KWANTLEN STUDENT FIGHTS BACK AGAINST CYBER-STALKER
FIGHTING BACK: Kwantlen Polytechnic student decries perpetrator’s social media hounding on her blog
Andrea Ng got a call from her boyfriend. It had happened again — and this time it reduced her to tears.
On and off for the last two years, Ng, 21, has been the victim of a cyber-stalker.
Using various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter, Ng’s stalker, or stalkers, manipulated and posted a high school picture of her from Palmer Secondary, photoshopping naked breasts onto the innocent shot.
On several occasions, the perpetrator pretended to be Kwantlen Polytechnic public relations student Ng herself, and “followed” and “liked” the same friends, classmates and people as Ng on social media, as well as organizations she has applied to for employment and internships.
Ng has twice been to the RCMP over the two years, but both times the Mounties say they’ve been unable to help, simply advising her to have the sites in question shut down.
Ng said police suspect someone overseas is randomly setting up the online pages, however she is adamant — given that the photo was cropped from her private, 2010 high school Facebook album — that the stalking and harassment is coming from a place much closer to home.
And when the offending photo surfaced online once more a few weeks ago, she decided attack was the best form of defence, and used her own blog to publicly decry the stalker.
“I’ve had enough; they were following my life and I came to the conclusion that this person is hiding behind a screen and is a coward,” said Ng. “More than 16,000 people have read the blog, with more than 100 comments — mostly positive. There were some cruel comments, but I realized I had to stop reading them.
“Then I really started to feel free and felt really good about doing it. I’m feeling OK right now; it feels good to tell people what is going on.”
During her most recent conversation with police, Ng referred to the tragic Amanda Todd case — Todd, of Port Coquitlam, committed suicide at 15 after being blackmailed on the Internet. Ng noted to police that they were able to track Todd’s harasser all the way to Europe. But the officer said she was confident Ng was not going to harm herself and, unless the situation became more serious, the case couldn’t be taken any further.
The latest Twitter account was suspended a couple of weeks ago and Ng has changed her social media settings once more in a bid to block the stalker from following her life.
Asked why she thinks someone is taking the time to create hassle and embarrassment in her life, Ng said: “Who knows? I have a very strong personality and I may have rubbed someone up the wrong way.
“I tend to say what I think, and I’m a very honest person. Sometimes, people don’t like that.
“I have no idea who this is. Lawyers have emailed me, but they’re not prepared to do it pro bono, and I’m not going to spend money to find out who this is.”
Richmond RCMP cited privacy concerns for not being able to comment on the case, saying only that: “The RCMP treats all cases of bullying very seriously. It is a national concern. Each case is unique and will be examined as such by the investigator.”