25 People Share Their Most Traumatic Online Experiences

Before the internet became a thing, phone calls used to be the preferred medium of contact. However, there was a strong limitation on the information predators could gather through such a form of communication. The internet, however, gives a whole new level of access to anyone with ill intent. This is why we are warned about strangers, because even if you happen to accidentally stumble across such an individual you they can quickly make your life a living hell. 

#1

Image source: Lachwen, Rahadiansyah

It wasn’t a situation that ever put me in any danger, but a few years back I was watching a streamer on Twitch and he got swatted. He was a cooking streamer, just chatting with us while he made tacos. Suddenly he was saying that he could see there were a ton of cop cars outside and he walked off camera with his hands up. Camera stayed on and we got to watch cops in tactical gear walk through his kitchen while clearing the house. Thankfully it ended as well as it could, his wife and kids weren’t home at the time and nobody was trigger-happy enough to shoot his dogs (or him). But it was definitely nerve wracking for a while, sitting there wondering if we were going to hear gunshots.

He told us later that according to the cops, someone had called in saying there was a hostage situation at his house. It was literally just him and his dogs and he was making tacos! Who the f**k swats someone who’s just showing people how to make tacos?

#2

Image source: shoom__, Dylan Ferreira

Seeing my father who disappeared years prior on Omegle, while I was at a sleepover when I was a teen.

#3

Image source: Shanubis, Porapak Apichodilok

Replied to someone who messaged me on a dating app. This app allowed messaging without a match. I basically responded with a generic friendly reply and he demanded my contact info. I said I don’t give that out for my safety, I communicate on here, and he FLIPPED. Started sending me screenshots of my social profiles (which were not listed on the app) as well as home address. Then messaged me on Facebook saying I was stupid to think I could prevent him from finding what he wanted to track me down, then a maps screenshot of my home..

At this point my sister googled the name he had stupidly provided me by messaging on Facebook, and he turned out to be a convicted r**ist who had failed to report his new address. I called the cops and they somehow tracked him down and arrested him. All this because I just made the mistake of responding hello. It’s so great being a woman!

#4

Image source: wwaxwork, panyawat auitpol

I found out after my father died he had been using photos and information about my life to catfish young lesbian women online to get naked photos of them. I had to go through his fake facebook account he set up using all my real information and contact every single friend listed and explain what happened. Then they got mad at me I had them using the info he had given to find my business and turn up in my store mad at me for lying to them.

#5

Image source: peachysdollies, Thomas Park

Unfiltered internet access as a kid led a grown man I did not know coming to find me. I did not give him my address, but he showed up to the house next door and asked for me by my full f*****g name. They did not redirect him to my house, but told my parents the next day and I got in big trouble. Glad I got in trouble instead of getting taken. I was like, 12 or 13.

#6

Back when I was about 19 or 20–circa 2005– I saw a documentary on CNN about child trafficking. They were specifically in Romania, following the street kids caught up in the life of that. So one man an old butt man in his 50s came for “s*x tourism” to get this 14 year old boy. And I noticed whomever he set it up with they used Yahoo messenger.

This was in the early, wild west days of chat rooms.

I was like b******t, you can’t do just do that. So I hopped onto to my computer found what looked like the chat the man was in and said “I’m looking for a boy”

Literally FIFTY different windows opened up. What do you want? Age, country or origin? Blonde, brunetts, etc. SCARED THE RAVING HELL OUT OF ME. I completely uninstalled Yahoo Messenger and switched to AIM.

Spent about a month scared to death that the police were gonna kick my parents door in because my dumb a*s was curious and looked into some s**t I should have never and left it alone.

I never thought it was real, or that frighteningly easy to do something like that. I was and still am horrified. And I feel sorry for any and all kids caught up in this terrible terrible crime against them.

It was over 20 years ago, but it still haunts me.

Image source: MJsLoveSlave

#7

Image source: kkleigh90, Rosemary Ketchum

I commented on a cars thread and said something was mid trim level and the guy went off on me. Saying how I could never afford an $110k car and how I should stay in the kitchen where I belonged. He took it a step forward a couple hours later and said that I shouldn’t be talking about cars and things I didn’t know about and how I should be watching my two children (he named their names). He then messaged me a street view of my house.
Went to the cops, started a case, got a restraining order against him.

#8

Image source: urasianbella, Anete Lusina

When my online bank account got hacked. In just a seconds, everything was gone, my savings, my peace of mind, all wiped out before I could even react.

#9

Image source: ay1mao, P. L.

This was AOL instant messenger, around 1999 or 2000. I accepted a message request from someone whose screen name I didn’t recognize. I opened the message and the message read that In 10 seconds, my computer was going to get hijacked. Around 10 seconds later, the hard disk drive lit and was making all kinds of noise. I panicked, turned off and unplugged everything. I turned the computer back on later and everything seemed fine.

#10

Image source: Libertadores_, fauxels

When I was 15, my friends and I went into the deep web and downloaded some PDFs and videos about Python programming, and another b******t things that I can’t remember

The files were all empty

The next day, my friend (we were using his computer) said his entire workspace had been deleted

Three days later, he told us at school that everything on his computer came back

And on his desktop wallpaper, there was a message:

“We checked your whole computer. You seem like a nice guy, just trying to learn Python. Here’s the material. Be more careful when using the dark web”

And all the missing files were placed on his desktop

#11

Image source: pubic_hair_cake, Jaanus Jagomägi

I was ACTIVELY stalked by a guy on all imaginable social media when I was 18, at some point I even thought he would show up at my door and k**l me.

He would make random people (girls too) message me and tell that he’s around my area and that I must meet up with him immediately if I don’t want any trouble. I had to delete all my socials and become a literal recluse to escape his a*s.

#12

Image source: SemiHemiDemiDumb, Miguel Ángel Hernández

Back in the day I had a stalker that would follow me on different social media and would make new aim accounts whenever I blocked her. We never met in person except in passing. When I was in marching band she’d be in the stands and shout my name to try to get my attention. She kept stalking me until I was like 23.

#13

Image source: Ok-Ad-9820, Yifan Tang

Scariest thing was when I worked in government and pulled a system that helps track people down (i worked in tax). They knew more about me then I knew about me. Girl I made out with back in 10th grade? Yep she was listed as knowing me.

#14

Out of the blue someone on steam messaged me, “hi [insert full real name].” And a story how he took his time to link a whole bunch of random information and match my interests (steam, reddit, other forums) to figure out who I was, where I was from, what I did. This took him weeks apparently. Why? Just to tell me how easy it was to track someone down. .

Image source: tokke

#15

I was 15, year is 1997, met an English guy in online chat (AIM) who was 19. Lied that I was 16. Chatted for months, def got sexual. I was going to England for the summer to stay with family. Told one Auntie I was going to visit another and vice versa and took a train to meet up with him and go to a 3 day festival in a field somewhere. Told no one my plan. Had fun at the festival, went to another with him a few weeks later and decided I hated him by the end of it. Missed the last train to an Auntie’s house late one night and had to call a cousin nearby to come pick me up. She blabbed and it all came crashing down and I was grounded for the rest of the summer after that.

Here’s the thing, I had no idea this was scary at the time! I thought it was a great idea! How fun to meet a foreign boy who already “loves” me!

Now I think back on it, I can NOT believe how stupid I was. I also can not believe how lucky I am that he turned out to actually be a slightly dorky 19 year old boy and not some old, gross, creepy, p**o rapist! I am so lucky that the worst that happened was I smoked some s****y weed in a damp field next to an overflowing port-a-loo.

I tell this story to all my friends with kids because my parents had literally no idea I was talking to guys online or that I was going to do this, and they had no way of stopping it from happening, which is terrifying.

Image source: NotTodaySlacker302

#16

I had inadvertently left my zoom room open (and minimized) after checking some settings. Imagine my alarm when I heard my male coworker say “hey what’s up” when he arrived 5 minutes earlier for a zoom meeting… and I was pumping breast milk!
(Not the kind of scary you were talking about, I’m sure… but it sure freaked me out!)
Thankfully my camera angle was such that he didn’t see anything scarring. When he asked “is that a 3D printer I hear running?” I said No and changed the subject.

Image source: MortgageTasty3540

#17

On my neighborhood’s social media account, I posted a video of a person knocking at my door at 3am and acting strange. All I did was ask if they came to anybody else’s house and what they might have wanted, because I slept through the whole thing. Then this guy, who lives down the street and who I never met in my life, wrote all of these angry, hateful replies to my post, criticizing me with long lectures for not opening my door for the stranger despite my being asleep, stirring up a huge amount of hate toward me, telling other people in the replies he himself had a gun, and then he DMed me with his address and number and told me to come over and meet him in person. I told him to never contact me again and wrote nothing else. Then he found my work email and LinkedIn account and started sending me messages with his number and address, asking me to meet with him. I called my friend over because I was shaking in terror. He definitely knew where I lived based on the video. I thought about calling the police, but I ignored him and he stopped. I immediately deleted my social media account. All I did was post a video asking who the person at my door could have been. Never doing it again.

Image source: niandun

#18

Image source: EmotionalShelter8704, rishi

When I was about 20 or 21 I started to come to terms with my sexuality and decided to try out a gay dating/hookup website (early days of online dating – I’m old). It was location based so all the people I was chatting with were in my home area. I had a few conversations that didn’t really go anywhere, then got chatting to an older guy who said he liked my pictures and flirted with me for a while. Eventually he asked if I’d be interested in meeting up and I said maybe. He asked what I was into and then said he’d like to show me what he wanted to do to me and sent me some images.

The pictures were scans of a hand-drawn comic of sorts depicting young men being physically and sexually tortured, dismembered and m******d. I freaked the hell out, logged off and deleted my account and then spent days not sleeping thinking about the fact that some guy living nearby, who knew what I looked like, wanted to do that to me. Eventually I told myself that it was not likely the guy seriously thought he was going to find a willing partner for what was shown in the pictures, and more likely he was just trying to be an a*****e and freak me out on purpose, but it still disturbed me for a long time.

#19

Image source: koszevett, CRQueueofficial

Got sent the “anne.jpg” link at 2pm and I opened it. I had my headphones on at a high volume setting, my browser was full screen, and it was pitch black. It was the worst jumpscare of my life, and the only one that physically made me feel sick.

For those who don’t know what it is, it’s just the “jeff the k**ler” image flashing rapidly on full screen while blasting an extremely loud, constant scream sound effect. Not too bad if you expect it, but out of nowhere, coupled with the sound effect it scared the living s**t out of me. The link itself doesn’t exist anymore but the picture has become infamous since.

#20

Image source: creek_water_

I clicked the phishing email at work years ago…my heavens. What a nightmare that was.

Nothing happened. It was bait. Had to sit through a 60 minute video.

#21

Image source: guildedpasserby, Annie Spratt

It’s not scary now but at the time it was. I was 9 maybe and was super into Animal Jam. This girl and I became friends through it, but then she found my YouTube channel and lowkey started internet stalking me (my username in both places was the same). Then one day I logged onto Animal Jam and she was acting all sad, said she was “quitting life,” and then logged out and never logged on again for the few years I continued playing.

#22

This was back in 2013, when Omegle was super big. I was a middle schooler with essentially no friends, and was going through puberty with super low self esteem. I was 12.

Met a guy online. He was “15.” He talked me into sending pictures of myself. I knew it was stupid as I was doing it, but for whatever dumb reason I fought the instinct that said it was a bad idea and sent it anyways. He immediately saved it and sent it back to me, told me he wanted a pic of down there as well, or he’d post it online.

I got scared and told him no. He posted the pic and my kik username online. I had dozens of messages in literally minutes, no one cared I was a child, no one wanted to help me take it down. Thank f**k it didn’t have my face in it. I told him he was a piece of s**t, this was illegal, and I was deleting the account. He promised to find me again and ruin my life.

One month later I discovered the Amanda Todd story. If you don’t know that case, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s VERY similar to what happened to me. I spent the next 3 years in peak fear that my life was going to be ruined over it. I finally told someone what happened at 15, but I never did take it to the police. I was too ashamed of my parents finding out.

I hope that sick f**k out there got caught.

Image source: SimplyPassinThrough

#23

In my time I was talking to a stranger on Facebook and one time I opened up too much to a person and he started harassing me so that I would send him a PHOTO of nudity or I would tell my family that I was gay, at that time it was my biggest fear, but one day my mom read the conversation because I fell asleep with my cell phone on in the living room and the messages were coming, she woke me up and we talked and it turns out that the harasser was a neighbor of ours. I came out of the closet and no one did anything to me, my fear was only in my head.

Image source: Lobodecoya25

#24

WannaCry.

Lost all my data. All my self-made music, all photos of activities with friends and family of over 10 years. All my uni stuff, including my thesis.

I was too naive back then and watched a bunch of TV shows online (mostly because I wanted them in English, not the shoddy German dubs), and used various sites for that with way too little protection. Did this for years, and then one day, one of the d**n ads they showed immediately hit me with WannaCry. I took ~5-10s to realize what happened and yank the cord, but it was too late.

I was fairly certain that I had burned some of that stuff on some CDs at one point, but wasn’t able to find anything.

One day, after I moved I finally took a weekend to sift through the *hundreds* of CDs I amassed through the years to finally clean them out. Most weren’t even in a case, just stacked raw and in a box. When I had yet another stack of ~30 in my hands, inspecting for labeling and looking on the underside if anything was written on it, there was this one completely unlabeled one, filled roughly 3/4. *Something* in me told me to slide it in to check, and I cried for probably half an hour. It was almost ALL my photos and music I’ve been missing for years! That was honestly one of the happiest days of my life. Found my uni stuff as well in that box.

I now have two NAS each with mirroring storage and the NASs mirroring each other, as well as a third copy on my PC, and a USB drive I should probably update soon.

**Make backups, people!**.

Image source: Medium9

#25

I used to work online for a social media site.

We were popular enough in our prime that we attracted the attention of a hacking collective.

They held the site hostage for money, they wanted to be paid a “consulting fee” of several thousand dollars to go away and stop taking the site down, f*****g with our users, and performing all sorts of hacks to scrape personal information. They insisted that other sites (IMVU was the example given) had paid their fee in order to be left alone.

One of them reached out to me and threatened me by revealing several pieces of my personal information and claiming they had much more, including my bank account information.

We couldn’t pay them, that’s the thing they didn’t realize, we literally didn’t have the amount they were asking for. The site was being poorly managed and was on its last legs.

I saw the site going under slowly and wanted out, I was under a lot of stress, I was being contacted by people who I assumed to be dangerous. My boss was up my a*s about stuff, so I just walked away – best decision I ever made.

Image source: will_write_for_tacos