Cyber Threat

[celia]

Can anything be done about people who threaten you over the internet? I run a very nice, mild mannered parenting website and I'm being harrassed by a group of off-the-wall kooks who are now threatening (on their own website) to find me and assault me just because they don't agree with my parenting advice. These people claim to know my real name and address and it is possible that they do. I know this sounds really stupid over a parenting website, but these people really talk nasty.

[ 11-05-2002, 07:11 PM: Message edited by: ThaliaMoser ]

[OfcMikey]

Call your local PD and contact the FBI.
The feds work internet stuff as do the locals.
They can be charged for the threats they are making.
Good luck.

[Piper]

Sadly, some folks derive the only pleasure they can by hurting and/or threatening people on the internet. Hopefully this is the case. I'd still do what 10mill said and report it.

Good luck and be safe.

[celia]

Thanks, I have some personal info on some of these people (like email addresses and ip numbers and a couple of real names and I think one address), but not much. I didn't know that the threat itself was illegal. I thought they actually had to do something.

[OfcMikey]

Nope, the threat alone is illegal. We subpeona the user information from the ISP and the investigation proceeds from there.
Some think it's a game, til we knock on there door.

[Mitzi]

Send the posts, with their headers to their ISP. But, if they are threatenig your life or harm, get the police involved. Run out all the copies of their posts with FULL headers. Ust normal headers won't do it.

[Mike Tx]

It's not any of those loser freaks from the NYT's is it? Just curious. They gave you hell on there.

[celia]

No, they are not from the NYT. I never really felt personally threatened by those people (or maybe I've forgotten), maybe because they never really figured out who I was, or the connection to my police website, but these folks are different, they sent me deceptive emails several years ago and somehow managed to get me real name, then did internet searches until they found my address and phone number (which I am having disconnected) which they printed on a message board they have since been kicked off of. Now they've started their own message board and accidentally stumbled across my parenting website and have been a pain in the neck ever since. I've banned at least 80 of them from my parenting message board already, but I know there are more that I just haven't been able to identify. (Unfortunately I deleted most of their ip numbers when I banned them.) They are copying posts from my site to theirs and that's where the threats are being posted. They have only been able to post a few bad posts on my site just because I've been monitering it so closely. Sigh. I just don't understand why these people can't find something more worthwhile to do.

[ 11-05-2002, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: ThaliaMoser ]

[werebear]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ThaliaMoser:
I've banned at least 80 of them from my parenting message board already, but I know there are more that I just haven't been able to identify. (Unfortunately I deleted most of their ip numbers when I banned them.)

---

It's probably just a few nitwits with too much time on their hands. They tend to keep on pursuing unless made to stop.

I would suggest that you record their IP addys to hand over to whomever you call (police and/or fbi). Easier to trace them though their proxy servers and whatnot that way.

Internet trolls have gotten pretty nasty in the past six months or so. So much for the humorous internet personalities.

[celia]

I could kick myself now for deleting their IPs. If they try to reregister, I'll make sure I keep all information for sure. Is there a way to trace IPs from email addresses? I have all of those. Most of these people are probably harmless jerks, but a few are lose cannons. They got kicked off another board for emailing the boss of one of the moderators where she worked. They have threatened to email my dh's boss at the company where he works thinking that would scare me, but I must admit that I had to chuckle at that one since my dh is the president of his own company. I am really more nervous about their threat to come to my house. BTW, I have never responded to these threats.

[ 11-05-2002, 09:57 PM: Message edited by: ThaliaMoser ]

[p01ic3m4n]

yes you can trace anything.

what's the name of their website. please post this or PM it to me. if you already have the IP send it. i can probably get you names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.

every website must be registered. registration requires billing information. that information is public if you know where to look.

IP addresses are similar. each address belongs to a computer. each ISP maintains records on the ISP they issue.

[celia]

Their website is www.Sybermoms.com . If you log on and do a search for "Thalia" you'll find some of the threads with the threats. I'm sure there has been more, there are some threads I can't get access to. They've done a lot of bashing and threatening over at another website they keep getting kicked of off. I don't post at any of these places anymore (I've never posted at their very vulgar trashy site and never would ).

[Summer Rain]

quote:

---

I didn't know that the threat itself was illegal. I thought they actually had to do something.

---

Abosolutely not! I had a young man threaten me just a couple of months ago because I told him to watch his driving, he almost ran over me while he was speeding down a dark alley. (He literally almost ran me over) He told me: "If you don't step off, I have a .380 (handgun) and a shotgun for you". Now, I'm a sworn officer and was armed at the time. My choice? I walked back to my car, dialed "911" on my cell phone and waited for the local PD to show up. Because of the nature of the call, they came full force, and were prepared to make forced entry if neccessary (shotguns and the whole sha-bang). That young man was arrested that night, spent about a week in prison before posting bail and faces charges including terroristic threats which is a misdemeanor 1. My point is that he never physically produced a weapon but his threat alone caused him to be charged with a pretty serious offense.

[celia]

Thankfully nobody has threatened me with a gun yet, just trash talk about slapping me around or reporting me to CPS (because I believe in spanking ).

[156]

Thalia, I can't give you any legal advice, but I just wanted to say I know somewhat how you feel. I used to have a very successful message board but a few unstable housewives with too much Prozac in their system and too much time on their hands ruined it for us. My personal information was spread around on other boards, too. It's amazing what "normal" people will do. Sometimes it makes the hardened criminals not look so bad.

I'm really sorry for your troubles. My ordeal taught me a big lesson and I'm never offering personal information on myself ever again.