Anyone know how I can trace the IP of a specific FB user? My wife is receiving abusive messages from one, and they are also posting on her friends' accounts too.

I've done some searching, and found various methods, but they don't seem to address (no pun intended!) this specific issue.

I'd guess that short of hacking the facebook servers you can't. Its a web application and you never "see" the other users computer directly. Only way I can see to do it (though I could be wrong) would be to lead them somehow (maybe through argument) into mailing you direct, and then reading the mail header. Even then it may not work

I'm sure there is an option on FB to report a user - Somewhere!
I seldom use the site, so am unsure of exactly where it is.

The daughter of friends of mine received a stream of obscene and insulting messages via Facebook. Her dad went to the police and was told they could do nothing about it unless they know the source. The particular policeman happened to be a bit of an IT specialist and very helpful, said, as above, that the user details would only be available to the site administrators and that to get the necessary international action to divulge would be lengthy and time consuming.

His final piece of advice was 'get her off bloody Facebook and block access to it through your router's parental controls.'

Exactly!

Why not just block the offending person? easy enough and report them at the same time.

Facebook settings can get rid of all unwanted posts and messages.

When you get unwanted attention use the Report/Block button and you will not see them again - I have to hope that if enough people report a user Facebook will take some action. Trolls feed on attention ignore and they go away.

Next thing is to set the privacy settings so that only Friends can post on your wall or tag you. You either use the quick "Friends" privacy settings or use custom settings and decide on individual settings.

If you leave the front door open don't be surprised if someone undesirable wanders in!

Finding the IP address may not help at all.

The sort of cowardly person that shelters behind anonymity to attack others online usually tries to obfuscate their path using anonymizers such as TOR, and by creating accounts with disposable email addresses (again created with IP anonymizers).

SD

I would question whether somebody that cowardly would be intelligent enough to obfuscate their IP etc (if they even knew what that meant!)

Cowardice and intelligence are not mutually exclusive.

SD

Just block the user, it's the easiest way. Trolls thrive on reaction, deny it & they'll move on.

The problem is that if you block the user, they just come back with another user ID and it becomes a war of attrition as to who gives up first. The best idea is simply no to use social mediia like Facebook, or if you do, then make yourself anonymous.
Or else make you profile private, and be damn careful in your choice of "friends"

However the bottom line is that if you are vain enough to post your details on facebook, then you are exposing yourself to every nutter in existence

I get that you don't like Facebook Milo, you've made that apparent over many posts, but people do, in their millions & talking it down constantly won't change that. Nor does it offer a realistic answer to the OP. Take it outside.

"Nor does it offer a realistic answer"

The problem is that there is no "realistic" answer to this kind of problem, and the sooner people realise thiis, the better.
If an idiot decides to target you, you are always one step behind them. There is no way to proactively block them, except by hiding

Milo,

I'm with Sprogget here. Give it a break.

Fine, some people dislike Facebook and the way it operates and don't use it.

As it happens I'm one of them. Hence I have not attempted to contribute to this thread because I don't have much to say other than to suggest the OP uses the correct reporting mechanisms to alert Facebook to the problems.

However your last couple of posts haven't really been of much use. Just accept the fact that the OP wants to continue using Facebook, and limit your advice to that context !

It's not too difficult to increase privacy settings to only see messages from friends and then not accept any unknowns as friends.

1) As stated, block the offender and then increase the security settings to block all messages from people she doesn't know.

2) This person on FB will have a name, etc, on their FB account so why are the police saying they cannot do anything? In other words, they don't want to.

3) The person sending may be a victim of their own stupidity. By clicking on certain links that have appeared over the years, various nasty programs can be installed on their machine. One of which is an infection that accesses your account and then starts posting offensive messages or porn without the account "owner's" consent. So that person, probably actually a friend on wifey's account, may be one of the thick ones who believes that "if it's on FB it's safe" so has compromised his/her PC and FB account (and probably doesn't know what AV software is, never updated it, never scanned the PC, etc).

Ultimately, report to FB and they will take action. There's no question of them doing this, as if they do not they know someone will sue their asses off