Harassment used to need a phone line or a letterbox. Now it can be a stream of messages at 2am, a fake account built from someone's photos, or a tracking app hidden on a partner's phone. Cyber harassment and cyberstalking laws in Australia treat that conduct as seriously as following someone in person, and in Victoria the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison.
Whether you have been accused or you are the person being targeted, the first question is the same: when does online behaviour become a crime? The answer depends on the pattern of conduct and the intention behind it, not just how offensive the messages were. This article explains what counts, which Victorian and Commonwealth laws apply, the penalties, and what to do next on either side of an allegation.
What Counts as Cyber Harassment or Cyberstalking?#
There is no single offence called cyber harassment in Victoria. Online conduct is prosecuted under existing offences, chiefly stalking, and under Commonwealth laws covering phones and the internet. What turns unpleasant behaviour into a crime is usually repetition, combined with an intention to harm or frighten.
Cyberstalking needs a course of conduct, meaning a pattern rather than one message. Conduct police commonly rely on includes:
- Repeated messages, calls or emails after being asked to stop
- Posting about someone online, or running accounts that pretend to be them
- Publishing a person's address, workplace or other personal details, known as doxxing
- Tracking someone's location or accounts, including with spyware or a hidden tracker
- Getting into someone's phone, email or social media without permission
- Threats or abusive messages aimed at the person
- Sharing, or threatening to share, intimate images without consent
Intention matters as much as the conduct. Under s 21A of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), the prosecution must prove you intended to cause physical or mental harm, including self-harm, or to make the person fear for their safety. That intention is also made out if you knew, or ought to have understood, that your conduct was likely to have that effect.
What Laws Apply in Victoria and Australia?#
Online harassment charges in Victoria can be laid under state law, Commonwealth law, or both. Offences involving a phone or internet service (called a carriage service) sit in the Commonwealth Criminal Code but are prosecuted in Victorian courts. These are the main provisions:
Law | What It Covers |
|---|---|
Stalking, s 21A Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) | A course of conduct such as electronic contact, online posts, tracing internet use or accessing devices, intended to cause harm or fear. Brodie's Law (2011) extended it to threats and abusive or offensive words. |
Intimate image offences, ss 53R to 53T Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) | Producing, distributing or threatening to distribute an intimate image without consent, including altered images. |
Threats, ss 20 and 21 Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) | Threats to kill or cause serious injury, made by any means, including text and social media. |
Menacing, harassing or offensive use, s 474.17 Criminal Code (Cth) | Messages, posts or calls a reasonable person would regard as menacing, harassing or offensive. One message can be enough. |
Threats via a carriage service, s 474.15 Criminal Code (Cth) | Threats to kill or cause serious harm made by phone, message or online. |
Sexual material without consent, ss 474.17A and 474.17AA Criminal Code (Cth) | Transmitting sexual material of an adult without consent, including deepfakes. |
Doxxing, ss 474.17C and 474.17D Criminal Code (Cth) | Publishing someone's personal data online in a menacing or harassing way. |
Outside the criminal law, a person being harassed can seek a personal safety intervention order, which covers harassment and stalking by neighbours, colleagues, acquaintances and strangers. Partners, ex-partners and family members are covered by family violence orders instead. The eSafety Commissioner can also direct platforms to remove seriously harmful content under the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth).
What Are the Penalties for Cyber Harassment and Cyberstalking?#
Maximum penalties are set high, but they are reserved for the worst cases. The table shows the ceiling for each offence, not what a typical first offender receives.
Offence | Maximum Penalty |
|---|---|
Stalking (Vic) | 10 years' imprisonment |
Threat to kill (Vic) | 10 years' imprisonment |
Threat to inflict serious injury (Vic) | 5 years' imprisonment |
Intimate image offences (Vic) | 3 years' imprisonment |
Menacing, harassing or offensive use of a carriage service (Cth) | 5 years' imprisonment |
Threats via a carriage service (Cth) | 10 years for a threat to kill, 7 years for serious harm |
Transmitting sexual material without consent (Cth) | 6 years, or 7 years if aggravated |
Doxxing (Cth) | 6 years, or 7 years where a protected group is targeted |
Breaching an intervention order (Vic) | 2 years, or 5 years if intended to cause harm or fear |
Most stalking charges stay in a Magistrates' Court, such as the Melbourne Magistrates' Court, where the maximum is 2 years for a single offence and 5 years in total. Outcomes range from a fine or an adjourned undertaking through to a community correction order or prison. A Sentencing Advisory Council report found imprisonment (32%) and community correction orders (31%) were the most common Magistrates' Court sentences for stalking.
Allegations involving intimate images or sextortion overlap with online sexual offences, which are usually investigated by specialist police units. A conviction for any of these offences can affect employment checks, travel and professional registration.
What Should You Do If You're Accused or a Victim?#
The right first steps depend on which side of the allegation you are on, but on both sides your phone holds the evidence that matters most.
If You Have Been Accused#
- Stop all contact. Do not message, call, tag or post about the person, even to apologise, as each contact becomes further evidence.
- Do not delete anything. Deleting messages or accounts can look like concealment and can expose you to further charges.
- Get advice before a police interview. You can decline to answer questions, and what you say may be used to prove intention.
- Follow any order already in place. If you have been served with an intervention order, obey every condition while the case runs.
- Test the evidence early. Many cases turn on who controlled an account or device, and a cyber harassment lawyer can test that before you commit to a plea.
Stalking charges are often resolved through negotiation, sometimes by withdrawing stalking in favour of a lesser charge. That can change the court, the penalty and your record, so it helps to understand what happens after you are charged in Victoria before your first court date.
If You Are Being Harassed or Stalked#
- Keep evidence. Screenshot messages and profiles with the date, time, username and link visible before you block or report.
- Report to the platform first. If it does not remove adult cyber abuse within 48 hours, you can report it to eSafety. Image-based abuse can go to eSafety straight away.
- Report to police. Call 000 if you are in immediate danger.
- Consider an order. You can apply for an intervention order that bans contact, including online contact.
- Get support. 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) and safe steps (1800 015 188) offer confidential help with family violence.
Online Conduct Leaves a Record on Both Sides#
Cyber harassment and cyberstalking are crimes in Australia, and Victoria prosecutes the serious cases as stalking with a 10-year maximum. Whether a charge succeeds usually turns on the pattern of conduct, the intention behind it and who was really behind the account. That digital record cuts both ways, which is why the first few days matter.
Russo Lawyers acts in cyber crime matters and for both applicants and respondents in intervention order proceedings across Victoria. Every matter is handled personally by the firm's principal, a former Court Registrar at the Magistrates' Court of Victoria, with a same-day response. Call (03) 7040 9825 or book a free call to talk through your situation confidentially.
Frequently asked questions
It can be. A single rude message is rarely enough for stalking, but repeated messages after you have been asked to stop can form the course of conduct that s 21A requires. Under Commonwealth law, even one message can be an offence if a reasonable person would find it menacing, harassing or offensive. Context, tone and frequency all matter.
Yes. Stalking does not require a relationship or physical contact, and it can happen entirely online against a stranger or someone known only through social media. The prosecution must still prove the course of conduct and the intention to cause harm or fear. Anonymous or fake accounts do not prevent a charge, although they often make identity the central issue.
In everyday use, cyber harassment describes abusive or unwanted online behaviour, while cyberstalking suggests a pattern of monitoring, tracking or fixation on one person. Legally, serious cases of both are usually charged as stalking in Victoria or as a carriage service offence under Commonwealth law. Harassment that falls short of a criminal offence may still support an intervention order or an eSafety removal notice.
Yes. Since 11 December 2024, using a phone or internet service to publish someone's personal details in a menacing or harassing way has been a Commonwealth offence carrying up to 6 years' imprisonment. Where people are targeted because of race, religion, sexuality, gender identity, disability or another protected attribute, the maximum rises to 7 years. Publishing a person's details can also form part of a stalking charge in Victoria.
Stalking is an indictable offence with a 10-year maximum, so it is worth getting advice before a police interview or your first court date. Cyberstalking lawyers and electronic harassment lawyers are criminal defence lawyers who know how to test digital evidence, including account ownership, device access and the context of messages. Early advice can shape whether the matter is charged as stalking at all and how it is resolved.
