Introduction: Fighting Cyber Crime and Cyber Bullies
I doubt there is one person on the net that hasn’t been hassled by at least one Troll, Cyber Bully, or Cyber Criminal.
Police and Website administrators can’t track or stop all Trolls, Cyber Bullies, and Cyber Criminals, so it is up to us to protect ourselves and that is what this Instructable is about. It is not easy to spot a cyber-bullies and criminals, they do the same things people who are just trying to protect themselves do, like not filling out profiles, using pseudonyms (Fake Names), and avatars, however you are not defenseless.
First; you can report cyber bullies and trolls to administrators and block them so they cannot harass you, their comments get deleted and they get warned and this works most of the time. Repeat offenders can get their accounts deleted by admin and that works for them.
Then there are the persistent Trolls that keep coming back, you block them, you report them, admin deletes their account, only to find out they just open a new account under a new pseudonym (Fake Name) and start all over again.
You can do the same thing open a new account under a new pseudonym and a new profile and picture and with luck you will be rid of them. But for some people like me this is not always an option, I am a published author and
need to promote my books, so, on some webpages I just can’t use a pseudonym. My only option on these sites is to defend myself.
Step 1: Hackers
My Facebook account has been hacked, my Gmail account has been hacked, and some of my websites have been hacked.
Use good passwords, a combination of numbers and letters works best do not use names of family, friends, pets, or counting numbers like 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.
The cyber-criminal that hacked my Gmail account got into my account by me logging into my Gmail from a hotel server while I was on a trip. The hotel server was not a secure server and he was able to steal my password, change it, and Email all my friends saying I was robbed in London and asked them to send me 750 euros. Luckily my friends and family did not fall for the Email and called the police. I contacted Gmail they helped me get control of my account and I changed the password. It took me several days to get control of my Gmail account and when I did I track him down to South Africa by his IP. adderss. Since I live in Canada there was little there could be done.
What did I learned from this, NEVER USE AN UNSECURED SERVER.
Step 2: Trolls and Cyber Bullies
LEARN TO RECONISE CYBER BULLIES.
The picture of the machete was sent to me by a person with the comment, “What would you be if I came to your house and chopped you up into little pieces with this?”
People that make threats, or say mean things, are Trolls and Cyber Bullies. I have seen people hiding behind a pseudonym on Fan Fiction sites using the excuse, “It is constructive criticism and if they can’t take it, maybe they should leave.” This is not constructive criticism it is just plain Cyber Bulling.
This works well on Trolls,
TRACK THEM DOWN AND POST THEIR REAL NAMES AND INFORMATION BECIDE THEIR COMMENTS.
Step 3: TROLLS AND CYBER BULLIES KILL.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU DO ON THE NET IT CAN COME BACK HAUNT YOU.
Amanda Todd was a beautiful young girl that was harassed by a cyber-stalker to the point she took her own life. She tried most of the above and more even going as far as moving and changing schools in an attempt to stop the cyber-bulling.
The Dutch man accused of sexually extorting Amanda Todd online used as many as 90 screen names to target more than 75 victims around the world.
Amanda Todd was tormented online for nearly two years after she flashed a crowd by webcam on a live streaming chat site. An online stalker did a screen capture of that and circulated the image to her family, friends and classmates.
Amanda Todd eventually committed suicide in her mother's Port Coquitlam, B.C., home on Oct. 10, 2012. Her plea against cyberbullying, filmed a month before her death, went viral.
Two years after her death in January 2014, police in the Netherlands working with information provided by Facebook, charged 36-year-old Dutch national Aydin Coban with luring a child under 18 via the computer, extortion and harassment, as well as importing, distributing and possessing child pornography.
Reference and YouTube
Step 4: Defending Yourself by Taking Action
DEFEND YOURSELF BY TAKING ACTION.
Defending yourself is not always easy, this is the World Wide Web and your tormentor can be from anywhere on planet Earth. Amanda Todd lived in Canada like me, her cyber-stalker was a Dutchman from the Netherland’s and the hacker that hacked my Gmail account was from South Africa.
I have a simple method for dealing with Trolls and Cyber criminals.
You are not as anonymous as you may think. People think using a pseudonym prevents the people they attack on the net from finding them; however they do not realize they leave behind there IP. address when they do.
Federal and state laws have been changed to make Cyber Bullies and Cyber Terrorists accountable to the point that employers and colleges can be held responsible for the conduct of their students and employees. So employers and colleges take a dim view of people using their computers and other equipment for cyber-crimes. They take an even a dimmer view of being linked to cyber-crime justifiably
I don’t get mad; I publish their personal information from their IP. address right next to their comments and report it to the RCMP or the FBI then I let the Cyber Crimes Unit deal with it.
Ignore them, that doesn’t work; they harass you through loved ones.
Try to make friends with them, that doesn’t work; they are not interested in being friends.
That reminds me of the stupid things parents say to their kids when they are being bullied at school.
I fight back and some people don’t like that, but what else can I do with a persistent troll or cyber-criminal, they keep coming back. The only option you have is to track them down and report them, and this is how.
In Canada you can report cybercrime to the RCMP here:
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/on/prog-serv/itcu-gict-eng.htm
In the US you can report cybercrime to the FBI here:
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/@@wanted-group-listing
then click on contact us.
You can look up your own IP. address or download IP. address trackers from websites like these.
https://www.whatismyip.com/ip-address-lookup/
http://www.iptrackeronline.com/
http://whatismyipaddress.com/trace-email
http://www.solarwinds.com/products/freetools/ip-address-tracker/
If a person thinks they can use a pseudonym or a fake Email to hide when they commit cyber-crimes, think again, Facebook, Hotmail, Gmail, even Instructables, they can be found.
Step 5: Rules to Work With.
DEFEND YOURSELF BY TAKING ACTION.
NEVER USE AN UNSECURED SERVER.
USE GOOD PASSWORDS, a combination of numbers and letters works best.
REPORT CYBER-BULLIES AND TROLLS TO ADMINISTRATORS AND POLICE.
BLOCK CYBER-BULLIES AND TROLLS, so it is harder for them to harass you.
OPEN A NEW ACCOUNT UNDER A NEW PSEUDONYM WITH A NEW PROFILE AND PICTURE if necessary.
LEARN TO RECONISE CYBER BULLIES.
TRACK THEM DOWN AND POST THEIR REAL NAMES BECIDE THEIR COMMENTS, IT WORKS.
TROLLS AND CYBER BULLIES KILL.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU DO ON THE NET IT CAN COME BACK HAUNT YOU.
MOST IMPORTANT TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO PROTECT THEMSELVS.
Keep the use of electronic devices where you can watch your children's on line use. Talk to your children about the dangers on the net. My son wanted to know how he could tell if the person he was texting to was real. I told him to use the web cam and have them hold up a card with the words you type written on them, if it takes forever for them to write the words and show you the card, they may not be real and posting a Photoshop.