Category: Cyber Crimes

Social media has become somewhat of a normal, daily activity. It has helped to shape our lives in many ways, connecting us to our jobs, our families, and our friends across the world. Through social media, we can meet others who share our favorite hobbies and interests and stay up-to-date on current events. Social media has even helped law enforcement to get the word out in emergent situations, such as shelter-in-place warnings and Amber Alerts. 

Law enforcement now often utilizes social media to discover incriminating evidence against criminal suspects and can help to locate them through things such as “check-ins,” for which an individual lists where they are located. This is because each and every day millions of people the world over share some of the most private information about their lives.

When we think of crimes that can be seen online we often think about homicides and high-speed chases. However, the majority of crimes that can be found online include stalking, bullying, threatening, and harassing other people. People may also sign into an account that isn’t theirs and/or impersonate others. Crimes committed online are just as illegal as those committed offline. 

Think Before You Post

Because so many crimes are committed on social media every day, it’s extremely important that each of us stops and considers the risk of anything we are about to post. 

Posting too much information about yourself, your family, or your current location can serve as a means for others to commit criminal acts against you. By sharing things like where your children go to school, the name of your employer, and when you’re taking your family trip to Florida, you may just be giving others the necessary information to stalk you or rob your home. 

It’s really important that you also understand that sometimes people use social media to conduct criminal activity. Individuals, who use social media to conduct criminal business arrangements, are still guilty – whether or not the business itself was conducted online. In fact, using social media only makes it easier for law enforcement to make a case against you, as you are leaving behind a trail of evidence.  

Hancock Law Firm, PLLC Helps Those in North Carolina Who Have Been Charged with Committing a Crime

A criminal conviction can have a very long-lasting impact on your life. Not only can it affect your ability to obtain or keep certain jobs, but also it can have a permanent impact on your reputation. That’s why it is in your best interest to consult with a knowledgeable and experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. 

At Hancock Law Firm, PLLC, we fully understand what is at stake and will do everything that we can to help you fight these charges and obtain the best possible outcome for you. To learn more or to schedule a free consultation, contact us today!

There’s no doubt that our society has been forever changed by technology. From buying groceries and clothes, to paying bills and doing your banking, just about anything and everything that needs to be done can be executed online. But while the ever-changing technological landscape has done a lot of good, one other thing can also be done using the internet: stalking. 

Stalking someone using technology is referred to as “cyberstalking.” Technology that may be used to cyberstalk another person includes:

• Smartphones/other mobile devices
• GPS devices 
• Phone calls
• Social media messages
• Emails
• Hacking into a victim’s online account(s)

Stalking is done in order to threaten, harass, or humiliate another person in order to control or intimidate them. When someone cyberstalks another person, they often use persistent and strategic types of online abuse. Cyberstalkers don’t always have to be individuals whom you know; sometimes they can be casual acquaintances or even complete strangers. Often cyberstalkers include former significant others.

Stalking in North Carolina

Under North Carolina state law, stalking occurs when an individual willfully harasses another person on more than two occasions without legal reason, and either: 

• Causes that individual to fear for themselves, a family member, or another person to whom they are close; or
• Causes that individual extreme fear of bodily injury, death, or persistent and recurrent harassment.

The law does not require that the victim believes the stalker’s threats, or that a “reasonable person” would believe them.

North Carolina General Statute 14-196.3 states that is “illegal to electronically communicate language threatening to damage property or injure another person, or the person’s relative or dependent, with the intent of abusing, harassing, embarrassing, or extorting money or things of value.”

In North Carolina, cyberstalking is a Class 2 misdemeanor. If you are convicted of cyberstalking you may face 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. However, the length of jail time depends upon your prior record:

 

• No prior conviction: 1-30 days imprisonment;

• 1-4 prior convictions: 1-45 days imprisonment; and

• 5 or more prior convictions: 1-60 days imprisonment.
  

 

Hancock Law Firm, PLLC Helps Those in North Carolina Who Have Been Charged with Cyberstalking

A cyberstalking conviction can have a very long-lasting impact on your life. Not only can it affect your ability to obtain or keep certain jobs, but also it can have a permanent impact on your reputation. That’s why it is in your best interest to consult with a knowledgeable and experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. 

At Hancock Law Firm, PLLC, we fully understand what is at stake and will do everything that we can to help you fight these charges and obtain the best possible outcome for you. To learn more or to schedule a free consultation, contact us today!