Is this standard police advice following online harassment

[Grizzlygrox]

Name changed for this. Hopefully it's not too outing.

I can't go into too much detail (though I am dying to) but I am experiencing some desperately unpleasant and frightening harassment on social media.

I don't just mean people being awful (such as telling me what a shit person I am, how ugly I am, a terrible mother and generally have no redeeming features), which is happening, or simply an exchange of views, but statements with a really menacing edge about my having to watch my step and that my days are numbered.

The person/people behind it, keep having their accounts deleted and then coming back with a fresh one. So far, in a two week period there has been 10 different anonymous accounts and thousands of nasty posts. They have been stealing other people's photos and ID's to do this.

There's a lot more I could say (they are beginning to attack my partner now) but I obviously need to be careful not to out myself, however this isn't just an exchange of opinion. It seems to be a targeted vendetta. I don't believe the perpetrators are random strangers, but maybe 1 or 2 people who have harboured a long standing grudge against me for professional reasons.

The police have said that if what I've told them is true (it is, I have a wealth of screenshots etc) then it counts as malicious communications and have requested that I stay away from social media for 28 days, while they request the information from the social media providers in question.

I previously stayed off as requested for a period of a few days, but the behaviour continued. I locked my (Twitter) account but those responsible are boasting that they have access to it, that they set up a fake account to follow me and are posting screenshots of it. They are also laughing at the idea that the police will get involved, even though they've published my work phone number, invited people to ring me up and boasted about listening to the answerphone message. It's made me really nervous about answering the phone because I've had a number of dropped calls.

Is this a standard thing or am I being fobbed off? It seems really unfair that I need to stay off social media, especially as I have a portfolio career and need to use it to promote my work.

paladinservice.co.uk

www.suzylamplugh.org/Pages/Category/national-stalking-helpline

www.victimsupport.org.uk/crime-info/types-crime/stalking-and-harassment

If you locked your twitter to stop these people having access, why would you accept a follow request from someone you don't know - i.e. their fake account?

Go through your followers list and block or revoke access for anyone you're not sure about.

Do you need to be on social media?

I think they followed before I locked. I have thousands of followers so it could be anyone.

I don’t have to be on social media, but not bring on it does have an effect on my occupation/income.

For some people, social media is essential. OP shouldn't have to 'stay off it' because of a bunch of bellends.
Sorry this is happening to you; hope the police can sort it out.

Thousands of abusive posts in 2 weeks and the police won’t do anything?! Is it a vendetta against you, your business? Pretty shocking either way.

You’re not Samantha Markle are you?

Lol. No. Though I feel about the only one on the planet who thinks Meghan seems really lovely & wishes her every happiness. ----Goes off on tangeant.

I’ve been off for 8 hours. In which time troll has triumphantly tweeted about it, tweeted that I might have to see my GP for anxiety & laughed about it as well as tweeting the name of my house.

The police have yet to take a statement. Though I know this kind of thing isn’t a priority. Still, maybe I should say that women don’t have willies and then they will be on my doorstep.

Yes you are being fobbed off. They have incited people to harass you. Thats not low level, nuisance stuff.
Twitter handed over the account details of women so they could be interviewed by the police, and their tweets were not threatening.

Oh gosh. Is it TRAs?

If you are off twitter, how do you know the troll is tweeting about it?

Police haven't done "nothing.
That have asked you to remain off social media while they request user details of the suspect account.
This will take time.

The person/people behind it, keep having their accounts deleted and then coming back with a fresh one.

So it’s definitely the same people?

I’m not actually posting anything on any social media platform save here (if this is social media) but I keep looking, probably shouldn’t, to screengrab evidence.

I don’t understand the stay off for 28 days thing. They told me to stay off for 72 hours over the bank holiday - I did & it continued. Now it’s 28 days.

It is the same people/person because they kept using the same fake name except with a different suffix. JoeBloggs1, JoeBloggs2 etc. And absolutely raging, calling me an evil spiteful vindictive malevolent bitch whose time is coming, every time it was deleted.

They’ve also started calling DP a “scrote”, threatening to write to his employer about me (WTH) & talking about where DC go to school.

malevolence is an art, and you are someones muse. If your house was on fire, would you leave the premises? You need to stay off social media for several weeks to give enough time for these people to get their thrill somewhere else, and allow the police to investigate. This is serious , it can hurt your soul, you need to treat it seriously.

You’re not being fobbed off. It’s not like on TV, where all this stuff is instant. The police have to get permission for access then give time for the social media platforms to comply and provide said information etc. None of this is quick or easy. Sorry this is happening to you but you’re going to have to be patient and let the police do their job.

Things like this can be difficult for police to investigate as the internet is global and many social media sites aren't based in the uk, so therefore don't have to comply with uk law requests for data. When the police request info the companies not based in the uk don't have to give it if they don't want to. So police may literally not be able to trace the offenders.
You definitely need to screenshot any profile information of the trolls so that the police can use the unique url or identifier to ask the social media company for the data. Just screenshotting the messages isn't enough.
There is very little (nothing) the police can do to prevent the trolls from setting up new accounts.
The best thing you can do is report the trolls yourself directly to the social media provider. Take ownership and block people you don't know. Enable privacy settings etc.