The University of Wyoming has seen a rise in the use of social media for stalking purposes. That includes things like using Facebook and Twitter to gather personal information, and track someone’s real life whereabouts.
UW Police Chief Mike Samp says the university has seen around four reported incidents of stalking where victims were threatened or harassed by their online perpetrators since the beginning of September. There were 10 reported stalking incidents during all of last academic year.
While he says stalking victims range the gamut in gender, race, and appearance, Samp says most of them have one thing in common.
"When people are not careful enough with their privacy settings and it is apparently giving individuals an opportunity to conduct stalking behavior online," says Samp.
Chief Samp recommends not friending people you don’t know, using strict privacy settings, and refraining from disclosing information about activities and actions.