Woman stalked for years says hackers began targeting her boyfriend with abusive emails

A Scottish jewellery designer who says she was the victim of an intensive, years-long stalking campaign has described the moment the harassment escalated to include her boyfriend, who began receiving abusive and sexually explicit emails aimed at undermining their relationship.

Hannah Mossman Moore, who had recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh when the attacks began, told reporters the campaign lasted about four years and included identity theft, impersonation of her to friends, family and work colleagues, and threats intended to "destroy" her life. She said the criminals repeatedly tracked changes to her phone number and address and sent packages containing items such as an opened packet of candy, nail varnish and a restaurant menu.

Mossman Moore said she moved to Sri Lanka for a second time to try to escape the harassment and began a new relationship with a man identified as Dylan. She said the attackers then expanded their campaign to target him directly, sending repeated emails with subject lines such as "Warning, careful of Hannah Mossman Moore," "About Hannah and be warned" and "Caution from this woman!" She told reporters some messages included emails described as rape fantasies directed at Dylan.

The woman said the harassment had a profound personal and professional impact. She described losing years of her twenties to the ordeal, and said the imposters had posed as her in communications with people in her life and with professional contacts, disrupting her work as a jewellery designer.

Mossman Moore provided examples she said showed the intruders' detailed knowledge of her movements and contact changes. In addition to mailed parcels, she said the attackers impersonated her in messages to acquaintances and colleagues and stole personal information that enabled ongoing contact and harassment.

The account underscores growing concerns about how online harassment and doxxing can spill into real-world stalking and coordinated campaigns that target not only primary victims but their partners and social networks. Cybersecurity experts and victim support groups have documented a rise in complex harassment tactics that combine social-engineering, email campaigns and impersonation, enabling sustained abuse across platforms and borders.

Mossman Moore's case raises questions about how law enforcement and platform operators detect and respond to coordinated harassment that includes impersonation and sexualized threats. Authorities and online platforms have varying procedures for investigating impersonation and threats delivered by email, and victims frequently report challenges in getting rapid, effective responses that stop persistent attackers.

Mossman Moore has spoken publicly to raise awareness of the tactics used against her and to encourage others subjected to online stalking to seek support. Her account follows other high-profile cases in which victims described prolonged campaigns of harassment that combined identity theft, mailed items intended to intimidate, and abusive digital messages.

Representatives for email providers and social networks said in previous statements they work to remove abusive content and disrupt accounts used in harassment, but responses can depend on verification of claims and the ability to trace the source of messages. Law enforcement agencies advise victims of online stalking to preserve evidence, report incidents to the relevant platforms, and contact local authorities when threats escalate or become criminal.

Mossman Moore's full account, as she presented it to reporters, details how the harassment began after her university graduation and persisted through attempts to relocate and rebuild her life abroad. She has characterized the experience as having "robbed her of her twenties," and has urged greater attention to how coordinated digital attacks can migrate into real-world stalking and psychological harm.