My friend (female, I may add) told me last night that she has been receiving abuse and harassment online for the past month. It shocked me because she isn’t the type to take **** from people online. She asked for help. I don’t know what I can do personally so I am asking this here.

This is what she has told me has been going on. Originally, she said she met him on YouTube. After a few days, they fell out and ever since, he has been harassing her and making her life online a living nightmare. She says that he knows (how, neither of us know) her email address. He knows which websites she goes on and when she goes on them and what she does on them. He knows her IP address and has threatened to use it against her. He is impersonating her on websites and chat rooms and telling people to add her email address and watch her strip. He is reffering her email to several online predators and she is getting rude and disgusting messages from these people. He is trying to operate scams by using her identity. He is signing her up for websites all over the place. On the websites she is involved with (mostly forums), he is joining up and creating an entire campaign to turn everyone against her which involves making up vicious lies, rumours and spreading filth about her. On her social networking profiles (bebo, myspace and facebook), he has been sending all her friends disgusting messages and spreading lies that is threatening to get her in a lot of trouble in her own life. She has closed her bebo and myspace profiles down because of this.

She recently told me about all of this and I was shocked. This, to me, sounds like a very serious case of online harassment. He has her IP address, and we all know that anyone can track them down to the area you live in with any online tracker. He has threatened her, and I have seen the messages, that if she doesn’t give in to his demands, he will post her IP address everywhere he can find and will track her down and spread her details across the net. She is extremely worried, and so am I for her safety.

I went to her house yesterday and I have been observing this in action and it is disturbing. Apparantley, from an email I have seen, he says he will leave her alone if she “performs a dance” for him on webcam. This, sounds like sexual harassment. She is really worried and wants ME to help her, but I haven’t been in a situation this bad before and I am wondering about further courses of action.

Can this be taken to the police and can they follow through with legal proceedings? She has saved every email sent from his address, and she has taken screenshots of everything he has done on websites and all the things he has asked her to do and all the threats he has made. I told her to put them onto a flash drive incase something happens to her computer and she loses it all. She is still receiving abuse daily and has even resorted to staying offline. She has been also using MY internet to avoid this freak because that is the only way she can do things without being pestered.

So, can I report to the police and what can they do, if anything? Oh, and no stupid answers please. Thank you

they put in as below , but i have done that procedure like 10 times and it still sends the mail.

———————
Under Bill s.1618 Title III passed by the 105th U.S. Congress, this mail cannot be considered Spam as long as we include contact information. If this e-mail is unsolicited, please accept our
apologies and Reply with “REMOVE” in the subject line. This email is not intended to be a solicitation. It is targeted to recruiting and consulting professionals. If you have received this in error, please accept our apologies. We regret any inconvenience caused to you and sincerely appreciate your continued patience and cooperation.
——
can i do something more than just hitting spam?
it is on yahoo groups , for which the mod is no longer incharge