It comes as the legal fraternity scurries to absorb the ruling of a “landmark” case between Treasurer Joe Hockey and Fairfax Media, where Mr Hockey became the first Australian politician to successfully sue for defamation over a tweet.

The high-profile case has put the spotlight on “keyboard warriors” and has called into question the capability of Wagga police to track the source of anonymous accounts.

In response, Wagga Local Area Commander Bob Noble said anonymous social media accounts leave an “indelible” digital signature.

“People that do these things think they are being smart – but, really, most of the time they are only being half-smart,” he said.

“Most (social media) platforms use a digital clue in what is transmitted and a lot of the time it’s not hard to use traditional police work such as door-knocking to track them down.”

The latest federal government statistics suggest the rate of cyberbullying in Australia could be as high as 40 per cent of all young people.

The research said young people are particularly vulnerable to digital abuse given their heightened relationship with social media.

Superintendent Noble said he was “certain” cyberbullying went under-reported in the Wagga area.

“Any person who is vulnerable is going to be targeted, whether they are young, elderly or mentally ill,” he said.

“And I think, to an extent, there is an acceptance that if you have an online profile you are vulnerable. 

“It is here to stay, but if it gets to the level where it’s becoming a concern, it should be reported to police.”

Meanwhile, legal experts have called for an overhaul of the Defamation Act 2005 because Facebook and Twitter were still in early development.

But Member for Riverina Michael McCormack said it would be “near-impossible” to stamp out abuse by beefing-up defamation laws alone.

“All I would say to people is just think twice before you post,” he said. 

“There has to be a level of self-censorship so people don’t go overboard.

“But if you go putting something repugnant online, you can fear the consequences.”

Superintendent Noble said "complex” cases of cyberbullying were dealt with by police technical officers.