What to do if…
a customer or client is threatening you online because of your job

What to do now

1. Decide whether this is an emergency.
   If the person is outside, says they are coming now, threatens immediate violence, or you think anyone may be harmed, call 999. If it is not an emergency, report it through 101 or your local police online reporting route.

2. Move yourself out of direct contact.
   Stop replying from your personal account or work account. If you are at work, tell a manager or colleague before you leave, move away from public-facing areas if needed, and ask that any further contact goes through a team inbox, manager, reception, or security.

3. Capture the evidence before blocking where safe.
   Take screenshots or screen recordings showing the account name, username, exact wording, dates, times, platform, and URLs. Save emails, voicemails, review links, call logs, and message headers if you can. Write a short timeline of what happened, when it happened, and how it links to your job.

4. Tell your employer in a safety-and-record way.
   Send the evidence and timeline to your line manager, HR, and security or reception if relevant. Ask for it to be logged as a workplace violence, aggression, or safety incident, and ask who is responsible for the next action.

5. Ask for immediate controls.
   Ask work to pause your direct contact with the customer or client, reassign them if possible, move all contact to a monitored channel, remove your personal details from public-facing pages where possible, brief reception or security, and review duties such as visits, lone working, front-desk work, or closing shifts.

6. Ask for a risk review.
   Ask your employer to review the violence and aggression risk for your role under the health and safety rules that apply to your workplace. Keep the request practical: what contact routes should change, who monitors messages, who decides whether service continues, and what happens if the person turns up.

7. Report it on the platform after preserving what you can.
   Use the platform’s report tools for threats, harassment, impersonation, doxxing, blackmail, or abusive reviews. After saving evidence, mute or block as needed. Tighten privacy settings for who can message you, tag you, view your profile, or see your friends and family.

8. If personal details were shared or threatened, treat it as a safety issue.
   Tell your employer and the police report route. Brief your household, building reception, or trusted neighbour only enough to handle unexpected visitors safely. Ask work to remove or protect your contact details in directories, booking systems, email signatures, websites, and public documents where possible.

9. If they demand money, a refund, or action in exchange for stopping, do not bargain privately.
   Save the demand and let your organisation handle refunds, complaints, or service decisions through formal routes. If it is fraud or cybercrime, use the appropriate police reporting route: Report Fraud for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; in Scotland, use 101 unless it is an emergency.