Online Shopping & Stalking– opportunity to cyber frauds and related harassments – Shoppers perspective and Legal provisions

New age shopping or online shopping leads to many opportunities to cyber criminals to keep an eye on shoppers, known as Cyber-Stalking, through various tactics to manipulate their victims, such as sending flattering messages or love letters initially, sending unwanted advertisements, calls, pop-ups and later which may escalate to threatening or harassing emails if the victim shows signs of resistance or attempts to disengage. Although both men and women can fall victim to cyberstalking, women are disproportionately targeted due to their relatively smaller presence on the internet, leading male users to compete aggressively for their attention. In some cases, stalkers may resort to sending explicit or indecent material or making obscene phone calls. Despite the severity of the consequences, research on cyberstalking remains scarce, and there is a lack of reliable statistics to gauge its prevalence accurately. While cyberstalking predominantly affects women, there is emerging evidence that men can also be victims. This study aims to analyse the experiences and perceptions of online shoppers through explorative methods and by testing relevant hypotheses through statistical techniques along with exploring existing cyberstalking and cyber harassment laws to identify any gaps through literature reviews and explore reasons behind the rising in the incidences and suggesting measures to curb it to lowest possible levels.