Consider the case of Megan Meieras as reported by Fox News:



Megan thought she had made a new friend online when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her. Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.

Are there other stories equally as tragic going on this very second that never get reported on the news? Of course there are.

The phenomena of Myspace stalking is something relatively new. Myspace has only been around since 2003 yet its already a household name. Myspace stalking has been around since the creation of Myspace but today there are several software programs designed specifically to aid in Myspace stalking. In fact there's even a cottage industry of tee shirts and bumper stickers that proudly declare "I'm a Myspace Stalker".

There are steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim of a Myspace stalker.

1. Do not use your real name when opening you Myspace account

2. Set up a special free anonymous email account specifically for your Myspace account

3. Do not reveal , your name , age, birthday, employment or school in your profile.

4. Carefully study any pics you post to be sure there is no identifiers like a licence plate, street sign or house number.

If you do feel you are becoming the recipient of unwanted attention or possibly the target of a cyber stalker set your profile to private and remove the stalker from your friends list.

Document everything, save to disc and print out a hard copy for your records.

Use caution when reporting the stalker to Myspace. If you do they will usually shut down the account making it more difficult for the stalker to be located and identified should you need to report them to police or initiate a civil lawsuit for defamation.

If you feel you need to protect yourself you can hire an investigator that specializes in Myspace stalking and cyber talking cases in general. These investigators have tools and techniques to locate and identify your stalker, perform complete background checks and give you an idea of the threat level of your stalker.

An investigator can even perform an Online Risk Assessment to see how vulnerable you are to cyber stalking and identity theft. They will take your information, and playing the role of a stalker attempt to obtain your personal information with the information that is available online.

If you are getting unwanted attention and you are concerned you may become a victim on an online stalker you should have an online risk assessment performed on yourself.

There are several online investigation services that offer these types of investigations but before hiring one do a little investigation on them first. Check them out on Google to see if they are recognized as an expert in the field of Internet investigations and email tracing.