Cyberbullying and impersonation forensics in Barcelona
I preserve and organise the evidence of online harassment or impersonation so the police report is backed by verifiable facts, not a handful of screenshots.
Member of AEPEJU (no. 1556). Barcelona and across Spain.
Before reporting: keep everything, delete nothing
The first thing is not to delete anything, however painful it is to look at. Messages, profiles, comments and emails are the evidence, and once deleted they often cannot be recovered.
Do not reply to the harasser or warn them that you are going to report them either: they may close the account and erase the trail. Blocking is reasonable to protect yourself, but it is best to preserve what is there first. If you are under immediate threat, call 112 or the Mossos d'Esquadra first.
Fake profiles and impersonated accounts
A fake profile using your photos or your name is preserved like any other post: by downloading the original content with its identifiers, its permanent link and its status at the time of capture, and sealing it with a SHA-256 hash and an RFC 3161 timestamp.
The Spanish Criminal Code expressly covers using another person's image to open fake profiles that cause them harassment or humiliation (article 172 ter.5), as well as repeated harassment and sharing intimate images without consent (article 197.7). Fitting the facts to an offence is your lawyer's job; my report gives them the technical basis.
Rebuilding the pattern of harassment
Harassment is rarely a single message. What carries weight in court is repetition: how many messages, from which accounts, how often and how it escalated.
So I put everything into a single timeline across WhatsApp, social media, email and calls, with the date and time of each event and its technical origin. That turns a pile of loose screenshots into an account that is easy to follow and can be verified.
What an expert can say about who is behind it
I can provide technical indications of who is behind an account, and I state how strong each one is. For example, matching photos, contacts, times of activity, writing style or links to other accounts.
What I cannot do is obtain a profile's registration data or the IP address it was created from on my own: platforms only hand those over under a court order. That is why the report often also helps the court request that data with proper grounds. I do not access other people's accounts or devices: I work with what is yours or what is public.
What you receive
- A signed expert report with everything preserved, the timeline and the indications of authorship with their strength.
- The original files with their hash table and the chain of custody record (UNE 71506, ISO/IEC 27037 and RFC 3227).
- A document your lawyer can attach to the police report and use to request measures from the platforms.
- Testimony in court if needed, quoted from day one.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about this kind of report.
How do I report cyberbullying in Spain?
You can report it to the Mossos d'Esquadra in Catalonia, the Policía Nacional, the Guardia Civil or directly at the court. Arriving with the evidence preserved and organised makes the report stronger and allows measures to be requested on solid grounds.
Should I delete the messages or block the harasser?
Do not delete anything. Blocking can protect you, but preserve the messages and the profile first, because blocking or reporting within the app sometimes makes the content disappear.
Can you find out who is behind a fake profile?
Sometimes, through indications. I document the technical indications and how strong they are; registration data and IP addresses are only released by the platform under a court order, and the report helps to request them.
Is a notarial certificate useful?
It lets a notary attest to what appears on screen, but it does not analyse metadata, original files or account attribution. The two can complement each other.
What should I do if someone is using my photos?
Preserve the profile or posts before asking the platform to remove them, because once removed the evidence is gone. After that you can report them.
What if someone threatens to share intimate photos of me?
Do not pay or negotiate, keep all the messages and get help as soon as possible. I preserve the conversations and profiles involved for the police report, with complete discretion.
Tell me about your case
Free 30-minute consultation and a free quote within 24 working hours.