Cyberbullying is a frequent and growing problem on the Internet. As more people turn to social media and online chat, the doors are opening for these criminals to step in and take the bait. Worse yet, cyber bullying can evolve and often becomes email bullying, which can be pretty scary if you’re not prepared for it to happen in the first place.

More often than not, cyber bullying will start out as a simple IM chat session or a few back and forth emails. But the person on the other end will eventually get your full attention and want ‘more’ from you. This is where the problem tends to start.

These Internet bullies are weird in that they are quite antisocial, but often obsessive-compulsive; no matter how much they try to hide about themselves, it is this quality that they cannot hide. It is this quality that should also warn you about a potential stalker. Someone who sends you numerous emails, whether annoying or harassing, and goes out of their way to remain anonymous could be a very dangerous person. Although it may not seem like a big deal at first, this could turn into a serious cyber bullying situation.

Cyberbullies will try to get personal information about you and use it against you. They will harass you and try to blackmail you, keep in mind that this person does not have to know you at all. Another thing that is commonly seen in cyberbullying cases is that the bully often plays the role of the victim. They will try to publicly blame you for everything they can, while getting a pity party from the viewers. Cyberbullies have also been known to attempt to humiliate their victims whenever they can by posting false information, so online communities the victim frequents often seek out this harassing behavior.

None of these events should be taken lightly, or even ignored. There have been times when cyber bullying turned physical and victims had to fear for their personal safety. You never want to let the situation get to that point. It is always wise to seek help at the first sign of trouble to prevent something from getting out of hand.

You can easily do a reverse email lookup to try to find the person behind the emails, but it’s likely an alias. In order to resolve the issue quickly, you should hire a private investigator to professionally follow up on the email. They will give you a full report of their findings and will include the harasser’s real name, address, and phone number. During this investigation, they will also perform header tracing to compare the information in the emails with information from other reported incidents to try to find similarities. Each of these methods is very effective in identifying the bully and will often reveal enough information for you to move past the situation and put an end to it.

Any time you feel that you are being harassed by email, instant messaging, or any other means of communication over the Internet, you should immediately consult a qualified private investigator for advice. Bullying of any kind is never acceptable, and it may well be a cyberbullying issue.