One unwanted message is annoying. A pattern that follows you across platforms, accounts, and time is something else. A single bad interaction is different from stalking. Stalking is a pattern: repeated contact after being told to stop, tracking your activity across platforms, showing up where you are, creating new accounts to get around a block. It's frightening specifically because it demonstrates the person won't take no for an answer.
If you are in immediate danger, stop reading and call your local emergency number now - 911 in the US and Canada, 999 in the UK and Ireland, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand, or 112 across most of Europe.
If it moves toward your physical safety - a real address getting mentioned, a threat, someone showing up in person - treat it exactly like the emergency it is. A hotline or your local police can help you build a safety plan, not just take a report.
Services and numbers change over time. If one of these is wrong or missing for your country, telling us is worth more than anything else on this page.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, 24/7 and confidential (thehotline.org). To report a child being groomed or exploited online, contact the NCMEC CyberTipline at 1-800-843-5678 or CyberTipline.org. For a mental-health crisis, call or text 988; call 911 for immediate danger.
Kids Help Phone supports anyone up to 29, day or night, at 1-800-668-6868 or by texting CONNECT to 686868. For domestic violence, your province runs its own helpline - search "[your province] domestic violence helpline" or call 211 to be connected. Call or text 988 for a mental-health crisis; call 911 for immediate danger.
Refuge runs the UK's National Domestic Abuse Helpline free, 24/7, at 0808 2000 247. For a child at risk, call the NSPCC helpline at 0808 800 5000, or Childline at 0800 1111 if you're the young person. Report online grooming to CEOP at ceop.police.uk. Samaritans (116 123) will listen any time; call 999 for immediate danger.
1800RESPECT is Australia's national sexual assault and domestic/family violence counselling line, 24/7, at 1800 737 732. Kids Helpline is 1800 55 1800. Report online grooming or exploitation to the eSafety Commissioner (esafety.gov.au) or ThinkUKnow. Lifeline (13 11 14) offers crisis support; call 000 for immediate danger.
Women's Refuge runs a crisis line 24/7 at 0800 733 843. Netsafe (netsafe.org.nz) takes reports of online grooming and harm. For general crisis support, call or text 1737 any time. Call 111 for immediate danger.
Women's Aid runs a 24-hour National Freephone Helpline at 1800 341 900. The Rape Crisis Centre's national helpline is 1800 77 8888, and Childline (ISPCC) is 1800 66 66 66 for children and young people. Report child sexual abuse material online at Hotline.ie. Call 112 or 999 for immediate danger.
There isn't one worldwide number, so use a directory you can trust: Befrienders Worldwide (befrienders.org) lists real crisis lines by country, and Child Helpline International (childhelplineinternational.org) does the same for children and teens. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number right now.
A repeated, unwanted pattern aimed at one person: messages from new accounts after being blocked, monitoring where you post, showing up in every space you use, contacting people around you, or tracking what you do offline from what you post online.
Yes. Persistence and unwanted contact are the definition, not threats. Many places treat a documented course of conduct as an offense on its own, and waiting for an explicit threat before taking it seriously is a bad trade.
Everything, with dates and account names, in one place outside the platforms themselves. A pattern is what makes a report actionable, and no single message ever looks like enough on its own.
No. Contact of any kind, including a furious reply, tends to reset the clock and reward the behavior. Block, document, report, and let the record build without you in the conversation.
When it escalates, when it moves offline, when it reaches your family or workplace, or when you no longer feel safe at home. Bring the documented timeline, not just the most recent message.
A stranger calls in a fake emergency at your address, hoping armed police show up at your door. It's rare, it's real, and it's worth knowing about before it happens.
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Abuse is rarely just hitting. It is usually control first, and control is quieter and harder to name.
Hotline advocates spend most of their time talking with people still working out whether their situation counts. You are allowed to call to think out loud.