Nadire Atas, a Canadian woman who wrote thousands of online reports slandering her alleged enemies, was arrested by Toronto police on Tuesday. A Toronto police spokeswoman charged her with crimes, including harassment and libel.
Me. Atas, 60, has been waging a war against dozens of people in recent years, falsely accusing them of being scammers, thieves, sex offenders and pedophiles. Her targets were a family that employed her 30 years ago; her mortgage lender; lawyers she fought in court, as well as those who represented her; and the family members and colleagues of those people.
The arrest and charges follow a January 30 New York Times article outlining her campaign of harassment and defamation, illustrating the devastation that one person can cause thanks to the practical attitude of big tech companies like Google.
Me. Atas has been charged with ten counts of harassment, libel and slander and spreading false information with the aim of sounding the alarm, said police spokesperson Caroline de Kloet. “It was a long, complicated investigation involving numerous victims,” she said.
Last month, a Toronto judge sentenced Ms. Atas orders to stop her online attacks on 45 people who have sued her for libel. But there are still reports of the plaintiffs and their families appearing on sites like BadGirlReports and Cheaters.
Ms Atas, who told The Times that she had suffered from mental health problems in the past, did not respond to requests for comment on her arrest.
The targets of Mrs Atas’ attacks – including Guy Babcock, whose family employed her at his Canadian real estate office – have been trying for years to bring law enforcement against her and file police reports in the United States, Britain and Canada. where her victims lived. The criminal charges filed this week are the first that Ms. Atas is facing regarding her online posts.
Police have recently been interested in the case, says Christina Wallis, a lawyer who has been in a lawsuit with me since 2008. Atas was involved and was a target for her attacks.
A day after The Times published its article, which Ms. Wales quoted extensively, published, emailed a website called GossipBlaze.com and said she believed me. Atas’ sent our submission form with ten or not hundreds of messages. ‘
“Almost everyone is from the same IP and we think it may be helpful to pass this information on to you,” the email said, referring to an Internet Protocol address, a unique identifier used by a computer or computer network word.
Me. Wales shared the email address and IP address with a group of victims who had previously contacted police. One of them, Luc Groleau, determined that the IP address was probably from a computer in a hotel in east Toronto. Mr. Groleau shared the information with a lawyer who said he had alerted police about Atas’ whereabouts.