How to Get Help for Online Stalking: A Practical Plan

Is There a Cyberstalking Helpline?

Many people search for a "cyberstalking helpline." We are not aware of a government-run national helpline dedicated to online stalking. Here is what exists instead.

• 911 for emergencies and immediate danger.
• 988 for emotional distress or crisis. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available by call or text.
• Local police for reports and protective order guidance.
• The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center for internet-enabled crime.
• Your state's victim services, listed in the Office for Victims of Crime state directory.
• Stalking.org's free tools for risk assessment, safety planning, evidence, and reporting.

Step 1: Make Sure You Are Physically Safe

Online stalking sometimes leads to in-person contact. If the stalker knows where you live or work, or has threatened you, take that seriously.

• Take the 5-question Risk Assessment to gauge your situation.
• Build a Safety Plan, including a safe person, a code word, and a place to go.
• Call 911 if you are in danger.

Step 2: Secure Your Accounts and Devices

Cut off the stalker's access first.

• Change passwords for email, banking, and social media, starting with email.
• Turn on multi-factor authentication. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's Secure Our World pages explain how.
• Log out of all sessions and remove devices you don't recognize.
• Update your phone and computer, and check for unfamiliar apps.
• Use a safe device, one the stalker has never touched, when making changes.

Our Safety Audit and Complete Guide to Digital Safety walk through this in detail.

Step 3: Document Everything

• Capture screenshots showing the full web address, username, date, and time.
• Save messages, voicemails, and call logs.
• Keep a dated log. See how to keep a stalking log.
• Store copies where the stalker can't reach them.

Step 4: Report

• Platforms: Use our Social Media Reporting Guide.
• Police: See how to report stalking.
• FBI IC3: Read how to report online stalking.

Step 5: Reduce What the Stalker Can Find

Stalkers often use people-search sites and public records to find addresses and relatives.

• Opt out of data brokers with the Data Broker Removal tool.
• Read about removing yourself from data brokers and what to do if you've been doxxed.
• Review privacy settings and location sharing on every app.

Step 6: Ask About Legal Protection

Many states allow protective orders for stalking, including cyberstalking. Read protection against stalking and use the TRO Builder to organize your request. Our State Reporting Guide links to official contacts.

Step 7: Take Care of Yourself

Being stalked is exhausting. Anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and hypervigilance are common.

• Talk to someone you trust.
• Consider a counselor or doctor. Use FindTreatment.gov to find mental health services.
• Call or text 988 if you feel overwhelmed or unsafe with your thoughts.
• Read coping after being stalked.

What Not to Do

• Don't confront the stalker or respond to provocations.
• Don't delete evidence in frustration.
• Don't try to hack or track them in return.
• Don't assume blocking solves everything. Log first, then block.

How Online Stalking Usually Unfolds

Understanding the usual shape of online stalking helps you spot it earlier and respond with less panic. Every case is different, but many follow a recognizable arc.

• Contact after a boundary. It often begins when someone refuses to accept a "no," such as the end of a relationship, a rejected advance, or a workplace dispute. Messages arrive that you didn't invite and don't want.
• Workarounds. When you block or ignore the person, the contact doesn't stop. It moves to a new account, a different platform, a shared friend, or comments on your public posts.
• Information gathering. The person starts showing they know things: where you were, who you were with, what you bought. That knowledge may come from your posts, from people-search sites, from your friends, or from access to your accounts or devices.
• Escalation. Messages become more frequent, more personal, or more hostile. Some stalkers contact your family or employer, post about you, or impersonate you.
• Crossover to the physical world. Some online stalkers begin showing up in person, sending items to your home, or making threats that reference your real-world location.

None of these stages is guaranteed, but the pattern explains why we recommend taking safety planning seriously even when the contact seems "only online." Our article on do stalkers become violent describes the factors that raise risk.

Six Situations and What to Do in Each

The steps above apply to everyone, but the best next move depends on what is happening. Here are six common situations.

1. An anonymous account keeps harassing you. Save every message and the account's profile link, not just the name. Report each account to the platform. Don't reply or try to unmask the person. File a police report and, if the conduct crosses state lines, an IC3 complaint. Describe the pattern, including how each new account appeared after the last one was blocked.

2. A former partner still has access to your accounts. Treat this as a safety issue, not just a technical one. Use a device the person has never touched, change your email and phone account passwords first, turn on multi-factor authentication, and sign out all other sessions. Save evidence of the access before you remove it, and consider telling police before you make changes that could alert them.

3. Someone is impersonating you. Take screenshots of the fake profile, post, or message. Report it to the platform as impersonation. If your personal information is being used to open accounts or commit fraud, report that through the Federal Trade Commission's IdentityTheft.gov. Tell friends and coworkers that the account isn't you, without engaging with it.

4. Your address or workplace was posted online. Capture the posts, report them under the platform's rules on private information, and remove yourself from people-search sites with the Data Broker Removal tool. Read what to do if you've been doxxed, and update your safety plan if your home address is exposed.

5. A coworker or classmate is the one contacting you. Tell HR, campus security, or a supervisor, and give them your records. Ask that your schedule and location not be shared. Our Protection Guide walks through workplace and campus scenarios.

6. The stalker uses friends, family, or new accounts to reach you. This is stalking by proxy. Document each contact, tell the people involved once that you don't want information shared, and report the pattern as a whole.

What to Say When You Ask for Help

Many people hesitate because they don't know how to describe what is happening. These short scripts can help. Adapt the wording to your situation.

To a platform report form: "This account has repeatedly contacted me after I blocked the previous accounts. The messages are unwanted and make me afraid. I've attached screenshots with dates and the profile links. Please remove the account and preserve its records."

To a police officer: "I'm reporting online stalking. Since [month], this person has sent me [number] messages through [platforms], created [number] new accounts after I blocked them, and posted my [address/workplace]. I'm afraid because [threat, past violence, access to my devices]. I have a timeline and saved evidence. Can I get a report number and learn about protective orders?"

To an employer or school: "A person I don't want to be in contact with has been messaging me and may contact the office. Please don't confirm my schedule or location to anyone, and please let me know if anyone asks about me. I can share documentation."

To a friend or family member: "I'm dealing with someone who is harassing me online. Please don't share anything about where I am or what I'm doing, and please tell me if this person contacts you."

Being specific, calm, and brief makes it easier for the other person to act.

A One-Week Action Plan

If you feel overwhelmed, use this schedule. It's a starting point, not a rule.

• Day 1: Safety and evidence. Take the Risk Assessment, make a basic safety plan, and begin saving screenshots with dates and web addresses.
• Day 2: Accounts. Secure your email and phone account, turn on multi-factor authentication, and sign out unknown sessions.
• Day 3: Exposure. Remove your information from the biggest people-search sites, and tighten privacy settings on social media.
• Day 4: Reports to platforms. Report accounts and content, and save confirmations.
• Day 5: Police. File a report with your timeline, and ask about protective orders.
• Day 6: Allies. Tell a trusted person, and alert your workplace or school if needed.
• Day 7: Review. Update your timeline, review your safety plan, and decide what comes next.

Use the Safety Plan tool to turn your answers into a printable plan.

Helping Someone Else Who Is Being Stalked Online

If a friend or family member tells you they are being stalked online, your response matters.

• Believe them. Don't minimize with "just ignore it" or "just get off social media."
• Offer practical help, such as sitting with them while they save evidence or accompanying them to a police report.
• Don't confront the stalker. It can escalate the situation and make the person you're helping less safe.
• Respect their choices. Let them decide when and what to report.
• Protect their information. Don't share their location or plans with mutual contacts.
• Take care of yourself. Supporting someone through this is stressful, and you may need support too.

Common Mistakes That Make Things Harder

• Deleting messages in frustration. Even painful messages can be evidence.
• Engaging with the stalker. Replies can prolong contact and give the person what they want.
• Blocking before documenting. Blocking can hide the content you need.
• Using a compromised device to research solutions. If the stalker has access, they may see what you are doing.
• Posting about the situation publicly. It can inflame the stalker and expose you to more people.
• Waiting for a threat. A pattern of unwanted contact that frightens you is enough to start documenting and reporting.

Special Situations: Students, Workers, Parents, and Older Adults

• Students: Campus police, student conduct offices, and counseling centers can all help. Ask about no-contact directives and academic accommodations.
• Workers: Ask HR to restrict information about your schedule, and keep a record of incidents at work. If the harassment is based on a protected characteristic, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission explains workplace harassment.
• Parents: Keep communication about children brief and written, and don't use children to pass messages.
• Older adults: Online stalking can overlap with scams and exploitation. Review elder abuse warning signs and report fraud through official channels.

How to Tell Whether Your Plan Is Working

After a few weeks, review where you stand.

• Is the contact decreasing, staying the same, or increasing?
• Has the person found new ways to reach you?
• Have you had any in-person contact or threats?
• Do you feel more or less safe than when you started?

If contact is escalating, threats appear, or the person shows up in person, call 911 if you are in danger and update your plan right away. If you feel your reports have stalled, ask the officer for a status update, contact the prosecutor's victim-witness unit, and keep documenting. Your records are the most important thing you control.

An Evidence Checklist for Online Stalking

Strong evidence is what turns "I feel harassed" into a record that platforms, police, and courts can act on. Use this checklist for each type of contact.

Social media posts and comments

• Screenshot the post with the full web address, the username, the date, and the time visible.
• Save the profile link and any numeric account ID, because display names can be changed.
• Capture the comments and reactions around the post to show context.

Direct messages and texts

• Capture the entire conversation, not just the worst message, so it is clear the contact was unwanted.
• Include the sender's phone number or handle at the top of each screenshot.
• If you replied, keep your replies too. A short, clear "do not contact me" helps your case.

Emails

• Save the full message, including the sender address and, if you can, the message headers.
• Forward a copy to a new email account the stalker doesn't know about.

Phone calls and voicemails

• Save voicemails as audio files, and screenshot your call log with dates and times.
• Note any numbers that appear to be spoofed. The Federal Communications Commission explains caller ID spoofing.

Doxxing, impersonation, and other posts about you

• Capture the page, the web address, and the date, and note who posted it if known.
• Keep proof of every report you make and the response you receive.

Whatever you capture, store a second copy in a place the stalker cannot reach. Use the Evidence Auditor to confirm your screenshots are complete, and read evidence that holds up in court.

Understanding Your Options in Court

Online stalking can lead to both criminal and civil outcomes, and you can pursue them at the same time.

• Criminal case. Police and prosecutors decide whether to bring charges based on the evidence of a pattern of conduct and its effect on you. See how stalking cases move through the justice system.
• Protective orders. A civil court can order the person to stop contacting you and stay away. Names and requirements differ by state: for example, Maine has Protection from Harassment orders, Maryland has Peace Orders, and Massachusetts has Harassment Prevention Orders. See our guides for Maine, Maryland, and Massachusetts, or browse the full State Reporting Guide.
• Federal options. Federal law covers stalking conduct that uses electronic communication services. Learn more in federal cyberstalking law.
• Civil lawsuits and other remedies. An attorney can explain whether damages or other remedies may be available in your situation.

Use the TRO Builder to organize your facts, and read protection against stalking for a plain-language overview.

Protecting Your Privacy While You Seek Help

If the stalker may be watching your devices or accounts, the act of looking for help can be risky. Take these precautions.

• Use a safe device. A public library computer, a trusted friend's device, or a new phone the stalker has never touched is safer than a device they can access.
• Use a new email address for safety-related communication, and don't link it to accounts the stalker knows.
• Be careful with shared accounts. Cloud storage, family plans, and shared streaming or shopping accounts can reveal your activity or location.
• Know your quick exit. Our site has a Quick Escape button that leaves the page immediately, but browser history can still show where you've been. Clear your history on a shared device, or use a device that isn't shared.
• Think about what your devices reveal. Location sharing, photo backups, and message sync can disclose where you are even when you don't intend it.
• Tell a trusted person how to reach you safely, and agree on a code word that means you need help.

If you believe a device is monitored, don't change anything on it until you have a plan. Read electronic stalking and stalkerware for more.

Seeking help is not an overreaction. It's the first step in changing who controls the situation.

You don't have to do everything today. Start with one step, and let it become the next.

Sources and further reading

• Help in Your State (Office for Victims of Crime)
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
• SAMHSA: In Crisis? Find Help Now (988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
• Secure Our World (CISA)
• FindTreatment.gov (SAMHSA)