How to avoid becoming a victim of online extortion on VKontakte

The World Wide Web has long become part of the habitual way of life of a modern person. Along with new technological capabilities of users, new methods of crime have appeared that affect the privacy of those who cannot imagine themselves without a computer or tablet. Many of us have long followed the habit of “sharing” personal photos with our friends, colleagues, and spouses. Sometimes actively capturing yourself brings problems associated with extortion, coercion to perform some action in exchange for non-distribution of candid photographs. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the ransomware often “works” under a fictitious name and nothing is known about it. What to do if you are blackmailed on the Internet?

Types of blackmail on VKontakte

The popular social network is one of the favorite places of a wide variety of scammers and blackmailers. Today we will look at the three most popular ways to ruin the life of an ordinary person:

1. Hacking of a personal page. In this case, the attacker gains access to all your information - correspondence, contact list, videos and photographs, which he uses to achieve his goal. The situation is simple! You go to your profile and see a message from an unknown user who informs you that intimate photos have been found on your page. To prevent them from getting to your entire friends list, you must transfer a certain amount of money to your web wallet. If you try to block the ransomware, file a complaint with the admins, or delete your profile, the mailing will occur automatically. The victim of such extortionists is often an ex-girlfriend/boyfriend who at one time managed to star in a “home video” or be photographed naked. The blackmailer’s condition can be not only money, but also other options - breaking up with a new man, becoming a couple again, etc. By the way, a man most often plays the role of a swindler.
2. Online dating. The victim literally falls into the hands of the swindler! Having met a respectable man or a pretty lady online, you begin to have intimate conversations with the exchange of half-naked pictures of you. The payback for this may be blackmail in contact with the sending of correspondence or candid photos.
3. Child molestation charges. Mostly men fall into this trap. The following messages may appear on their vk pages: “You just sent me a photo of your genitals. I am 12 years old. I will file a complaint with the police about child molestation if you do not transfer 10 thousand rubles to my account.” Following this SMS, the man is also sent “material” evidence in the form of screenshots of correspondence.

You need to do two things (necessarily both the first and second):

1. Report all the circumstances and a link to the blackmailer’s page to the VK support service (the Write to support button). To find out the link to the page, see here. All methods of contacting VK support are here.
2. File a police report or consult with a lawyer first.
   Citizens of the Russian Federation can submit an application online on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

In addition, if your VKontakte page is hacked, you need to warn your friends about this and restore access to it - instructions here.

Methods of blackmail on the Internet

A new move by scammers in 2021 was network manipulation on the popular Russian platform Vkontakte. The algorithm of their actions: fake accounts start threatening that all your personal data will be leaked onto the Internet if certain conditions are not met. Of course, they relate to monetary “compensation”.

Manipulation options:

1. VKontakte page was hacked. Currently, there are entire databases with ready-made logins and passwords for hacking VK pages. Having received the data, the attacker gains access to any correspondence;
2. The person himself sends some information in the form of personal photographs (intentionally or not) to the blackmailer, who subsequently intends to use them for his own benefit;

A common situation: a girl, while corresponding with her boyfriend, sent “incriminating evidence” about herself (intimate photographs, videos, explicit messages, etc.). When breaking up, the guy, wanting revenge, promises to publish this information if the conditions are not met (return the old relationship, break off the new one, send money, etc.).

1. They faked an obscene photo allegedly with your participation. Perhaps the incriminating evidence against you does not exist at all, but a frightened person may believe in it.

What to do if you are blackmailed for money on VK

First, let's talk about the most common type of extortion and what to do if you are blackmailed for money.

You must understand that any attempt by an attacker to take your money in exchange for the fact that he will not distribute inconvenient photos or under any other pretext may be punishable by law.

Yes, it would seem that this is a virtual world, what kind of responsibility can there be? However, it is not. Save all messages, take pictures of them, make copies. And if even with the threat that you will contact the police, the attacker does not lag behind, put your words into practice.

If you can prove to law enforcement agencies that you are being extorted, they will definitely help you. If you wrote that you went to the police and received threats to life or health, then these are already serious violations, for which you can even go to places not so remote.

Let's look at some examples:

Your page was hacked and they asked for money from your VKontakte friends. Which of them thought that you really needed money and transferred a certain amount to the scammers. And now he demands your money back and threatens to write to the police. What to do in such a situation?

Action plan:

• We write to VK technical support with a request to record that your page was actually hacked and asked for money. We explain the situation to them; they have encountered this many times before and know what to do.
• The following we write to the person that he has become a victim of scammers and you have nothing to do with it and he has the right to contact the police, but this will not give any results since you are not to blame.
• If your interlocutor is determined to go to the police, do not dissuade him or offer him money. On the contrary, say that you are ready to give an explanation and help him get his money back.

As practice shows, in 95% of cases, this is where it all ends and no one goes anywhere, it just leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. If this is your close relative or friend, invite him to go to a cafe or bar at your expense, this will smooth out and relieve tension.

If your interlocutor went to the police, request a statement from VK support stating that you were hacked, come for questioning when they call you, explain to the investigator that you have nothing to do with it, that you have already asked support for confirmation that it was not you, etc. Such cases usually hang like a dead weight, but 1 out of 100 of them are investigated and the fraudster is imprisoned. The main thing is not to be afraid and tell the truth; there is nothing to show you, because the investigator needs to prove that you committed fraudulent actions, but he will not be able to do this.

Also read: Types of fraud according to Article 159 Part 1

What to do if you are blackmailed on VKontakte with photos or videos

Often, attackers find compromising materials and try to influence a person with them. What to do if you are blackmailed on VKontakte with photos or videos.

First, let’s look at where your personal photos could come from:

1. Your page was hacked
2. Via a third party site
3. Your computer or laptop has been hacked

If an information leak occurred after a personal page was hacked, you must contact VK support as soon as possible.

They will freeze your page and the attacker will not be able to see the information.

If he has already saved the materials to a storage device or computer, then the task becomes more complicated.

You will have to contact the police and prove that the materials used for blackmail were not in the public domain, that your page was hacked. However, if your social network was hacked through authorization on a third-party site, then the problems will only increase.

In fact, this is your negligence, because no one forced you to provide your data. Therefore, it will be more difficult to prove that you are right, but it is quite possible.

A completely logical question arises: how to delete VK photos used to blackmail people.

At first glance, everything is simple: go to your page, click delete. But, most likely, the attackers created a copy of themselves and it’s almost impossible to get to it.

But a photo is a photo, you can easily refer to Photoshop and no one will prove that it is you who is depicted in it.

Things are more complicated with video. “What to do if someone blackmails me on VK with my videos.” - this is a question that law enforcement officers are hearing more and more often.

The answer is always almost the same: be more careful when posting your materials online. And it is true.

Often, users of social networks find themselves in funny situations due to their inattention and negligence. Nobody says that you need to block all your pages, delete photos and not communicate with anyone. No, just take it more seriously.

Any entry posted may be used against you. Be it a video where you speak unflatteringly about something or a photo for which you are ashamed. If it got on the Internet thanks to you, it’s only your problem and there’s nothing you can do about it.

The law is on your side only if the materials were published against your will. Then contact law enforcement agencies and demand your protection, because that is their job.

Let's look at an example. In this example, we will look at several types of blackmail at once: when they blackmail with photos or intimate videos, they blackmail with child molestation.

In this case, let’s imagine that a girl or guy writes to you and offers to get acquainted, after several days or weeks, you are offered virtual or exchange of intimate photos or videos. And as you already guessed, they begin to blackmail you and say that they will send all these photos or videos to all the people on your friends list, what to do in such a situation:

• Try to convince the attacker that you have no money
• Explain to the scammer that you will contact the police and he will be imprisoned for blackmail and that this is a crime under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and if he sends photos and videos, then you will demand moral compensation from him in the amount of, for example, 3,000,000 rubles. Believe me, as a rule, this scares off 90% of scammers and they disappear
• If this does not help, we print out the dialogue where you can see the text and the amount that they are extorting from you, go to a lawyer and certify the screenshots, then certify the screenshots where you can see the id of the page from which you are being blackmailed. We go to the police, write a statement and attach certified documents. Next, we take a photo of the whole process and take a photo of the ticket that the police will give you and send it to the extortionists.

Why certify screenshots? This will be the evidence base for the fact of extortion; without this, you will simply be refused to initiate a criminal case.

What to do if I blackmail you for reposts or memes

We delete the material and add it to the emergency situation who writes. If they are persistent, we say that we will contact the police, and if this does not help, then we certify the screenshots of the extortion and go to the police, send a photo of the tear-off coupon, and forget about the problem.

Remember the most important thing, don’t be fooled by scammers, they can only scare you in words, but if you scare them with the police and not just scare them, but actually go and write a statement and send a photo of it to the scammers, then they will immediately fall behind, even if they cannot solve your case , then in 100% of cases the ransomware disappears without doing what they promised. And remember only the police will help you!

It is important to contact law enforcement. Why?

The person who blackmails or threatens you uses VK only as a means of communication. The VK administration will not understand your relationship. When you have become a victim of deception, you must contact the police in case of threats or extortion. If you were threatened by phone or letter, would you contact the phone company or the post office?

Let's say you report an attacker's page. The maximum that the VK administration can do is block it. Then this person will find another way to contact you or your friends. For example, he will take another SIM card and register a new page from which he will write and threaten you again. Remember how you yourself registered on VKontakte - was it difficult? Most likely, a person already has several pages created for different numbers. There is also Skype, Odnoklassniki, Facebook and other methods of communication. He will find your friends and loved ones everywhere.

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? Within 24 hours, sent messages can be deleted, but the attacker probably knows this and has already saved everything that you sent him somewhere. If it’s just a correspondence, then he could forward it to himself (or his other account), and you won’t delete it, but he can send it to other people. In addition, messages may be needed as evidence when contacting law enforcement agencies.

If you contact law enforcement agencies, then when necessary, they themselves will make an official request to the VK administration in order to obtain the necessary information about the blackmailer. You yourself will not receive such information, no matter how you ask, because VK never gives out information about its users to other users, but cooperates with government agencies to help fight crime. And arbitrariness is prohibited by law. If you try to find the extortionist and take revenge on him, you will run into even more serious trouble.

Only competent authorities can catch the extortionist and confiscate from him the materials with which he blackmails you. And only they can punish him according to the law. Contact the police immediately (or better yet, consult a lawyer first).

Look at what is written in the VKontakte help system in case of blackmail - it’s the same there.

Did you think that the person whose photos are posted on the page is the one with whom you corresponded? You can't be so gullible. Usually this is not that attractive girl at all (and most likely not a girl). Is it difficult for an attacker to create a page with someone else’s photos taken from the Internet?

For example, photos of this girl appeared on the Internet at least in 2008, but are still actively used by scammers to create fake pages:

We have instructions that will help you find a person’s photo on the Internet and check whether the page is fake or not - How to find a person by photo.

Sometimes it happens that the blackmailer is your former loved one (jealous boyfriend, girlfriend, ex-husband or wife). Having taken possession of your personal information or correspondence, he wants to distribute it. In this case, warn the person that the court will 100 percent side with you, the person will have a criminal record and will also have to pay money for moral damages. If you decide to go this route, contact a lawyer first.

What to do if you are blackmailed in contact

There are three ways to solve the problem. When faced with such a difficult situation, you can take three different paths. Let's look at each of them.

Contacting the police

This is the most reliable method of fighting ransomware, recommended by leading experts. You will not be able to track whether photos were destroyed or copies of video files were made, so you will never have complete confidence that extortion will not happen again.

The best solution is to contact the police. To do this, you need to write a statement like this:

To the head of police department No.____district of _______

Petrova O.A.,

residing at _______ (specify)

Tel._______________ (specify)

Statement

I ask that an unknown person under the nickname “Maxim” be brought to criminal responsibility, who, under the threat of distributing intimate photographs to my friends, demands the transfer of 10 thousand rubles to a QIWI wallet on September 30, 2016, before 18.00. A message of this nature was delivered to me on September 28, 2016 at 18.00 on the page of the social network VKontakte. The actions of an unknown person violate my rights regarding confidentiality of correspondence. They can also cause significant harm to me, humiliate my dignity and honor. On criminal liability for knowingly false denunciation in accordance with Art. 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation warned.

I am attaching to the application: screenshots of the VKontakte social page, screenshots of messages from an unknown person.

Petrov O.A. Date________ Signature__________

This statement must be taken to the police department located at your place of residence.

Remember, any additional information you receive after drawing up the application (receipt of new threats, distribution of information compromising you, increase in the required amount, etc.) will help law enforcement agencies quickly determine the whereabouts of the blackmailer.

Also read: What to do if you are accused of fraud

In most cases, criminals use special programs that prevent the IP address from being determined. In this case, only the operational work of an employee of Department “K” (involved in the investigation of crimes in the field of computer information), who managed to track the route of sending messages, will help to expose the blackmailer.

When you turn to the police for help, be prepared for a strong psychological “attack.” You will have to talk about your personal life both during the investigation and in the courtroom. Be prepared to study in detail all the information (photos or videos) that became the subject of blackmail.

The investigator will find out where they were taken from, how the extortionist managed to gain access to them (unauthorized or you sent them to him yourself), whether you know this person - a standard procedure, without which not a single inquiry in the case can be completed.

Most likely, the materials with which you are being blackmailed will be attached to the doula as material evidence and will become known to the public (lawyer, state prosecutor, judge, secretary, etc.).

It is for this reason that many victims try to solve the problem on their own, without washing their dirty linen in public. In 60% of cases, such a decision bears fruit.

Ignoring the threat

According to statistics, in 99% of cases, the extortionist will not publish materials if the victim completely ignores any contact with him from the moment signs of blackmail are detected.

1. Remove yourself from all social networks. Simply deleting photos will not help - an experienced hacker will be able to track you.
2. You can also avoid visiting the page for a very long time. Special invisible programs will help you stay informed and control this situation.
3. Try to erase as much as possible from the World Wide Web all your data (telephone numbers, addresses, biographical information, etc.).
4. Do not contact the blackmailer, do not respond to any of his messages - they should remain unread. If a criminal sees the slightest sign of your visiting vk.com, he will immediately bring his threats into reality.

Perhaps after some time the criminal will forget about you. Then you can create a new page for yourself.

Otherwise, you will only have to gain strength and get through that difficult period when your relatives and friends will begin to vigorously condemn your intimate life. But you will save a considerable amount of money and stop being afraid.

Claim lack of money

What to do when blackmailed on VKontakte to avoid publicity and not pay anything? Convince the swindler of your insolvency - make it immediately clear that you do not have this amount and there is also nowhere to get it.

No matter what they tell you, no matter how they threaten you, stand your ground clearly. Once the criminal realizes that he has nothing to take from you, he will either reduce the amount or leave you alone.

Your main task is not to be nervous, not to make trouble, but to take everything philosophically and under no circumstances change your own position. As a last resort, demand an increase in time - during this time you will decide what to do next.

Know that all intimidation is aimed only at making you quickly figure out where to find money. The swindler will not put them into action, because then he will lose his potential earnings.

Of course, there is a small risk that the extortionist, getting angry, will publish incriminating evidence. But this entails another article of the Criminal Code.

Advice based on other people's experience and common sense

1. Do not waste time in long correspondence with a blackmailer. All he will do is bully you. You don't need this.
2. Even if you pay the blackmailer, there is no guarantee that he will not carry out the threat (will not publish incriminating evidence). He will probably demand payment again and again. Therefore, contacting the police is necessary.
3. Write on your page that incriminating evidence has been fabricated against you (or that personal information has been acquired by criminals) and they are demanding money from you. It is recommended to do this for two reasons: So that your friends are prepared and so that it does not shock them - after all, the criminal can send out incriminating evidence at any moment.
4. To deprive the blackmailer of leverage over you. Perhaps you will cease to be interesting to him and he will switch to looking for another victim.

If you wish, you can publish the entry not to everyone, but only to friends. To do this, when you write a post, you can change the switch Visible to everyone to Visible to friends.

Is it possible to identify the blackmailer?

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 only recognize the Internet provider and the city. Let's say it's 5 thousand kilometers from you. And what?

Next: imagine that VK gives you some information about the blackmailer, you find him and, for the purpose of revenge, commit some crime. Does VK want to become an accomplice of another criminal? But let's say you want to get information about the blackmailer and go to the police with it. So go to the police, as indicated at the beginning. When necessary, the police themselves will receive the necessary information from the VK administration.

Harassment allegations

It is advisable to immediately write a statement to law enforcement agencies so as not to end up on the other side - in the dock. Harassment charges if not filed in a timely manner will carry serious criminal penalties as they amount to serious crimes.

Conducting VKontakte negotiations with minors on your own can be quite dangerous. Any unnecessary word can easily turn against you. But even in this case, it is strongly recommended not to contact online organizations that are ready to solve the problem for you for a lesser amount. It is better to find certified lawyers.

What liability will the extortionist bear?

Regarding extortion, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for an article for the distribution of personal photographs of an intimate nature - No. 163 “Extortion”. In case of encroachment on someone else's property, the attacker may be held accountable:

• restrictions or imprisonment for up to 4 years (fine in the amount of 80 thousand rubles);
• forced labor - no more than 4 years (with possible restriction of freedom);
• arrest - no more than six months;

In case of a group act, the time limits may be increased:

• arrest for up to 7 years (if the required amount exceeded 25 thousand rubles);
• imprisonment for up to 15 years (for extortion over 1 million rubles).

Also, Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states: when blackmailing and sending compromising videos, the extortionist can be taken under arrest for up to 2 years or a fine of 25,000 RUR.

Under Article 138 for hacking correspondence when a blackmailer is caught, the following may be imposed:

• Correctional work – no more than 1 year;
• Fine up to RUB 80,000 or six months’ income.

How to avoid VKontakte scammers

Basically, the victims of scammers are those who send obscene materials to strangers as part of communication (in particular, through online dating). Don't do anything provocative online.

If you do not want to get into a similar situation or want to avoid its occurrence again, take measures that will make scammers “unarmed”:

• Don't trust strangers on social media. networks. Don’t naively assume that everyone is interested in communication. Intimate correspondence and chats may soon turn against you. Simple online dating will turn into accusations of harassment;
• Limit access to your profile. Close your account through settings so that photos are visible only to friends;
• Do not add dubious pages as friends. Fake pages can write to you not only for communication, advertising their own products, but also to obtain compromising evidence;
• Update your login settings once a month. Try to choose complex password combinations with a combination of numbers, symbols, uppercase and capital letters;
• Contact support if your VKontakte profile has been hacked.

Also read: Article for fraud on the Internet with money

Follow all the points, then online activity will not harm your personal space. Even if some extortionist appears demanding payment for blackmail, you can be sure that the information is fake. Either the person simply wants to mislead you for his own benefit, or he has falsified the materials.

Criminal liability for online extortion

Blackmail with photographs, videos and correspondence of an intimate nature is a criminal offense.
It falls under Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Extortion”. The act under this article entails punishment in the form of:

• restrictions of freedom for up to 4 years;
• forced labor for up to 4 years with or without restriction of freedom for up to 2 years;
• arrest for up to 6 months;
• imprisonment for up to 4 years with a fine of 80 thousand rubles;
• arrest for up to 7 years (if the criminals acted as part of a group and extorted more than 25 thousand rubles);
• imprisonment for 15 years (organized group + extortion of more than 1 million rubles);
• deprivation of the right to carry out certain types of activities or work in a specific position for a period of up to 36 months.

In addition, for blackmailing VKontakte with sending compromising video photographs of the criminal, he will be punished in accordance with Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of privacy” in the form of arrest for up to two years or a fine in the amount of 25 thousand rubles.

Actions of attackers to hack correspondence on a social network are classified separately. Responsibility for them is provided for in Article 138 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and is punishable by a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles or community service.

Is this even about you?

Some blackmailers only scare you by saying that they have an intimate video or photo of you. Ask them to send them to you, study them and check if it’s you in the photo.

Sometimes they just scare you, but the blackmailer doesn’t actually have a video or photo, or it’s just a montage and it’s not you at all in the photo.

If a fraudster refuses to send you materials, citing the fact that I don’t want it, I don’t need it, that it’s in your interests to quickly transfer money to him and finish it, then most likely he doesn’t have any compromising evidence and he’s scaring you and wants to take advantage of a moment’s weakness and catch you in surprise and fear, so that you, in a state of fright, transfer money to him.

Be sure to check everything. And under no circumstances follow the blackmailer’s lead.

Is it possible to find and punish a fraudster?

This is quite real, but you first need to contact the police, because what you are faced with is blackmail, that is, a demand for the transfer of someone else’s property associated with the threat of disseminating any information of an unseemly nature that could undermine a business reputation, good name, etc. ., are punishable by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, under Article 163, and it is worth noting that this crime is quite serious and the punishment for it is from 4 to 8 years in prison.

Your main rule is if you are faced with blackmail, do not remain silent and do not follow the blackmailer’s lead, go to the police and write a statement. After all, if you follow the lead, the extortion will continue, because once having fulfilled the demands under threats, the blackmailer will expect exactly the same behavior from you the next time he tries to extract money from you.

That is, if you do not stop his illegal actions and, say, transfer him a certain amount of money, then know that you will continue to do the same regularly, since they will not leave you alone, know this, all the cases when a person followed the lead of scammers , are repeated as a carbon copy, the blackmailer will continue to demand money, so in no case should you comply with his demands.

The only legal way to fight this is to contact the police.

Searching for a blackmailer on your own is ineffective and most likely will not yield results; entrust the search to professionals. And for those who do not want to contact the police, further in the article there is another way to solve the problem, but it will require money.

How to contact the police about this fact?

In order to record the fact of a crime, you need to contact the nearest Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs agency, in simple words, go to the police and write a statement.

You must accept your application at any time of the day or night. To submit an application, contact the duty officer.

There is also the option to submit an application electronically through the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for your region (city), this will be even easier and you do not need to go or travel anywhere. Just fill out the required form, indicate your details and contact information. An application submitted electronically will be printed by the internal affairs bodies and work with it will be carried out in the same way as with an application submitted directly at the police department.

In any case, your appeal must be registered with KUSP.

KUSP is a book for recording reports of crimes; when you apply, the following data is entered into it, such as the serial number that is assigned to your application (application), the date and time at which the application was received, a summary of the application and other data that must be filled out by the person on duty receiving the application, the main thing Make sure that your appeal is assigned a number and you are given a coupon notifying that your appeal has been accepted.

The notification coupon that is given to you indicates the number of your application according to the KUSP, the name of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that received your application, information about the employee who accepted your application, the date, etc.

Next, the spine of the notification coupon is torn off, which remains in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the coupon itself remains with you, do not lose it, it will be useful to you.

After your application is registered, according to the law, the operational duty officer of the duty unit takes immediate response measures, which he is subsequently obliged to report to the head (chief) of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

An investigator or inquiry officer will consider your application and, based on the results of the review, a decision will be made:

• On the initiation of a criminal case;
• On refusal to initiate criminal proceedings;
• About the transfer of your application under jurisdiction.

If you are denied the initiation of a criminal case for reasons unknown to you (an appropriate decision is made), you can always appeal this decision in the order of subordination, to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to the prosecutor's office or to the court.

Everything related to Internet fraud is reviewed by Department “K”, this is a special police unit involved in the fight against cybercrime (Internet scammers, hackers, carders, etc.).

It is they who will look for intruders, based on the data that you provide them.

That is, the phone numbers from which they wrote you SMS, accounts on social networks, the check will concern the details that were sent to you to transfer money and other materials that will help investigators find the criminal.

Also know that usually such fraud is carried out by not particularly prepared characters, they do not have a clear plan or strategy, they work on luck, whether it will work or not.

Their scheme may have a lot of errors and inaccuracies that can easily help police officers get on their trail.

The most common search methods are calculation by IP address, by geolocation of the phone when a person inserts a SIM card into the phone and does not understand that it gives a signal and thus it can be calculated.

The Internet is full of services offering the service of determining the location of a phone; you can find them by typing in the search bar “how to find a person’s location by phone number.” You will immediately be offered a large number of services, mostly they are all paid, but you can use the free trial version, but you will only be able to find out the city in which the attacker is located.

In general, the police, or rather Department “K,” have all the necessary tools to detect such crooks by monitoring the phone signal. They can track the current location of a person's phone in real time, respectively, through the cellular operator. If you are not an employee of internal authorities, then it is practically impossible to obtain this kind of information, unless you have connections or pay money.

Also, a request will be sent to the social network through which the scammer communicated with you to provide the necessary information about the person who wrote to you from a specific account, and it will also be checked what other accounts this character visited from the same IP address. Of course, if the fraudster is experienced, then he could use anonymizers, VPN and other programs that allow him to hide the real IP address, but with the right approach, the entire chain can be revealed, usually the people involved in this kind of income are not hackers and many do not know the basics of information security, so identify the blackmailer there is every chance.

Who else can help solve the problem?

Due to the relevance of this problem, special agencies began to appear that specialize in solving problems with blackmail. After all, more and more people are falling for the bait of scammers, and it is also a fairly common problem when ex-girlfriends or boyfriends are blackmailed.

So, to find such an agency, you need to type the query “help with blackmail” into any search engine; you will immediately be given a list of links by which you can find the agency that suits you.

Detective agencies can engage in the same type of activity, but it’s worth asking if they have experience in solving similar problems.

People who specialize in solving such problems know how to find and influence a fraudster, and any fraudster is afraid that he will be found and the worst thing for him is to lose anonymity, because this threatens a really long sentence if the victim contacts the police.

There are reviews about similar agencies on YouTube, you can type and watch videos on the topic of blackmail yourself and it will immediately become clear to you that the problem can be solved and you are not the only one who has suffered. There you can immediately understand the approximate algorithm of actions.

What to do if the video or photo has already been posted?

These actions are qualified under Part 1 of Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, violation of privacy.

Illegal collection or dissemination of information about the private life of a person, constituting his personal or family secret, without his consent, or dissemination of this information in a public speech, publicly displayed work or the media - is punishable by a fine in the amount of up to two hundred thousand rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to eighteen months, or compulsory work for a period of up to three hundred sixty hours, or correctional labor for a period of up to one year, or forced labor for a period of up to two years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years or without it, or arrest for a term of up to four months, or imprisonment for a term of up to two years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years.

If you find your photos or videos of an intimate nature on some Internet resource, then you have the right to write a statement to the police about this fact and provide a link to the page or resource. Also, in order to record a violation, you can contact an electronic notary; he will record the fact of the violation and certify a screenshot of the page on which the material is located.

Next, you can go to court with a request to remove materials that defame your honor and dignity. It is difficult to attract the resource on which the photographs are located, unless of course it belongs to the culprit, but if the culprit is found, he will be held responsible.

If the person who posted these photos or videos is discovered, he will be charged under Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and under Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation if he blackmailed you earlier and demanded money.

As you can see, if you have materials of an intimate nature posted in the public domain, then you have the right to demand their removal, both from the site administrator and in court.

How to avoid becoming a victim of online extortion

None of you are safe from hacking of pages on the Internet or encountering an extortionist. But by following some recommendations, you will reduce the danger:

1. Make your profile private.
2. Don't add people you don't know as friends.
3. Change the settings so that a stranger will not be able to write to you.
4. Change your password periodically, choosing a fairly complex combination of various letters and numbers.
5. Never send intimate photos to anyone - neither those who are friends, nor those with whom you are unfamiliar (even if the person you are communicating with sent such a photo first).
6. Do not conduct online correspondence on the topic of intimacy.
7. Don't take part in video chats with strangers.
8. If your vk profile has been hacked, be sure to notify technical support.

The online world is full of dangers and adventures. Be more attentive to new acquaintances, question every word of your interlocutor and learn to keep your thoughts, emotions and feelings within the limits of what is permitted.

Additional questions

How to prove the threat of blackmail

In order to prove the fact of the threat, try to record a phone call, videotape the conversation, or print out the correspondence. Witnesses are also very important for the investigation.

If all this evidence is available in total, or at least some, consider that your blackmailer has already been punished.

Is it possible to prevent a person from writing to my friends?

Unfortunately no. Because even if it were possible, you already realized that he could create many pages or find other ways to connect with people.

Write on your page that personal information about you has reached criminals and they can distribute it. You need to do this so that your friends are prepared and so that it does not shock them - after all, the criminal can send out incriminating evidence at any moment. When you make an entry on a page, there is a lock next to the Send button - it allows you to make an entry only for friends.

Will it help me if I delete all my friends?

No, it won't help. The blackmailer saved links to all your friends in advance.

Will it help me if I delete my page?

No, it won't help. It will not change anything. Everything you sent to the blackmailer will not be deleted anywhere, and he already knows how to contact your friends. Deleting a page will only create problems for you - you will lose all correspondence, photos, friends, subscriptions. Later you will want to restore the page, but not everyone succeeds.

Next time, you'll be smarter and won't send personal information, photos or videos to strangers.

If you restore access to the hacked page, this will help

Most likely, the blackmailer has already copied personal information somewhere if he gained access to your page. For example, I saved it on my computer. Of course, you need to restore access to the hacked page, but this is unlikely to stop the blackmailer if he already has something to blackmail you with.

What happens if you pay and don’t go anywhere?

Having given the money once, you don’t need to think that it’s all over for you. There are known cases where blackmail and extortion on VKontakte continued for many years.

Periodically appearing on the network, the attacker demands more and more transfers for his silence. And if you don’t react now, he will definitely carry out his intentions - just to punish you for disobedience.

What to do if you are accused of sexual harassment on VKontakte

If you are accused of sending intimate photos or videos to a minor, immediately file a police report.

You are unlikely to be able to cope with blackmail on VKontakte for sending obscene materials on your own, since charges of this kind entail criminal liability for a serious crime.

Remember, there is a huge difference in negotiations with an adult and a “minor” blackmailer. Here, every word you say can work against you.

Under no circumstances contact the Internet Police or other similar organizations that offer to solve the problem for a smaller amount of money. There are no such units in law enforcement agencies!

You are faced with either the same ransomware, “working” from different pages, or fake sites profiting from random victims.

What to do if you are accused of sexual harassment on VKontakte?

If you are accused of sending intimate photos or videos to a minor, immediately file a police report .

You are unlikely to be able to cope with blackmail on VKontakte for sending obscene materials on your own, since charges of this kind entail criminal liability for a serious crime.

Remember, there is a huge difference in negotiations with an adult and a “minor” blackmailer . Here, every word you say can work against you.

Under no circumstances contact the Internet Police or other similar organizations that offer to solve the problem for a smaller amount of money. There are no such units in law enforcement agencies!

You are faced with either the same ransomware, “working” from different pages, or fake sites profiting from random victims.