Charities warn oversharing photos on social media may increase stalking risks

Key Points

Sarah Stevenson was stalked by a stranger who became obsessed with her after seeing only a single photo of her on Instagram
The stalker used Sarah’s social media posts to track her routines, map where she walked her dog, and repeatedly travel long distances to watch her workplace
In 2017, the man was convicted of stalking after his behaviour caused Sarah fear and alarm and escalated to confronting her at work
Although advised by police to stop posting online, Sarah had to adapt her social media use carefully because it was essential to running her business
Anti-stalking charities warn that social media oversharing and trends revealing daily routines can expose users to increased risks of stalking and surveillance

Sarah Stevenson had never met the man who became obsessed with her.

All he had seen was a photograph on Instagram, but that was enough to begin a campaign of stalking that would upend her life.

Imrie Piroth, a Hungarian national living in London at the time, would regularly make a ten-hour bus journey to Glasgow, where he stood outside Sarah’s workplace and watched her.

In 2017, Piroth was found guilty at Paisley Sheriff Court of engaging in a course of conduct that caused Sarah fear and alarm.

Piroth, who was 42 at the time, sent the Glasgow hair salon owner letters and drawings and even mapped out where she walked her dog using photos she had posted online.

Imrie Piroth was found guilty of stalking Sarah in 2017. Stewart Robertson Media

Sarah told STV News: “It started with letters – really long rambling letters about how he was coming up and he was watching me, then he started sending drawings and then he started trying to piece together where I stayed.

“You wouldn’t be able to work out exactly where I lived but you could easily work out the area just from pictures with my dog, so he started drawing maps of where he thought that I would be walking with the dog.”

The situation escalated when Piroth entered Sarah’s workplace to confront her. He was later arrested.

At the time, police advised Sarah, who was 29, to stop posting on social media. But she said that wasn’t an option.

Sarah, now 37, said: “I just basically explained I couldn’t do that because that was how I ran my business and it was such a big part of the business.

“But even with hair pictures, I couldn’t post anything while I was working because I’d need to wait until I was home and the salon was locked up and everything was safe.

“Or I’d need to wait until my days off and post, and then hopefully if he turns up then he thinks that’s the day I’m working, so it was things like that that you just would never really think about.”

Sarah says the experience continues to affect how she shares her life online.

She has changed the way she uses social media, as Scotland’s only stalking charity warns that online trends could be putting users at risk.

She said: “I’m very wary about if I’m somewhere and I’m posting, there’s nobody that needs to know I’m here just now.

“I think social media is such a huge tool and it’s so important for businesses and growing your business but I would just be very aware of what you’re putting out there.

“Everybody is seeing it, not just the people you want to see it.”

Her experience comes as Action Against Stalking warns that people documenting their daily lives online could be exposing themselves to harm.

The charity fears that social media trends can give potential criminals insight into people’s routines and movements.

Recent trends such as “A Day in the Life” often involve creators sharing their daily schedules, surroundings and timestamps.

Hayley Tennant, chief executive officer at Action Against Stalking, said these trends are a growing concern.

Hayley Tennant from Action Against Stalking. STV News

She told STV News: “If you think about social media, the information is readily available.

“We share our locations, what we’re doing on a daily basis, what we’ve had to eat, what’s happening in the morning, the routine of taking the children to school, business names and locations in particular.

“It’s too much oversharing, which enables the stalker to become infiltrated into their lives.

“It just opens up that risk for obsessive surveillance, and it goes beyond those blurred lines of being interested in somebody’s day-to-day activities to obsessive stalking.”