month without getting a single call,” Hansberry said. “And that has a lot to do with the fact people don’t realize that there is something they can do.”
Keeping safe
Central Washington University Patrol Officer Marc McPherson said cyber-stalking is an issue wherever you are — especially on a college campus.
“The ones we deal with the most are social network pages, phones or text messaging,” McPherson said.
McPherson said even though it is not reported, he is sure it happens daily.
When it is reported, it often falls under a different call category, making it difficult to keep statistics.
For example, if someone posed as someone else on a social networking page, that could go under identity theft.
“I don’t think it’s something they think right away that they should call the police on them,” McPherson said. “They automatically ignore it and think it will go away before they think to report to us, which is why I think we don’t get too many reports.”
Local middle and high school officials say they haven’t had to deal with many issues with cyber-bullying or cyber-stalking this year.
Then again, they can only deal with cases that are actually reported to them.
“I can think of maybe one incident maybe last year of a student posting bad stuff about another student on Facebook or MySpace,” said School Resource Officer Tom Clayton. “I think it’s just not happening.”
This time a year ago, cyber-bullying was a predominant issue at EHS. Back then, there wasn’t an SRO.
“I don’t know if it’s contributed to my presence or not, but I haven’t seen it, or it hasn’t been reported to me very often, if at all,” Clayton said.
Over at Morgan Middle School, officials hope to keep their numbers of cyber-bullying issues low.
Principal Michelle Bibich said the school is bringing in a presentation to teach the students how to treat everyone with kindness — and how to stay safe on the Internet today (see related story).
“It’s not uncommon for students to send hurtful text messages,” Bibich said. “On occasion, we’ll be notified of something that is happening out on MySpace, which isn’t happening at school, but is still a serious matter.”
Bibich said cell phones are the biggest problem area.
“The biggest road block is that feeling of anonymity that a person gets with sending a text message,” Bibich said. “You’re not face to face. I don’t think students realize that someone real is on the other end.”
Bibich said she hopes to create an environment where people are rewarded for random acts of kindness.
“We want to make that the culture of the school,” Bibich said.
As for Jessica, she lost more than just a friend.
“I felt like it ruined a lot of things for me, just because the friendship was obviously severed — a friendship of 10 years was just gone,” Jessica said. “It makes you feel bad about yourself. People need to look themselves up on these Web sites and see if there is an alternate profile.”
Gautier man charged with cyberstalking
By KAREN NELSON
GAUTIER — Jackson County sheriff’s investigators this week arrested Vincent Salvador Drummond, 48, of Gautier and charged him with cyberstalking in connection with the use of cellphone texting.
Drummond was charged as the result of an investigation into several cases of “repeated harassing and threatening electronic communications,” sheriff’s investigators said Friday.
Drummond lives in the 2100 block of Daily Road in Gautier. He was arrested Thursday and posted a $2,500 bond on the same day.
No further arrests are expected in the ongoing investigation, a sheriff’s spokesman said.
The case involved text messaging from a cell phone between Drummond and a member of his family.
“Anything of this nature done from a cell phone is considered cyberstalking these days,” said Capt. Mick Sears, head of the sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Division. “Threatening someone or calling repeatedly from a cell phone falls under cyberstalking in the law.”
GAUTIER — Jackson County sheriff’s investigators this week arrested Vincent Salvador Drummond, 48, of Gautier and charged him with cyberstalking in connection with the use of cellphone texting.
Drummond was charged as the result of an investigation into several cases of “repeated harassing and threatening electronic communications,” sheriff’s investigators said Friday.
Drummond lives in the 2100 block of Daily Road in Gautier. He was arrested Thursday and posted a $2,500 bond on the same day.
No further arrests are expected in the ongoing investigation, a sheriff’s spokesman said.
The case involved text messaging from a cell phone between Drummond and a member of his family.
“Anything of this nature done from a cell phone is considered cyberstalking these days,” said Capt. Mick Sears, head of the sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Division. “Threatening someone or calling repeatedly from a cell phone falls under cyberstalking in the law.”
Ex-prosecutor goes to rehab - like Amy Winehouse - to avoid jail
Ex-prosecutor enters rehab
A former state prosecutor serving a year of probation has been ordered to continue treatment at a rehab facility after he was thrown in jail for drinking alcohol and violating his sentence.
Collier Circuit Judge Frank Baker extended probation another year, to March, for Richard D. VandenBerg, who was terminated from his job at the State Attorney’s Office in Naples last year, just days before his arrest on cyberstalking charges involving his estranged wife and another man.
Baker also ordered VandenBerg to return to the Willough at Naples for treatment, avoid alcohol, wear an alcohol monitoring device for 60 days, and undergo random Breathalyzer and urinalysis tests.
VandenBerg, represented by defense attorney Shannon McFee, admitted violating probation, and the judge agreed to withhold an adjudication of guilt, as a judge did in March, when sentencing VandenBerg as part of a plea bargain to a reduced charge of stalking, a misdemeanor, and obstruction.
If he successfully completes his sentence, he won’t have criminal convictions. Otherwise, he’d faced five years in a state prison.
VandenBerg was arrested on May 9, 2008, after making repeated phone calls to estranged wife, Renee, and a man he suspected of having an affair with her. At the time, McFee blamed VandenBerg’s problems on alcohol, while his divorce attorney, Tom Grogan, said the couple was having severe financial difficulties that prompted VandenBerg to file for divorce a month earlier.
VandenBerg, a misdemeanor prosecutor, was terminated after not showing up for work for several days and declining to remedy the problem.
Days later, on May 4, Collier County Sheriff’s reports say, he began leaving repeated voicemails on a cellphone belonging to a man he’d seen accompany his wife to his home to gather her belongings, a man he blamed for his termination. The man, a Realtor, led a Bible study group that he attended.
VandenBerg threatened to ruin his business, marriage, and church, and discussed guns and using a machete to cut off the man’s body parts.
On May 6, 2008, deputies in fatigues surrounded his home and he was arrested after resisting. The gun enthusiast was ordered to turn over all guns, but posted $15,000 bond a week later after a judge agreed to his release if he entered The Willoughs.
A former state prosecutor serving a year of probation has been ordered to continue treatment at a rehab facility after he was thrown in jail for drinking alcohol and violating his sentence.
Collier Circuit Judge Frank Baker extended probation another year, to March, for Richard D. VandenBerg, who was terminated from his job at the State Attorney’s Office in Naples last year, just days before his arrest on cyberstalking charges involving his estranged wife and another man.
Baker also ordered VandenBerg to return to the Willough at Naples for treatment, avoid alcohol, wear an alcohol monitoring device for 60 days, and undergo random Breathalyzer and urinalysis tests.
VandenBerg, represented by defense attorney Shannon McFee, admitted violating probation, and the judge agreed to withhold an adjudication of guilt, as a judge did in March, when sentencing VandenBerg as part of a plea bargain to a reduced charge of stalking, a misdemeanor, and obstruction.
If he successfully completes his sentence, he won’t have criminal convictions. Otherwise, he’d faced five years in a state prison.
VandenBerg was arrested on May 9, 2008, after making repeated phone calls to estranged wife, Renee, and a man he suspected of having an affair with her. At the time, McFee blamed VandenBerg’s problems on alcohol, while his divorce attorney, Tom Grogan, said the couple was having severe financial difficulties that prompted VandenBerg to file for divorce a month earlier.
VandenBerg, a misdemeanor prosecutor, was terminated after not showing up for work for several days and declining to remedy the problem.
Days later, on May 4, Collier County Sheriff’s reports say, he began leaving repeated voicemails on a cellphone belonging to a man he’d seen accompany his wife to his home to gather her belongings, a man he blamed for his termination. The man, a Realtor, led a Bible study group that he attended.
VandenBerg threatened to ruin his business, marriage, and church, and discussed guns and using a machete to cut off the man’s body parts.
On May 6, 2008, deputies in fatigues surrounded his home and he was arrested after resisting. The gun enthusiast was ordered to turn over all guns, but posted $15,000 bond a week later after a judge agreed to his release if he entered The Willoughs.
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