I'm being blackmailed with a Skype video, what should I do?

However, everything is not always rosy in the Internet world. So, in addition to people who follow your life with pleasure and rejoice at your successes, there are people trying to profit from your naivety.

Sometimes, people who have no idea that they could get caught become victims of the dishonest actions of one or another citizen. Few people can protect themselves from such influences. Therefore, if you are an active blogger or just like to share photos, thoughts and messages with loved ones, carefully study our article in order not to fall into the bait of a not entirely conscientious citizen.

However, blackmail does not always affect an individual citizen. There is also blackmail at the state level .

Let's look at the types of blackmail in more detail in the next paragraph.

Recommendations for actions of citizens in case of blackmail on the Internet

However, scammers and blackmailers find all sorts of tricks and in place of one deleted page, dozens of new ones appear.

So, in addition to people who follow your life with pleasure and rejoice at your successes, there are people who seek to profit from your naivety. Sometimes, people who have no idea that they could get caught become victims of the dishonest actions of one or another citizen.

A charming girl gets in touch with the young man and begins an intensive acquaintance. After a very short time, she invites the young man to engage in the so-called “virt”.

Earlier it was reported that on the section Moscow Passazhirskaya - Moscow Tovarnaya Oktyabrskaya Railway on Tuesday at 04.00 Moscow time, the theft of about 200 meters of signaling, centralization and interlocking cable (SCB) was discovered. This led to the switching off of the light signaling that controls the movement of trains.

Fraudulent schemes

Active users of various social networks often come across many stories that circulate on forums about how someone was “conned” out of money. And the number of these sad cases continues to grow every day. This is called Internet blackmail, and Skype is ideal for this.

Intimate video

Let's look at an example.

It all starts out simple: our victim (let it be a guy) meets a girl in some online chat or on a social network. They chat, communicate, usually for a very short time, after which the girl offers to “have fun” on Skype. For starters, maybe throw in some intimate photo.

In this case, the guy usually doesn’t think for a long time: he either refuses or immediately agrees. They switch to Skype and the video call begins. The girl begins to undress and asks her interlocutor to do the same. In most cases, he is no longer able to say “no” and gets down to business. We won’t discuss what happens next in the video, it’s already clear to everyone.

Where to go

What to do if you are blackmailed in contact? Experts recommend contacting the police. To do this, we write a statement:

To the head of police department No. 0________district of ________ A.A. Molchanov, residing at ____________ (specify) Tel._______________ (specify)

STATEMENT

I ask that an unknown person under the nickname “Sergey” be brought to criminal responsibility, who, under the threat of distributing intimate photographs to my friends, demands the transfer of 20,000 rubles to a Qiwi wallet before 01/02/2016 until 24 hours.

A message of this nature was delivered to me at 23:20 on 01/01/2016 on the social network page in contact. The actions of an unidentified person can cause me significant harm, humiliate my honor and dignity, and violate my rights to confidentiality of correspondence.

On criminal liability for knowingly false denunciation in accordance with Art. 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation warned.

Appendix: screenshots of a contact page, screenshots of messages from an unknown person.

Molchanov A.A., date, signature.

The application should be taken to the police department at your place of residence. Any new information that appears to you after the statement (the criminal nevertheless sent racy photographs to your friends, new threats were received, the required amount has increased) will be useful for the police, since each time the extortionist “gets in touch” can help in establishing his location.

Of course, blackmailers almost always use a special program that prevents the IP address from being determined. At the same time, the blackmailer can be exposed if employees of Department “K”, investigating crimes in the field of computer information, manage to track the route of sending the messages.

If you contact the police, be prepared to testify about your personal life not only during the investigation, but also in court. You will have to go through the unpleasant moments of thoroughly studying the information that has become the subject of blackmail. The investigator will find out where the photographs were taken from, whether they were sent to the extortionist or whether he gained access to them without permission, whether friends know this person - the investigation of the case will not be complete without such procedures. It is likely that the compromising photographs used to blackmail you will be included as evidence in the case, therefore, they will be examined by a lawyer, public prosecutor, judge, secretary, etc.

Of course, not every victim has the patience and fortitude to go through this, so many prefer not to write a statement to the police and “not wash dirty linen in public.”

Blackmail on Skype video

3. It’s better to delete your page for a while or close the opportunity to write to you. If the ransomware cannot find an entry point, then you become uninteresting to it. But be prepared that he will actually carry out his threat and send it to your friends. You can stop the flow of distribution, but the echoes of information may spread among a small circle of friends. Try to explain the situation to them and ask for help. Good friends, understanding acquaintances and those closest to you will understand you and will be on your side. They may be surprised, disappointed, or make fun of it, but most likely they will sympathize with you and stay on your side.

What should you really do if you are being blackmailed and want to send the video to your friends?

In many cases, such threats are fiction. Fraudsters send such letters to thousands of victims in the hope that at least one of them will get scared and send money to the desired email account. So that the video is not sent to all friends and acquaintances. If you have not received any visual confirmation of the presence of such a video, then you are simply being scammed, trying to lure out some amount of money.

If the ransomware shows the password to one of your accounts, this also does not mean anything. Databases with accounts constantly leak into the network, and if your account is among the list, what can you do? Change your password and restore access to your account.

If the fraudster provided significant evidence of the existence of a compromising video and blackmails you on the Internet (you were able to view it and verify its reality), then everything will be much more complicated. Below we will look at how to react in such a situation.

Read more: Why do scammers call and hang up: What's the point?

Internet scammers: how they blackmail you with intimate videos on Skype

Over the past six months, in special communities on VKontakte for the fight against Internet criminals, the number of requests for help in the fight against scammers has increased significantly. In September last year there were about fifteen such announcements per month, and in 2015 this figure almost tripled: over the past month more than fifty entries appeared. “Help block the scammer: he’s blackmailing me with an intimate video on Skype!” - such cries for help can be found in huge quantities on the Internet. SUPER contacted victims of the consequences of virtual sex on Skype, found out how scammers operate and how to protect yourself on the Internet.

Psychology of blackmail

In order to be well prepared for a meeting with swindlers, and to know what to do when blackmailed, you should first understand the psychology of this phenomenon. Power over the victim! This is the whole effect of extortion, so the threat of blackmail acts as the main lever of pressure, which allows you to drive the victim into a corner and subjugate him, forcing him to carry out orders for his own benefit. Basically, blackmailers do not stop once they get what they want, and continue to oppress the person, demand fulfillment of their desires and enrich themselves at his expense further.

Emotional blackmail

One of the forms of everyday manipulation is energy vampirism and emotional blackmail, which boils down to only one thing - to get what you want by any means necessary. Most families have such relatives. Threats and reproaches fly from their lips, pursuing one goal. And almost everyone succumbs to such “persuasions,” not suspecting that they themselves are elevating themselves to the rank of a victim of blackmail.

There are three types of emotional tormentors:

"Tyrant"
demands unquestioning obedience. He acts harshly, is stubborn and assertive in achieving his goal, without giving the victim the slightest chance of refusal. Rough treatment with threats: “Just try not to do ...” or “I’m warning you for the last time ...”, lead the victim into a state of emotional oppression and depression.
"The Sufferer"
. This type of blackmailer is the exact opposite of the first. Feigned weakness, sickness, and depression force caring relatives to follow their lead. Often, sad speeches end with statements about a serious illness or desire to die, planned suicide, or the phrase “no one loves me, no one understands me, no one cares about me” in order to achieve fulfillment of demands.
“Guilty without guilt
. Such blackmailers are subtle psychologists who are capable of instilling in their victims the idea of some kind of guilt or a sense of duty to them. The “guilty” practically drive themselves into such bondage and believe that they are doing everything right, indulging the whims of the blackmailer.

Sexual blackmail

Sexual blackmail can also occur in relationships between people, but it is divided into several types:

Blackmail in relationships
. He is temperamental, she is not so much. As a result of the dissimilarity of temperaments, sooner or later an ultimatum will arise: “if not with you, then with someone else.” In such a situation, relationships, as a rule, are doomed to failure, because under constant pressure, intimate intimacy will only lead to irritation and disgust.
Forcing sex under pressure
. This is a common scenario in most relationships started on dating sites or at parties. As a rule, men act as blackmailers in such a situation, demanding intimacy from women, and the latter may agree without much desire for fear of missing out on a promising groom. However, we should not forget that many men can only play blackmail, thus checking the lady they like for availability.
Forcing intimacy either for the provision of some service, or as payment for concealing incriminating evidence
. This is the most vile form of sexual blackmail, involving violence.

Interview with a Skype scammer

A few days ago, Sergey Dolya talked about how scammers hacked into his friend’s Skype and began sending messages to his contact list asking him to transfer money. In just a few hours, the attackers, according to Doli himself, managed to obtain more than 250,000 rubles.

About safety

— Are there any fears that they will get caught? Does the employer somehow guarantee safety?

“I think the security measures they put in place are enough.” In any case, if anything happens, we are under pressure. If you don’t work, they will find something for you. Or they will do something... I don’t want to talk about it now.

— Is this your main job? Or just as a part-time job?

— A part-time job that turns into your main job if you work well.

— Well, 50% with a maximum of 200k is 100k per month. Doesn't sound like a good salary for this type of work to me.

- Well, yes, more like a part-time job.

What responsibilities are provided?

Regardless of what the blackmail is used for - photographs, videos, correspondence of an intimate nature, such actions are always criminally punishable. Responsibility for this form of extortion is provided for in Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, where the punishment may be as follows:

restriction of freedom for up to 4 years;
imprisonment for up to 4 years with a fine of 80,000 rubles;
imprisonment for up to seven years (if the extortionists act as part of a group or extort more than 250,000 rubles);
imprisonment for up to 15 years (if an organized group operates or extorts more than a million rubles).

You should know that extortion is already considered over from the moment demands are made and threats are made to disseminate facts from a person’s life. So, if the attacker announced his intention to send screenshots of the correspondence to the victim’s friends, but did not do this, extortion as a crime has already been committed.

Let us add that the subject of threats must be such personal information, the dissemination of which actually harms the reputation of the victim.

The actions of attackers to hack email correspondence on the Internet (e-mail, pages on social networks) are separately classified - responsibility for this is directly provided for in Article 138 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of the secrecy of correspondence - punishment in the form of a fine of up to 80,000 rubles or community service).

If the extortionist nevertheless sent incriminating evidence to other persons, he must be additionally prosecuted under Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for violating privacy (punishment in the form of a fine of up to 250,000 rubles or imprisonment of up to two years).

What to do if you are blackmailed on the Internet: Skype, VK

It is unknown how to deal with such a phenomenon, but there are some precautions that we would like to introduce you to as part of our article.

Errors during negotiations on Skype:

Ignoring the blackmailer.
Dominant position in negotiations.
Strict and unconditional adherence to all instructions.

The specified resolution will not be made in cases provided for in part four of Article 20 of this Code.

Think about it: what might VKontakte know about a blackmailer? Last name, first name, patronymic, home address, place of work? Of course not. Phone number? IP address? What would such information tell you? Fraudsters use disposable phone numbers; you are unlikely to be able to reach them. By IP address you will find out that the person was somewhere in a city 5 thousand kilometers away from you. And what?

If so, then you are really in a difficult situation. Now we will explain to you what to do and how to get out of this trouble without any consequences for your reputation.

What article do the actions of scammers fall under?

Such a “divorce,” by the way, fully fits under Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Many people are not aware, but demanding money in order not to distribute a video or photo on the Internet that somehow threatens a person’s reputation is blackmail, and the punishment for it can be imprisonment.

Of course, the size of the term depends on the magnitude of the crime committed, but the legislation of the Russian Federation is quite harsh on this type of fraud.

It is also worth noting that not every blackmailer knows and understands what consequences can await him after choosing this type of income.

When can you file a fraud claim?

Of course, as soon as they start demanding money from you and threatening you in every possible way, you need to file a police report. The authorities are unlikely to take on your case if they demand some 2,000 rubles or less from you, because they already have a lot of statements on this matter.

It's a completely different matter when these threats become more serious. There are cases when criminals do not demand money from their victims, but, for example, to perform certain actions. Let's say you participate in other people's divorces. Or the blackmailer, who has already extracted money from you, continues to oppress you.

At the department you need to provide evidence that you are being blackmailed. These could be screenshots of correspondence, for example. Be mentally prepared for the fact that if the authorities take up this matter, they will also definitely study the materials with which they tried to discredit you.

Blackmailed by video from Skype - what to do

The sites are full of various advertisements and links to the so-called Internet police. Hoping to avoid having to resort to law enforcement, people are asking these communities for help. Frankly speaking, the chance that they won’t run into even bigger scammers is extremely small. If you are promised that the scammers’ pages will be hacked and all files deleted, you should know that this is definitely a scam.

To pull off something like this, you need very powerful equipment and competent specialists who hardly waste their time on such activities. However, even if this is actually the case, and these people can really pull off such a thing, they will ask for quite a price for such a feat.

If you find yourself in this disgusting situation, then try not to lose your head.
Don’t panic, don’t start threatening the scammer back, and don’t rush to transfer money to him.
It all depends on how exactly the blackmailer threatens you and where he found you. If you met on a network like VKontakte, and the scammer threatens to send incriminating evidence to your entire list of friends, then you should contact the technical support of VK itself.

Describe the whole situation, attach screenshots of the correspondence, provide a link to the scammer’s VK page, if you have one.

Since VK employees are actively fighting all kinds of blackmail on this social network, they will come to the rescue and block the scammer’s page.

However, it may take them some time to consider your application... You can resort to the help of friends, explain to them the whole situation, and jointly “ban” the scammer’s page by filing a complaint against him. Then his page will be frozen faster.

It is useless to contact YouTube technical support before a video with your participation is uploaded there. Basically, if it comes to this resource, there is little you can do to fix it. Unless you complain about the video, and even that is ineffective.

Of course, the best solution is to stall for time, to buy yourself a day or two. For them, have time to contact the police with a statement, a photo of which and show the scammer. This is a very risky method; the blackmailer can simply be angered, and he will emotionally carry out his threat.

You can also try not to respond to this person's threats. Just add him to the blacklist and wait for how it all ends. It’s difficult to name a more risky method, but statistics show that threats are carried out much less often than the other way around, when the blackmailer simply goes off to look for a new victim, forgetting about you.

Internet scammers: how they blackmail you with intimate videos on Skype

So, what do we do: What to do first:

The scammer usually says that the money needs to be transferred right now. We ask where, perhaps he will send card details which will make it easier to find him later.
We are starting to stall for time. Say that there is no money right now because you are a poor student. Well, or say: “I’m at work right now and I can’t, but I’ll send it soon.” In any case, you make it clear that you are ready to pay, but right now it’s not possible. The scammer needs money and he will scare you, but he still won’t send anything until he receives the money. If it is clear that he will start sending out messages now, go straight to step 5/
You write to VK technical support that you are being blackmailed. You send screenshots of the scammer’s messages and the address of his page. This is done so that he cannot forward messages to your friends.

And even if compromising materials (photos, videos) are deleted from VK, this will not help - after all, the blackmailer has foreseen this and has already saved them on his computer. This means it will download them again. Is it worth removing compromising materials from sent VKontakte messages?

Dating and even sex on the Internet have long been tightly integrated into our lives, even if not cloudless. All people who engage in sexting or simply exchange erotic photos are at risk. According to Belarusian law, you may turn out to be a potential “pornographer”; you may stumble upon scammers who will begin to blackmail you with your photos. THOUSANDS of people do this every day just to make fun of their friends!! ! They have no way to prove to everyone that you are in the video!

Recommendations for users

Unfortunately, no one is safe from hacking of a personal account on a social network or online dating with extortionist. However, it is recommended to follow a few tips to prevent the possibility of blackmail:

Close your personal profile. So, only those users who are included in the friends list will be able to see information about you, look at photos and leave messages.
Do not add unknown people to your friends or contact list. Let only your friends contact you.
Change passwords on pages periodically. Choose complex combinations consisting not only of letters, but also numbers.
Do not send intimate photos or videos to anyone. You cannot send personal materials to friends, your significant other, or strangers.
If your social network profile has been hacked and you cannot access it, then notify support.

The Internet world is full of dangers, and every user can face them. Be careful when dating online, do not share personal information and pictures, question every word of an unfamiliar interlocutor, and then you will be able to prevent blackmail on the Internet.

We are ready to answer any questions you may have - ask them in the comments

Extortion via Skype

Learning foreign languages via Skype is gaining popularity, and this has long been done not by single tutors, but by professional online schools with a permanent staff of teachers and their own unique curriculum. True, such projects try, first of all, to offer their clients knowledge of the English language, and the rest fade into the background. A pleasant exception to this rule are the Melene and Ninnel schools, with the help of which you can get a good level of Spanish via Skype.

How to get rid of a blackmailer

You cannot make concessions and immediately pay for blackmail on VKontakte. One payment will not get rid of the ransomware. Most likely, he will extract money from the victim all the time. Some attackers do this for years, scamming people out of ever-increasing sums.

You should not immediately refuse the blackmailer and openly conflict with him. Otherwise, all private information will be known to friends, acquaintances, etc.

In this situation, it is important to do the right thing, without provoking the ransomware to take active action. Usually such criminals give their victims time to make a choice, and they need to take advantage of it

So where should you go first? Naturally, you need to go to the nearest police station and write a statement. The department staff will help you complete the document. The main thing is to indicate all the circumstances under which the threat of extortion of funds arose. It is also necessary to attach available evidence, for example, a video recording of a conversation, screenshots of correspondence with the attacker, etc.

Help me out I really need it

Here you are sitting on Skype, chatting with friends and acquaintances, and suddenly you receive a message from one of them asking you to lend some money. Naturally, why not help? However, if you give in to such a request, in 90% of cases you will not help a friend, but will transfer money to scammers.

The scammers do it very simply: they hack into someone’s account and send messages to all contacts on the victim’s list asking them to borrow some money. The amounts vary, from 100-300 rubles per phone number, over 10-15 thousand rubles per Qiwi or Yandex.Money wallet, depending on the greed of the criminal. Sometimes they simply ask you to pay for some purchase, explaining that now there is no way to do it yourself, but the item is very urgently needed.

It is very easy to recognize such messages. The scammer asks to borrow money for just a couple of days, promising that he will return everything soon. There is nothing else except asking for help. All correspondence boils down to persuading a person to transfer money and at the same time avoiding as much as possible any messages, the answers to which may arouse suspicion in the victim. At the same time, the emphasis is placed on the fact that money is needed urgently, and you will be very helpful if you help.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JeuU_09rRuM%3Fenablejsapi%3D1

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How to prove blackmail

Fraud and blackmail are two concepts that go hand in hand in the criminal code, and the evidence base for which has many nuances. How can one prove the fact of blackmail?

Try to make correspondence or record a conversation with the blackmailer.
When the attacker announces his demands, try to delay the transfer of money or whatever the scammer demands. And under no circumstances follow the scammer’s lead without the safety net of the investigation, otherwise it will be almost impossible to prove the fact of blackmail.
Next, you should contact law enforcement agencies with a detailed statement and provide all available evidence of blackmail and other criminal acts.
Once a criminal case has been initiated, comply with all police requirements. It is quite possible that it will come down to spy equipment (wiretapping, covert recording) and marked banknotes.
When contacting a blackmailer, behave naturally so that “the fish does not get off the hook of justice” if they suspect something is wrong.
After completing the investigation and obtaining all the necessary evidence, you can be sure that the swindler will receive a real sentence for the blackmail committed.

Extortion via Skype

2. Take screenshots of your correspondence and his requirements. Send this to the support of the social network from which the threats come (Skype, VKontakte or another) They do not respond too quickly, sometimes it takes them more than an hour to respond. It’s better to immediately take a photo of yourself with your passport against the background of a support message to prove that it’s really you sending the request and you’re in this video, image and have the right to apply for deletion.

We recommend reading: Presidential Payments Upon the Birth of the First Child in 2021 Documents

The legislative framework

Victims of criminals are interested in what article can be used to prosecute scammers. There is no separate law regarding Skype and the Internet in general. Therefore, Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on fraud is used. It is also suitable for cases where the theft occurred via the Internet.

If the person can be found, then he will face a fine, correctional labor or imprisonment. The specific punishment will be determined in court

There they will take into account all the facts in the case and determine what exactly to do with the attacker.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=F_yhguwteLc%3Ffeature%3Doembed