Stalking Awareness Week 2025

This week (21st-25th April) is Stalking Awareness Week. The week aims to make people more aware of what stalking is and how it might affect a victim/survivor. There are many myths and misconceptions about what stalking looks like and who perpetrates it. We hope this blog helps to shed some light on the issue and combats some of the myths and misconceptions by answering some frequently asked questions.

What does stalking mean?

Stalking is a pattern of behaviours that involve repeated, unwanted attention or contact and the interactions cause you to feel distressed, unsafe or scared.

Stalking can include a number of behaviours including, but not limited to:

• following someone;
• watching or spying on someone;
• contacting or attempting to contact a person by any means;
• publishing material about someone without their consent;
• monitoring someone’s phone, internet, email or other form of communication;
• loitering in a public or private place;
• interfering with someone’s property;
• leaving unwanted gifts or notes for someone.

Two or more incidents of such behaviour with the intent to cause distress to the victim constitutes a crime in Scotland. (Moray Protects)

Some people use the acronym FOUR to help define stalking.

• F - fixated
• O - obsessive
• U - unwanted
• R - repeated

This means if any unwanted behaviours you experience are fixated, obsessive and repeated you might be experiencing stalking. The Suzy Lamplugh Trust offer an online tool that you can use to see if you might be experiencing stalking and they offer advice and signposting to support services.

You can access the assessment tool here.

Can I be stalked online?

Yes. Increasingly, stalking is taking place online with abusers using social media, emails and threatening messages as a tool for their abusive behaviours. The Suzy Lamplugh Trust shared that nearly all victims of stalking have experienced some form of online stalking behaviours. (Suzy Lamplugh Trust)

Stalking behaviours that take place online are just as harmful as offline behaviours.

Does stalking happen in Moray?

Yes, stalking happens in Moray.

Just like sexual violence and domestic abuse, stalking is a form of gender-based violence. It is a tool that an abuser uses to control and intimidate the victim/survivor. All forms of gender-based violence can happen in Moray.

Dr Emma Plant, Equally Safe Development Coordinator at the Moray Violence Against Women & Girls Partnership, says this about stalking:

“Stalking is not only a serious red-flag that perpetrators will escalate their behaviour and physically harm their targets but an act of cruelty in itself. This form of harassment is intended to make women and girls afraid. Afraid to exercise our choices and freedoms, afraid to leave our houses, afraid to stay in, afraid to check our phones, afraid to not check our phones. It is always wrong, full stop.”

Scottish Women’s Aid states that “Stalking is a by-product of gender inequality, a society that gives men agency and power and denies it to women. It makes up one part of the epidemic of violence against women across the world, and like most crimes of violence against women, it often goes underreported.”

What can I do if I think I’m being stalked?

There is support available for you if you think you are experiencing stalking.

Action Against Stalking shares these practical safety tips to help support you or someone you know who is experiencing stalking:

• Report to the police
• Contact Action Against Stalking by phone (0800 820 2427), email or via our Contact Form
• Do not interact with the person stalking you
• Take a mobile telephone with you when you go out
• Have your keys ready for when you reach your front door
• Consider fitting a home alarm system or carrying a personal attack alarm
• Make your online life more secure by changing your passwords regularly, heightening your privacy settings and do not share personal information with strangers
• Activate a PIN or password on your mobile devices
• Turn off GPS and location tagging on your mobile devices
• If you become aware that you are being followed, make your way to a public place, commercial premises (such as a shop) or your nearest police station.

Another tool available to you is the FollowItApp. The app allows you to record stalking behaviours you experience and keeps a log so you can compile evidence, meaning you can delete photos and screenshots from your phone, and the secure app will keep the evidence for you. The app is free but only available for women and girls aged 18 and over.

To get access to the app, fill in the form on the FollowItApp website

There’s local support available if you have experienced stalking.

At Moray Rape Crisis we support anyone aged 11 and over who has experienced any form of sexual violence at any point in their life, this includes stalking. We offer one-to-one and group therapeutic support, advocacy through the justice process and specialist support services for young people aged 11-18, survivors with learning needs and disabilities and Polish-speaking survivors in Moray.

You can contact us by phone or email, and we are open 9-5 Monday to Friday.

• 01343 550407
• contact@morayrapecrisis.scot

Moray Women’s Aid supports women and children aged 5 and over in Moray experiencing domestic abuse. They offer refuge and accommodation, one-to-one emotional and practical support, counselling, drop-in sessions and a children and young people’s project.

You can contact Moray Women’s Aid by phone or email and they are open 0930-1630 Monday to Friday

• 01343 548549 (helpline) or 01343 548565 (office)
• admin@moraywomensaid.co.uk

Specialist support

There are a number of specialist support services available in Scotland and nationally that offer helplines, information, advice and other support if you have experienced/are experiencing stalking.

• The Suzy Lamplugh Trust run the National Stalking Helpline, offering information, support, advice and safety planning. They can also help you to understand the law and report to the police if you wish. The helpline is inclusive of all genders.
  • They are open
    • 09:30 - 20:00, Monday and Wednesday
    • 09:30 - 16:00, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
    • You can either call 0808 802 0300 or fill in an online form to get email support
• Action Against Stalking offers specialist counselling support for victim/survivors of stalking. You can submit the form here for more information, or you can call or email them, and a member of the Throughcare Support Team will get back to you
  • 0800 820 2427
  • support@actionagainststalking.org
• The Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (SWRC) have a really helpful webpage sharing information about what you can do if someone is stalking you. They also offer legal representation and advice, a helpline and advocacy support.
  • 08088 010 789
  • It’s open on Mondays between 10 AM and 12:30 PM and Wednesdays between 10 AM and 1 PM
• The Rape Crisis Scotland Helpline is available to offer advice and support to survivors of any form of sexual violence. It’s open 5 pm to midnight every night.
  • You can contact the helpline via phone, text, email or webchat
  • 08088 01 03 02
  • 07537 410 027
  • support@rapecrisisscotland.org.uk
  • www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk
• Scottish Women’s Aid works to support survivors of domestic abuse in Scotland. They operate the National Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage helpline that offers support for survivors of domestic abuse in Scotland.
  • It’s available to call, text or email 24/7
  • 0800 027 1234
• Galop offers support to LGBT+ victims and survivors of abuse and violence. They offer a helpline you can contact by phone or email, and they also offer support services that you can self-refer to.
  • The helpline is open Monday to Friday and closed on weekends
  • Monday – 9:15 am to 8 pm
  • Tuesday – 9:15 am to 8 pm
  • Wednesday – 9:15 am to 4:30 pm
  • Thursday – 9:15 am to 4:30 pm
  • Friday – 9:15 am to 4:30 pm
  • 0800 999 5428
• Amina Muslim Women’s Rights Centre offers a helpline, legal advice, and specialist clinics to support Muslim women in Scotland.
  • The helpline is open 10 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday
  • The legal clinic opens on the last Wednesday of the month 1 to 4pm
  • The specialist clinics are open 10 am to 2 pm every Tuesday
  • 0808 801 0301
• The Traveller Movement offer a domestic abuse helpline for Romani (Gypsy), Roma & Irish Traveller women and girls in the UK.
  • 0754 1637 795
• Victim Support Scotland offer a helpline for people who have been affected by crime. They also offer advocacy, emotional support and advice.
  • The helpline is open 8 am – 8 pm Mon-Fri, and 10 am – 4 pm Sat-Sun
  • 0800 160 1985 or contact them via the webchat