The Dark Psychology of Stalkers Explained

Obsessed: The Dark Psychology of Stalking

A Detailed Report on the Hidden Dangers of Being Stalked and Common Stalking Behaviors From A Victim's Experience,

(November 29, 2024) Author: Georgina L. Chojnacki®, aka Niimi’ Makoons™

(Preface) Stalking is a Predatory Behavior

It is important to understand that stalking is deeply concerning psychological predatory behavior

with disturbing impacts and motives. Stalking typically involves a pattern of obsessive and

intrusive actions directed toward an individual without their consent. From a psychological

perspective, stalking reflects a distorted sense of entitlement, where the stalker believes they

have a right to violate, control and/or possess their victim.

This report delves into the dangers of being stalked, the types of behaviors that are typically

associated with stalking, and the risks of being stalked.

(Introduction) Why You Need to Understand Stalking

Stalking is a widespread, pervasive and potentially life-threatening matter that affects individuals from all walks of life. A stalker can be from any demographic or social standing without exclusion; both a victim and their predatory stalker can be from any demographic and/or social standing, in this no one is excluded. The psychological, emotional, and physical toll it takes on victims is profound, and the behaviors of stalkers can escalate quickly from seemingly benign actions to extreme violence and/or aggressive tactics.

The stalker views the victim as an object to be controlled, rather than seeing us as an individual with our own autonomy. Over time, this obsessive fixation can lead to significant harm for us, as their victim, including isolation, acute stress/anxiety, depression, and a very real pervasive fear for our (the victim’s) safety.

Stalking is not only a violation of personal space but it is also a manifestation of the stalker’s deeper psychological disturbances that can lead to further harming the victim, and is, as is in some cases, can even result in the wrongful death of the stalker’s innocent victim.

Understanding Stalking and Its Dangers

Stalking involves repeated, unwanted, and intrusive behaviors that are intended to control or harass the targeted victim. Unlike occasional acts of unwanted attention, stalking behaviors form a pattern of harassment that terrorizes and isolates us as the victim, leaving us vulnerable and unsafe.

The dangers of stalking extend far beyond emotional distress; in fact, the long-term psychological and physical impacts alone can be catastrophic. For us, the innocent victims, the experience can lead to justice issues, further abuse, exploitation (and/or extortion), isolation, depression, low-self esteem, severe stress, anxiety disorders, or may even result in death in some cases. The constantly being watched, monitored, followed, or harmed can affect our (the victims’) ability to function in everyday life, diminishing our well-being and quality of life.

Stalking behaviors often escalate into violence, including physical assault, gang-stalking, property damage, harassment or even homicide in some cases. This progression of escalation is one of the most concerning aspects of stalking and makes early intervention crucial to prevent a situation from becoming dangerous or life-threatening for the innocent and vulnerable victim.

Common Behaviors of Stalkers

Stalking behaviors vary in intensity, but they generally follow a pattern of increasing obsession, manipulation, and control. The following itemized list outlines typical stalking behaviors that victims, law enforcement professionals, service providers and the general public should be aware of.

Repeated Unwanted Communication

Phone Calls and Text Messages: The stalker may call or send text messages repeatedly, often multiple times a day, regardless of the victim's requests to stop. The victim may attempt to block the stalker or even change our phone number via our telephone service provider with no avail, the stalker will often retaliate to punish us, the victim, for our attempts to break free of the abuse and control.
Emails and Social Media Messages: Stalkers may flood victims with numerous emails or social media messages, trying to establish communication even after being blocked or ignored, and again the stalker may even retaliate to punish the victim for their attempts to break free of the abuse and control. Some stalkers further target us (as their victims) for the “bandwagon effect” causing us to be further targeted to be wrongfully harassed by multiple parties to punish the victim for ignoring or blocking the demands of our stalker(s).
Letters and Gifts: Sending excessive or inappropriate letters, gifts, or flowers, even after the victim has explicitly asked them not to. These items are often used as a way to exert control or manipulate the victim emotionally, including items to be taken as threats such as “first aid kits” or bandages.

Physical Surveillance and Following

Following the Victim: The stalker may follow the victim as we travel to work, school, victim services or other regular activities. This could involve physically tailing us (their victim) in their car or on foot.
Watching from a Distance: The stalker may secretly watch us as their victim from a distance, including peering into/monitoring our home or workplace, or monitoring our activities including in public places.

Third-Party Harassment

Handling: Stalkers often employ third parties to “handle”/monitor us as their victims, this enables the stalker to gather information while tracking our movements while monitoring our activities without directly engaging.

This indirect surveillance allows the stalkers to maintain control over us as their victim while they keep their obsession hidden as they continue to violate us, which allows the stalker to continue their manipulation tactics to maintain control over us (astheir victim) and, in some cases, allows them to even corral us into further harm or danger.

Unwanted Appearances at Locations

Uninvited Appearances: The stalker may show up at the victim's home, workplace, or social gatherings despite being told not to; this also includes showing up at regular places the victim frequents.
Stalking at Events: The stalker may attend events or activities that the victim regularly participates in, to keep tabs on their whereabouts and some stalkers may even attend these events or activities when the victim is absent, to slander and further isolate us as their targeted victim.

Invasive Monitoring Online, Hacking and Digital Tracking

Cyberstalking: Stalkers often use the internet or digital devices to harass or monitor us as their victim. This often includes sending threatening emails, using fake identities with email or on social media to contact the victim, posting damaging comments online which frequently results in the victim being targeted and cyberbullied through the “bandwagon effect”, as is in extreme cases like “Alex Jones v. Sandy Hook families”.
Monitoring Social Media Accounts: The stalker may obsessively track the victim's social media profiles, commenting on posts or attempting to gather personal information through online activity.
Digital Monitoring: Some stalkers will access private records or invade digital records, for example illegally accessing and monitoring the victims Google or Facebook account without the victims knowledge or consent, and may even tamper with digital evidence their targeted victim has secured by way of Google or Facebook.
Tracking Devices: A stalker may place GPS tracking devices on the victim's car, install spyware on their phone or computer, or hack into the victim’s online accounts to track our movements and our activities.

Threats and Intimidation

Verbal Threats: Stalkers may directly threaten us as the victim, or our friends/family members, or even threaten our witnesses with harm or target them for harassment too. These threats can be vague (e.g. “I’m coming for you”) or they can be particular, or as is in some cases, they may even be cultural specific threats.
Physical Intimidation: The stalker might engage in aggressive behavior like blocking our path, cornering us, corralling us or creating situations that induce fear, including mobbing us, breaking into our house, or damaging property.
Threatening Messages: Leaving messages at the victim's home, work, or other locations, warning that we will be harmed or hurt if we, the victim, don't comply with the stalker's demands or the stalker may even send threats to extort their victims via digital means usually using a false identity so only the victim knows who the message is from. Some stalkers also use codes that only their victim will understand to hide their manipulation tactics if we, the victim, try to tell.

Manipulative and Controlling Behavior

Possessiveness and Jealousy: The stalker will express excessive jealousy or possessiveness, attempting to dictate who the victim can associate with or even dictate how the victim is allowed to spend their time, where they work, or which activities the victim is allowed to participate in or not allowed to participate in such as support groups, religious or community events etc. In some of the more extreme cases the stalker is in complete control of their victim including every aspect of our lives.
Attempts to Isolate the Victim: The stalker will often isolate us (the victim) from support networks including family, friends, or even community, religious or other support networks; this is often done by the stalker undermining the victim's relationships or spreading rumors intended to wrongfully destroy our reputation as the stalker’s targeted victim while they relentlessly wear on us as their victims through their constant patterns of abuse and oppression.
Emotional Manipulation: The stalker may use guilt or emotional pressure to manipulate the victim into engaging with them, offering apologies for their behavior, or claiming they "just want to talk" or may even attempt to extort the victim who is left vulnerable for further exploitation by their predatory stalker.

Vandalism and Property Damage

Destruction of Property: The stalker may damage or vandalize the victim's property, such as breaking windows, slashing tires, or leaving threatening messages on the victim's car or house.
Targeting the Victim's Belongings: The stalker might destroy or alter items of value to the victim, such as the victims identification, property such as photographs, clothing, or sentimental gifts, and often the stalker will attempt to destroy or alter evidence.

Escalation of Behavior

Increased Intensity: Stalkers often begin with what can be erroneously perceived as minor, relatively harmless actions but progressively escalate their behavior, especially if left unchecked. This could be seen in how the frequency of contact or surveillance increases, or how the threats become more serious.
Escalation to Violence: Stalking can, and in many cases does escalate to physical violence, including assault, sexual violence, or even homicide. The threat of physical harm increases if the victim tries to escape, attempts to confront the stalker or attempts to report the stalker and is left unprotected.

Impersonation and Fraud

Impersonating the Victim: Some stalkers may go as far as to impersonate the victim in order to sabotage their reputation, gain access to sensitive information, or make others believe the victim is complicit in certain actions.
Identity Theft: In rare cases, a stalker might engage in identity theft or other means to illegally access the victim's personal information to open credit accounts, make purchases; some stalkers may even place false 911 calls, or bombard the victim by wrongfully calling the victim in suicidal, or for child neglect where there truly is no concern.

Invasion and Obstruction of Justice

Some stalkers engage in disturbing tactics to invade their victims' privacy, often going far beyond typical harassment. In extreme cases, they may even access private/protected records, such as medical files, bank statements, personal communications, or even victim confidential service provider records through illegal means like hacking or identity theft.
For instance, a stalker may impersonate the victim to gain access to their private accounts or use sophisticated technology to monitor their activities, including tracking their phone or computer usage. In one extreme example, stalkers have even used their victims' passwords or social security numbers to access sensitive data, causing financial damage or compromising their safety.
These invasive actions can leave victims helpless, as their private lives are violated in ways that extend well beyond physical proximity especially in cases where law enforcement fails to take the appropriate action or in some cases refuse to take the victim’s report of the crimes crippling their life.
Accessing a victim's confidential records without their consent is a serious violation of privacy laws and ethical standards. Such acts may breach regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the U.S. or other data protection laws globally, depending on the nature of the records. Victims of this unlawful behavior should document any evidence of the violation, including unauthorized access logs or correspondence.

Reporting the violation to appropriate authorities, such as law enforcement, regulatory bodies, or professional licensing boards, is crucial. In the case of medical, victim service provider or personal data breaches, contacting the organization’s privacy officer or filing a complaint with government agencies like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights may also be effective steps.

Although legal counsel can provide additional guidance to ensure accountability and restitution, for most victims this is an unobtainable burden and in most cases the innocent victim cannot afford this expensive price for their justice; even worse in more severe cases where gang stalking is involved, the out-of-pocket cost for the victim to secure representation for such complex cases is not only inflated, but it is such an outrageous unrealistic amount that is absolutely unobtainable for most of us (the victims).

When the victim cannot afford the over-blown financial expenditure we are left vulnerable as justice blindly passes over us leaving us without any chance or hope, all while the stalker continues to control and oppress us even more relentlessly.

Stalkers, along with their family members or supporters, can exacerbate the dangers of harassment by misleading or obstructing law enforcement investigations. In some cases, family members of the stalker may misinform police, downplaying the seriousness of the victim's reports or even falsely accusing the victim, thereby obstructing justice.

This interference can prevent the victim from receiving the necessary protection or support, allowing the stalker to continue their abusive behavior without consequence. Such actions may not only delay or halt police investigations but also increase the risk of further harassment or violence toward the victim. As a result, victims may be left unsafe, ignored, and unable to seek justice due to these manipulations.

This type of obstruction underscores the importance of law enforcement recognizing and addressing the full extent of stalking behaviors, including interference from others associated with the perpetrator. Not only do these types of obstruction make a mockery of the responsible law enforcement agency and the laws in place to protect victims from these types of violations, but even more dangerous these types of obstruction leave the “now exposed” victim more vulnerable while the stalker is left unchecked to violate, abuse and control their victim without reservation.

Conclusion

Stalking is an insidious crime that, as their victims, severely impacts our safety, mental health, and overall well-being. It often begins with seemingly minor, harmless behaviors, but can escalate to dangerous and life-threatening situations.

If you or someone you know is experiencing stalking, it's crucial to seek immediate help. Law enforcement is supposed to be able and willing to assist in documenting the behaviors, providing resources, and taking steps to protect the victim. Society recognizing the behaviors associated with stalking is a first step toward stopping this crime and preventing further harm of innocent lives

Disclosure: VictimsDeserveBetter.com is a news platform dedicated to amplifying the voices of victims and raising awareness. We are not a service provider; if you are in immediate need of assistance, please contact law enforcement or seek support services before reaching out to us.