Blackmailers dominate through fear and intimidation. So, If you’re reading this, it mean two things: first, you’re ready to face this situation head on, and second, you are not willing to pay your blackmailer. You’ve come to the right place to learn effective strategies to protect yourself and take control.
Online blackmail is a sinister scheme that traps thousands of victims each year to extort victims financially. In 2023, the FTC received more than 490,000 scam reports. These scams, including blackmail and sextortion, cost consumers over $1.1 billion.(1)
Don’t Let Guilt Tactics Force You Into Silence Or Compliance
These criminals are extremely money hungry. If you send them some money, they will know that their scare tactics worked and that you can give them what they want. Don’t pay them!
They use manipulation to force you into doing something you don’t want to do. They create messages to make you feel fear, and guilt, hoping you’ll comply with their demands out of desperation.
If you find sales calls annoying, you’ll find blackmailers worse. The latter are masters of persuasion. They would do anything to find a way to blackmail you.
Additional Resources: Will Your Blackmailer Follow Through and Expose You?
One of the most common questions that our DFC engineers are often asked is: Will my blackmailer actually expose me? The reality is that even if you do nothing, there’s about a 50/50 chance they will follow through.
If you pay them, the threats usually continue, and the risk of detection remains the same. The only sure way to get rid of blackmailers is to act immediately and fight back intelligently.
Are You Being Threatened with Exposure?
Someone threatening to expose intimate images of you it’s a heartbreaking and distressing moment. But have you realized what that means? What exactly is this person doing to you besides a bad taste “joke”? This is sextortion, and it’s not just cruel; it’s illegal.
You’re right, sextortion sounds like some complex cybercrime out of a thriller movie. In reality, it’s much simpler and more sinister. It happens when someone uses intimate, content to manipulate you to send money. These threats can make you feel trapped and scared, but you’re not helpless.
Use These Stall Tactics to Avoid Paying Your Blackmailer
Stall tactics can buy you time to seek professional help if you’re being blackmailed or facing sextortion. These are not permanent solutions, but they can delay these criminals while you work with law enforcement or cybersecurity experts.
If you come up with a believable story for why you can’t pay them immediately but will do so on time, the blackmailer will likely agree.
You can use these excuses to avoid paying blackmailer or sextortionist:
- Wait until you get paid: Tell them you don’t have any money until you get paid in a few days or a week.
- You need to take out a loan: Explain that you need to secure a loan, which will take some time.
- Sell your possessions: Claim that you need time to sell items to raise the money.
- Locked account: Say your bank account is frozen due to unpaid taxes or student loans.
- Waiting on a friend: Tell them a friend is lending you money, but it will take a few days.
It’s hard to tell how your blackmailer will respond to these delay tactics as some are more aggressive than others. But these excuses have successfully helped our clients to stall their blackmailers while we worked to confront the problem on their behalf.
Who Should You Contact?
You might think you can handle a blackmailer on your own, but this usually results in your content being leaked or an empty bank account. Once you have successfully given yourself enough time to stall, you should immediately seek help from any of these entities:
Local Law Enforcement: Start by filing a report with your local police. Usually, you don’t need to share explicit content, just the threatening messages.
FBI IC3 or other federal organization: If local law enforcement cannot solve the case, escalate it to federal agencies like the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). If you’re outside the U.S., similar agencies exist in other countries, such as Australia’s eSafety Commission and the UK’s National Crime Agency.
Links For Federal Resources.
- For Citizens of USA: https://www.ic3.gov/
- For Citizens of AU: https://www.esafety.gov.au/
- For Citizens of UK: https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/
Cyber Security Firm: These companies work discreetly, often faster than law enforcement, to trace blackmailers across borders, prevent data leaks, and mitigate threats as they specialize in handling blackmail cases.
Working with Digital Forensics
If you need help to get rid of blackmailers, give us a call. Our Blackmail Helpline is highly rated for their effectiveness in preventing the content from being used against you or being exposed.
We track the locations of cyber criminals with our IP-To-Location system and our device finger printing. Using this information we intercede on behalf of our clients to make sure your content is removed from all devices and accounts to keep you safe. We then provide different monitoring services to ensure the content reappear.
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DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSIDERED LEGAL ADVICE ON ANY SUBJECT MATTER. DIGITAL FORENSICS CORP. IS NOT A LAWFIRM AND DOES NOT PROVIDE LEGAL ADVICE OR SERVICES. By viewing posts, the reader understands there is no attorney-client relationship, the post should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed professional attorney, and readers are urged to consult their own legal counsel on any specific legal questions concerning a specific situation.
