Cover your tracks

• Install free anti-spy software for your computer.
• If it is not possible to remove spyware without your abuser noticing, do not use it to access support sites.
• Use a safe computer until yours has anti-spyware installed.
• Use the internet somewhere other than at home; at a local library, a friend’s house, or at work, if possible.
• Create new obscure, encrypted passwords and password-protect your computer.

• Set your mobile so that you have a PIN to unlock it.
• Use another mobile to make calls or if you are visiting a sensitive location.
• Don’t use apps that use your location
• Turn off geolocation and geotagging in mobile settings, camera and camera apps (and on any social media platforms you use).
• Turn off Frequent Locations tracking.
• Reset your phone to the factory settings to delete any spyware.
• If you are fleeing an abusive situation, you should take the battery out until you are safe and do a factory reset (this would result in losing all contacts and data in the phone).
• Ask your family and friends not to give out your number if you have a new phone. They can take a message and you can call back.
• If you have to have contact with the abusive person, have a separate phone that you use just for contact with them (that you can turn off when needed).

• Set up a new anonymous email address (i.e. don’t use your name).
• Create multiple email accounts, if one becomes compromised you will still have access to the others.
• Permanently delete an email by right-clicking it in the deleted items folder (Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo etc).
• If you are receiving threatening or harassing emails, save them, make a copy or print them for evidence against the sender.

• Delete your account and set up a new one with a different name and obscure photo.
• Set your account to ‘private’ where possible.
• Block your abuser and any mutual friends that you may have – you can also pre-empt other accounts they may have and block those too.
• Only invite and follow trusted people.
• Do not set up relationships in the account.
• Ensure all of your access settings are set to “friends only”.
• In direct messages, use the filter functions to automatically ignore, remove and block messages.
• Set your account with the highest privacy settings, including turning geotagging to off/disabled and check your settings regularly.
• Check to see if your photos are geotagged – go into your photo app, swipe up and see if a location has been added, remove the tags if necessary.
• Control who can comment on your social media posts – remember that a friend of a friend can see comments they make.
• Educate your children and people around you about the risks associated with
  social media.
• Do not open any pop-ups that you were not expecting, these could contain spyware.

• It is illegal to share or threaten to share revealing or intimate videos or pictures of someone without their consent.
• Get help: Revenge Porn free helpline 0345 6000 459 or email: help@revengepornhelpline.org.uk visit www.revengepornhelpline.org.uk.
• If you’re under 18 and a nude image or video of you has been shared online, you can report it to be removed from the internet: Report Remove | Childline. Call Childline 0800 1111 or visit ChildLine: sexting and nudes.

Hollie Guard – Personal Safety App is a free app that turns your smartphone into an advanced personal safety device. Alert your chosen person/people to distress and monitor travel, by shaking your phone to generate an alert, and information about your location. All data is stored on secure servers, not your
phone.