IT Contractors who use geolocation software to update clients or friends should be made aware of its risks.

Experts at Get Safe Online have warned that people need to understand that by using geolocation software, they are giving people their exact location - and not always people they know.

Tony Neate, managing director of the site said: "You can do it, but realise what the consequences are if you do, and I think this has been highlighted now with some of the cases that we've seen. Be aware of the problems with it."

This follows the recent case of a 26-year-old designer who was cyber-stalked through the use of geolocation platform Foursquare.

DC Derek Graham, who works for Lothian and Borders Child Protection Internet Investigation Unit, told the Edinburgh Evening News that it was the first such case he had come across but he warned that the incidence of online disputes in the city is on the rise.