Facebook stalking on the rise

MELBOURNE - Australian youngsters, who claim they are victims of intimidation, are taking out restraining orders against Facebook stalkers.

According to lawyers, there has been a rise in apprehended violence orders (AVOs) taken out for cyber bullying in the past two years, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Australian Criminal Law Specialists’ principal solicitor Nick Boyden said this sort of behaviour could happen through a combination of mediums such as Facebook or Twitter and phone texting.

William Vahl of North Shore Criminal Law said he had seen an increase in clients asking for AVOs against cyber bullies.

“It’s opened up a whole new area and manner in which people are stalked and harassed,” said Vahl.

Victims were often intimidated through threats written on their sites or by text while others had their sites hacked and information stolen, which was then used against them.

One lawyer, who declined to be named to protect his client’s identity, said he represented a man who hacked into a woman’s page and accessed her personal information.

“She took out the AVO because he was stalking her and texting her telling her about the personal information that he had,” he said.

“She figured out who it was because he was coming back and using the information against her,” he added.

Another lawyer, who also asked not to be named, said they represented a police officer who took out an AVO after being cyber-stalked.

“He accepted the friendship of a woman. They’d never met but it turned into a ‘Fatal Attraction’ situation,” said the lawyer.

“It got weird and she started sending him abusive messages which led to him taking an AVO out against her,” the lawyer added. (ANI)