A blackmailer is like a living infomercial. They are fast-talking, manipulative, and create a sense of urgency to cloud your better judgment. You unfortunately can’t change the channel on a blackmailer, but you can press pause. Knowing how to believably delay payments to your blackmailer can buy you time and preserve your reputation while you find the proper help.
What Are Delay Tactics?
As the name implies, these strategic excuses can help you push back payment while keeping up the façade of a compliant victim. This is critical. You want your blackmailer to believe that you will meet their demands to avoid retaliatory action.
Of course, you should never actually pay the blackmailer. You simply want them to believe that you will. This can get them to momentarily step back while you catch your breath, collect your thoughts, and determine your next step.
Why You Need to Delay the Blackmailer
Blackmailers move quickly. They guide their victims to hasty decisions by making them feel like they don’t have time to think. Delay tactics can take this card out of the blackmailer’s hand.
We understand that receiving blackmail threats can make your entire world stop. But while you may be frozen in panic, time keeps marching forward. And with every tick, the blackmailer intensifies their attack. Quickly, it can feel like you have nowhere to turn.
That’s why delay tactics are so beneficial. Simply getting the barrage to stop – even for a few hours – can allow you to gather your emotions and make a well-informed decision on how you should proceed.
How to Implement Delay Tactics
We often tell blackmail victims to cut off communication with their assailant. But this doesn’t mean that you should ignore them. Strategic replies can buy you some time. You need to try to get them to give you a little breathing room, and delay tactics can do just that.
Once you’ve received the threats and their corresponding demands, you will need an intricate excuse that is complex without sounding unbelievable. With whatever time you can get, you need to immediately get to work.
Examples of Delay Tactics
We can’t guarantee how your blackmailer will respond to these delay tactics, as some are more aggressive or unpredictable than others. However, these excuses have successfully helped our clients impede their blackmailers while we worked to confront the problem on their behalf.
Waiting for Payday
Tell them you don’t have any money until you get paid in a few days or a week. A survey from PayrollOrg found that 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, so this claim won’t sound unusual.
Example: “I don’t have the money right now, but I get paid on Friday. I can get you the money then.”
Transferring Funds
Cybercriminals often ask for payment in forms that are difficult to trace, like gift card codes and cryptocurrency. Both of these take time to verify, process, and activate. Use this downtime to your advantage.
Example: “I’ve never used Bitcoin before. I’m setting up my wallet, but I need to verify my identity. It’s saying it may take a few days.”
Taking Out a Loan
Explain that you need to secure a loan, which will take some time. Loan approval typically takes 1-3 business days to process, and it may take even longer for funds to reach your account. This is an eternity in relation to how rapidly blackmail cases progress.
Example: “I applied for a loan to cover the payment, but it’s still being approved. The bank told me to expect to receive the funds in a few days.”
Selling Possessions
Claim that you are actively trying to sell or pawn your personal belongings to gather the funds. One eBay seller says it takes roughly 5-10 days to sell an item, but they’ve studied market trends and sell items regularly. It could take even longer for an infrequent seller.
Example: “I’ve posted some listings online, but I haven’t finalized the sales yet. I need a few days to verify the buyers and process the transaction.”
Frozen Account
Say your bank account is frozen because you missed a payment or have a negative balance. It can take anywhere from a few hours to over a month for a bank or creditor to unfreeze an account depending on the circumstances.
Example: “I overdrew my account and it’s frozen. My balance is back above zero, but the bank said it could take a while for the freeze to be lifted.”
You’ve Delayed the Blackmailer: Now What?
Your blackmailer has agreed to give you the time you need to “collect funds”. You need to utilize every second. Start by collecting evidence of the blackmail. Document anything remotely related to the case.
While blackmail can feel deeply embarrassing, it’s important not to face it alone. You can turn to your close circle, mental health professionals, and online support groups to alleviate some of the weight on your shoulders. You should also notify law enforcement and the platform where the blackmail occurred.
If you need guidance at any step of the way, you should consider the services of cybersecurity professionals. These experts have seen a multitude of online blackmail cases, and they know how to deal with these criminals.
How Digital Forensics Corp. Can Help
At DFC, we’ve successfully resolved thousands of online blackmail cases. With this experience, we’ve gained a fundamental understanding of the way blackmailers operate.
When you work with DFC, you can allow our team to take over communication on your behalf. We can employ the delay tactics for you while we work diligently to analyze metadata and track IP addresses. Our team can use this data to uncover the perpetrators’ geolocation and, ultimately, their identity.
Our main objective is to preserve your reputation and keep your private information from the public eye. This can extend past the resolution of your case through our ongoing monitoring service.
If you or someone you love is dealing with online blackmail, it’s paramount that you act quickly. Start today by calling our Blackmail Helpline and receiving a free consultation with one of our specialists.