Preventing Attacks and Minimizing Damage: Cyberbullying in School

Responding to a threat quickly and effectively can make the difference between preventing damage and apprehending an offender and losing all chance of doing so. Ideally, the goal is to pinpoint the threat and prevent the attack from happening, but this is not always possible. There are agencies and Internet resources that you, as a forensic psychology professional, should be aware of and know how to use in order to identify, prevent, and minimize the impact of such threats.
Post a response to the following:
Explain how, in the capacity of a forensic psychology professional, you would respond to the threat indicated in your chosen mini-scenario.
Explain the strategies that you would use to prevent the threat from coming to fruition.
If the threat were acted upon, identify the response that should be made.
Identify which resources and agencies should be used in response to the threat.
Explain how the Internet could be used to lessen the incidence and impact of crime.
5 Mini Scenarios
A. Your friend Mary, age 76, receives an e-mail informing her that she is the recipient of a large sum of money. It explains that her name was drawn in a lottery that was set up to disperse the estate of a deceased millionaire who has no living relatives. All she needs to do is send them her name, address, and Social Security number to receive the funds. Mary has never been selected by a lottery before, and she is excited about winning this money so she can help her children.
B. You are contacted by a school district involving a case of cyberbullying. Several students have joined in to taunt and harass a minority student. They have made both general and specific threats, one of which is that they are going to break into the student’s house and choke him in his sleep.
C. Your friend reveals that he is being stalked by a female former acquaintance. He has received unwanted gifts, unwanted phone calls, and unwanted e-mails, and he believes his computer has now been hacked. The acquaintance has demanded that your friend agrees to see her, or she will disseminate sexually explicit pictures of him.
D. You learn that several women working in a corporate office have been the victims of video voyeurism by a male employee. You are told that he has dozens of these videos stored in his computer. The male employee has been fired, and he is now threatening to release the videos unless he is given his job back.
E. You are retained in a case where a person hacked into a chain of Urgent Care patient accounts and downloaded thousands of patient files. The files include personal information that could lead to identity theft, amongst other issues. The hacker is threatening to sell the information to the highest bidder.