Stalking is not something that is confined to people in real life. It seems to be a hazard in the virtual world too. A new report has found that at least 42 per cent of people in India who ventured into online dating experienced some form of online stalking from a person they newly started dating.

A survey by Kaspersky involving 21,000 people from aorund the world — of which 1,000 respondents were from India — revealed that about half (49 per cent ) of the respondents believed that Googling/checking social media accounts of a person you had started dating as a form of due diligence is acceptable and 52 per cent admitted to doing so when they started dating someone.

“About 65 per cent of the Indian respondents are willing to share passwords that could potentially allow their location to be accessed,” the report said.

In India, stalking both physical and online is considered an offence. According to Indian laws, online stalking can lead to imprisonment for 3 to 5 years along with a hefty fine. 

Online daters are keen to take steps to protect themselves in their quest for love. However, despite almost a quarter of respondents (23 per cent) saying they had experienced some form of online stalking from a person they were newly dating, people are still vulnerable to an alarming rise in stalking and abuse this Valentine’s day, from risks posed by location settings, data privacy and more broadly, oversharing. 

“In India, it was seen that well over half (54 per cent) of the respondents have reported some form of violence or abuse from a current or previous partner. About 27 per cent of respondents had been sent unwanted emails or messages and perhaps most concerningly, 23 per cent had been filmed or photographed without their consent,” it said.

About 24 per cent admitted they had had their location tracked, 18 per cent said that their social media accounts or emails had been hacked, and worryingly, 22 per cent. having had stalkerware installed on their devices without their consent.

“About 21 per cent of the women respondents within India said that their social media and email accounts were hacked into by the person they have dated earlier,” it said.

In fact, 21 per cent of respondents said they worried about the prospect of being stalked online, and female respondents being slightly more concerned at the prospect than males (23 per cent female respondents were worried compared to 19 per cent of male respondents).

Another point of concern is the installation of stalkerware or enabling of a monitoring tool into the devices of present or ex-partners. According to the survey, 26 per cent of the male respondents had installed some form of stalkerware or monitoring tool into the devices of their current partner, while 24 per cent of female respondents did the same. 

“This insidious tool (stalkware) fuels harmful behaviour. We will continue to raise awareness, share expertise, and collaborate with partners from public and private sectors,” Adrian Hia, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky, said.

Besides India, the survey was conducted in countries like the UK, Germany, Spain, Serbia, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy and France in the first half of January 2024.

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