An online stalker

A disturbed stalker in Japan was able to track down and assault
a popular J-pop artist by zooming into her eyes in a social media
photograph.

By zooming into the photo, he was able to piece together
information, allowing him to pinpoint the singer’s address.

The obsessed fan, named as Hibiki Sato, 26, tracked down
21-year-old J-pop collective Tenshitsukinukeniyomi member, Ena
Matsuoka, by using the information he gathered in the reflection of
her eyes.

According to local news reports, Sato assaulted Matsuoka on
September 1 in front of her home in Tokyo.

Picture of Ena
Matsuoka (left). Source: Twitter^[2]

As AsiaOne ^[3]
reports, the attacker tracked Matsuoka down, by matching the
reflection of a bus stop in her eyes with its street using Google
Maps.

Sato eventually admitted to the
assault, after being arrested on September 17.

Details of the attack

According to The Next Web^[4], Sato had been waiting
at the bus stop he had pinpointed in the reflection of the singer’s
eyes, before approaching her from behind and covering her mouth
with a piece of cloth.

According to reports, he then dragged her to a dark spot
near the home, where he molested the singer. Ena Matsuoka’s
face was injured in the assault.

Sato later claimed to the police officers involved in the case
that he was able to estimate the floor that the singer lived on,
using Gooogle Street View and comparing it to the location in the
social media photographs.

Dangers of smart device tech

As AsiaOne reports, Japan has recently revised its
anti-stalking laws to cover online harassment after a string of
attacks — the worst of which saw singer Mayu
Tomita stabbed several times ^[5] by a
stalker.

Tomita tried to report her stalker 12 days before the attack
occurred. However, the police dismissed her pleas.

These cases are a stark reminder of the dangers of the powerful
smart devices we keep in our pockets.

Cameras are so advanced that tiny details can be found and used
by malicious people capable of committing awful acts.

References

^{^}
RELATED:
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM BECOMING A VICTIM OF CYBERSTALKING
(interestingengineering.com)
^{^}
Twitter
(twitter.com)
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AsiaOne
(www.asiaone.com)
^{^}
The Next Web
(thenextweb.com)
^{^}
stabbed several times
(www.asiaone.com)