On social media, he saw a woman he’d never met and decided to stalk her. This is becoming a trend.

August 26, 2026

By Kim Komando

In Kent, Wash., on Aug. 19, police arrest a 25-year-old for allegedly stalking a woman he did not know. She did everything right: documented the harassment and got a stalking protection order. He violated it anyway. Police said most stalking cases follow a bad breakup, “but this was not that.” He picked her out online.

Five days earlier in Batavia, Ill., 2,000 miles away, a woman spots a flashlight and a shadow outside her window at 2:39 a.m. Police catch a 27-year-old registered sex offender nearby, dressed in black, brush stuck to his shoes, with burglary tools bought hours earlier. How did he pick her? Police say he saw her on social media, then “researched them and found their address.”

Here’s what nobody covering that story connected. 

The Illinois suspect’s Navy court-martial record shows a 2024 conviction for sexual assault and burglary. He took a sleeping woman’s key card from her wallet, unlocked her bedroom door and sat on the floor watching her for hours. She woke up with him on top of her. He served 39 months. 

Now he’s charged with attempted residential burglary at the home of a stranger he allegedly found online.

🚪 From a selfie to your street

A creep doesn’t need to be a hacker to track someone down. People-search sites bundle your name, home address, phone number, age and relatives, then sell the file for as little as $0.95. To anyone. No questions asked.

The feds know exactly where this leads. The CFPB proposed a rule to stop data brokers from selling your info to “scammers, stalkers and spies,” citing a murder committed by an attacker who bought the victim’s home address. Washington pulled the rule last year. Nobody is coming to take you off these sites.

🧹 Wipe the map

• Lock your profiles. Set Instagram and Facebook to private, prune followers to people you actually know, turn off location tags. And don’t post in real time from the gym or the coffee shop you hit every Tuesday. Post after you leave.
• Take your address down. I recommend Incogni to do this for you. I have used them for over four years after finding my home address, cell phone number, mother’s phone number, her address and more online. 

Incogni does the removal process for you: requests to 420+ data brokers and people-search sites, then repeat requests so your profile doesn’t creep back. Go Unlimited if you’ve ever had a scary encounter. The Exposure Scanner finds profiles you didn’t know existed and lets you hit Remove. Deloitte independently verified their results. 30-day money-back guarantee.

One layer, not a force field. Incogni can’t touch social media, court files or county records, and it’s no substitute for police, documentation or a protection order (the Kent woman’s order is why the suspect’s in jail). But the page that turns your face into your street address? That comes down.

They can’t harm you if they can’t find you.* 

✅ Get 60% off right now on Incogni, and you’ll be amazed at how fast they work. BTW, I get no kickbacks or residuals if you sign up.

The woman in Kent did everything right after the stalking started. Do this part before it ever does.

🎯 Send this to someone who posts on social media. This is a real threat. Use the links below.