My family was threatened by a perspective buyer on an auction site.
I’ve forwarded it to the site support, but he has since sent another email confirming the threat.
I want to respond (telling him to cease contact and stay away from my family) but to do so only fans the flame, especially when he’s just a thug hiding behind a computer screen and 500 miles.
He’s probably a dumb kid… but it’s taking every ounce of restraint not to respond and let the site try to work it out first.
What’s the adult response? Am I doing the right thing? Should I do more?
If you believe it is credible, then the “adult response” is to report it to the police and be prepared to “deal with it” if the police didn’t, or can’t in time.
Good question. Every so often I get someone that threatens me. My response is to invite them to my shop for some friendly face to face interaction. I have even gone as far as to offer to pay their gas (as they complained that gas prices were too much to drive to our shop). I have gotten no takers to date.
So I guess that I like to call them on the BS, then again I shoot better than most and am always armed.
I would suggest that you just ignore them, BUT be aware that you might be dealing with a nut job and might have to defend what matters most to you.
Police seem to take email threats a lot more serious now a days.Copy it make a report call the police in his area and fax them a copy of the threat.that way you have made first contact with the Law and if you blow his brains out if he shows up at your house its was because you were in fear for you and your families safety:)
Does he have any personal info of yours phone #, address, where you work, where your wife works (if she does), where kids are at anytime etc…?
I have zero f**king tolerance for that kind of sh*t. It pushes me thru the roof. Be the predator not the prey. I might be over reacting a little but like I said Zero tolerance, come and get me asshole… Sorry. I feel for you.
The threat wasn’t specific other than to imply if I “valued my family” but it was clearly a threat when I asked if he was seriously threatening my family and he told me to “believe it.” He doesn’t have any personal information that I know of which is why I don’t want to overreact. That being said, in this day and age, it’s probably not that hard to get the information.
I’d be less concerned if the threat was against me, but since it was my family I’d have little trouble shooting first and asking questions later if he were to over show up on my door.
There are some real nutf*cks on the net. I’ve had two ordeals over the past 8 years. Both times I nearly had a partner of mine write a report. Usually they just send lots of emails, threaten to sue, etc. If it came down to a threat of violence then I’d have a report written… at least the cops will know who to look at if he is credible and gets the drop on you. It’d also be good in case violence does occur to show prior issues that might possibly work in your favor.
start a paper trail, print everything out and definitely file a police report !!! yeah there are a lot of kooks out there - god forbid this guy is serious !! CYA just in case you have to bust this guys melon !!
Print out all the emails. Then expand the headers on his emails and print them. Go down to the local PD and file a report. Forward copys of the emails to the FBI internet crimes unit with a detailed acount of what happened. Include a copy of the local police report. If he is real, or not, they will take care of him.
I use to work for a call center where I had to deal in very, very bad situations with customers. “Everyday” I would be threatened with death, misfortune you name it.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that unfortunately, IMO, it is very common for people to threaten other people over the phone or internet because they feel they can get away with it. What their goal usually is is to make themselves feel more powerful over you and once you start calling them on it than they feel like they win.
What I would do is just walk away and don’t bother responding anymore. And of course, depeneding on the situation, file a police report.
He’ll either lose interest, or escalate things to the point where it won’t really be your fight any longer; that said, the overwhelming majority of e-threats persist only because the net is a largely anonymous medium.
Chances are, this guy really doesn’t want to know who you are or how to find you; he just wants to engage in some chest-thumping and pee on your virtual tires. Let him, laugh, and move on.
If you turn the other cheek and he actively pursues you, then this is no longer just a threat; it is predatory stalking, and that’s an entirely different thing in the eyes of the law.
A lot of good advice in this thread. I would also suggest you file a complaint with the internet crime complaint center- https://ic3.gov/ You may not be the only “victim” of this idiot.
I have gotten no takers to date.