Last Updated on July 7, 2023
Imagine this situation: you receive an email from an unknown person with an attachment. When you open the attachment, you realize that it contains compromising photos or videos of you. The Blackmailer threatens to distribute the images or videos to your friends, family, and coworkers if you don’t pay them a specific amount of money. This is online blackmail, and it’s a very serious crime. In this article, we’ll discuss what blackmail is and what to do if someone tries to blackmail you.
What is Blackmail?
Blackmail is the threat of exposing a person’s private information. Whether it be true or false information unless you pay them. This cyber-crime has become a universal issue and causes concern for many people trying to enjoy the web. Blackmail can have many titles. You can be blackmailed on Facebook, faced with Instagram blackmail or snapchat blackmail etc.
Here are two different types of blackmail:
- Extortion
Is when a criminal demands money in exchange for silence. The criminal typically provides their victim with evidence of their private information and demand a large sum of money for them to either keep quiet or delete the content.
- Sextortion.
is a form of extortion and means the perpetrator has sexually explicit content they are going to publicly expose if their demands are not met
- Coercion.
Happens when a person forcefully threatens another individual to do something. An example of this could be a person threatening to physically harm someone if they don’t sign a contract
What Can Blackmail Look Like? Blackmailer logic
Here at Cyberinvestigation.com, we specialize in many cases of cyber-crimes, especially online sextortion. Many victims have reported themselves a target for blackmail, due to suspects creating catfish profiles online and reaching out to people claiming they want some ‘fun’ meaning they would like to exchange explicit content via chat or photos. Once a victim agrees to what they think is something harmless, they are blackmailed into sending large amounts of money to keep the suspect from exposing their content online.
If a blackmailer was ignored, things can end badly, and fairly quickly. Read here – Do Blackmailers Give Up if You Ignore Them?
What To Expect From Blackmailer:
- Relentless messages filled with threats and your content
- Blocking your suspect cannot bring an end to these messages, these suspects create dozens of different fake accounts they can use to reach you
- Suspects have formed group chats containing the victims’ followers and exposed their content
- If ignored, suspects will reach out to your loved ones and antagonize them to get your attention
- Blackmailer usually contact their victim’s job, family, friends and community groups.
How to stop blackmail?
The idea of being exposed to your family and friends can be a nightmare,. Its understandably a tough thing to admit to anyone, especially if it has to do with your personal photos or videos. However, that shouldn’t prevent you from telling someone about your situation and seeking out help.
Blackmailer play mind games and will have you thinking there is no way out of their trap, unless you pay up or do whatever they demand, but that is just a ploy to keep you scared and vulnerable to them.
Here are some tips if you faced with blackmailer:
- Keep strong privacy settings on all of your online accounts
- Contact your local authorities and FBI to make a report
- DO NOT pay your blackmailer
- Stall your blackmailer until you can get some help
- Seek out blackmail specialists that can take over
How to report blackmailer
Blackmail is a specialty of many companies online that know exactly how to handle such sensitive situations, and are available to you by a simple google search. Seeking out specialists is vital for a victim but also reporting the crime to authorities is also a high priority.
If you would like to know who to contact to report blackmail, head over to our blog post, ‘5 Ways to Report Sextortion’ where we discuss in depth, five organizations you can alert and make a report of blackmail.
Support
Being a victim of blackmail can be very traumatic for anyone to experience. We recommend our clients to seek out support groups and professionals who know how to handle blackmail and the emotional damage blackmail produces.
If you or someone you know is a victim of sextortion, please reach out to these support groups:
- Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI)
- Helpline 1-844-878-2274
- https://cybercivilrights.org/
- Without My Consent (WMC)
- https://withoutmyconsent.org/
- National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA)
- https://www.trynova.org/help-for-crime-victims/
Blackmail is a serious crime that can have devastating consequences on victims. If you are being blackmailed, it is important to seek help from authorities and specialists who can provide help in ending the harassment.
You should also look for support groups for victims of blackmail so that you can connect with others who understand what you are going through. We are among the many companies that are available to you, that specialize in cases of blackmail. We come with a 90% success rate in obtaining proof of deletion of your content. Contact our sextortion Helpline ASAP.
