Emirates Today met with four victims of electronic sexual blackmail, who confirmed that almost all of their luring incidents began via the social networking site Facebook, with a friend request from a page bearing pictures of a beautiful woman, noting that their shock was severe when they were surprised that the other party was a man. He threatens them with publishing what was filmed of them in obscene situations.
The beautiful nurse
A.A. did not hesitate to accept the friend request that he received via Facebook, as the student is a woman of high beauty, and the presence of mutual friends between them made the matter seem natural to him.
Curiosity prompted him to enter her personal account, which had her information written on it, which included that she was a nurse in an Arab country, and at the top of her page, she placed a picture of herself wearing a white uniform, standing in the middle of a medical staff in a hospital.
He was not in a hurry to contact her, and kept waiting for the initiative to come from her, and she actually sent him a message via private mail, welcoming him as a friend. This message was the beginning of a long conversation during which they exchanged some information, and he told her about his situation and his work in the Emirates.
After a few days, their relationship strengthened, and his trust in her increased, and one night she told him of her desire to move the relationship to a new stage, and that she would like to talk to him by voice and video via the “Skype” application. His impulsiveness and loss of focus were the reason for him accepting her request without hesitation, and in turn, she did not give him a chance to think about it. What was presented to her, as she began a direct demonstration of taking off her clothes one piece after another, deliberately adding exciting words through a written speech, justifying her inability to speak by saying that her family was present at home.
In these moments, his overwhelming desire paralyzed his thinking, and he became completely under her control, as he immediately responded to her request to take off his clothes, and carried out, as if hypnotized, her subsequent requests, by making abnormal movements claiming that she liked it.
At the climax, the scene turned from a disturbing movie into a painful reality, as the video stopped completely, and he was surprised by a link she had sent him asking him to watch its content. When he opened the link, he was surprised to find that everything he had done was completely recorded.
The other party did not give him a chance to catch his breath, as he revealed his true face and informed him that he was a man residing in an Arab country, and the video would be used to defame him and expose him in front of all his acquaintances on Facebook.
siege
The shock was severe. He thought about his family, his wife, children, relatives, and co-workers. Imagine the position of those who knew him when they saw the obscene video. He had darker thoughts than the scandal, and he only saw a dark future awaiting him, and the solutions were all disastrous, and he completely ruled out resorting to the police. Fearing that he would be accused of committing an indecent act.
After his means became narrow and the blackmailer besieged him in every way, he decided to resort to the Dubai Police, and went to the Department of Combating Cybercrimes, greatly afraid of the interview, because he realized the grave mistake he had been waiting for, and was worried about turning him into an accused, or dealing with him in a punitive manner, but the reception was not good. As he expected, the competent officer calmed him down and assured him that there was a mistake, and that he was not the only one who fell into the trap of these fraudsters.
The Cybercrime Department took immediate action, in coordination with the relevant authorities in the country, such as the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, to close all accounts created by the blackmailer. It also immediately blocked the obscene video from YouTube, and instructed the victim on how to deal with it. A case in which the accused contacted him again, and she continued to follow up on the case until the problem ended.
Submitting to blackmail
In complete contrast to what happened with (M.A.), who was lured in the same way, and was filmed by another blackmailer, and was surprised by a disturbing video of him on YouTube, then he received a call from the criminal asking him for a sum of money.
Despite his prior knowledge of the necessity of not submitting to the perpetrator, the pressure he was subjected to forced him to surrender, and he agreed to transfer the money to him. After a period of time had passed, he was surprised by another call from the same accused informing him that he needed another payment. He psychologically manipulated the victim, claiming that he was not… He would have resorted to this if he had not needed money, so he relented and made another payment, despite his feeling that he would receive a third call at a later time.
depression
As for the victim (A.A.), he refused to resort to the police, and initially responded to the blackmailer by transferring the requested amount to him. Then he resorted to a technical expert to erase all the accounts that the criminal had created in his name, and also deleted the video on YouTube, but he is still a prisoner of the experiment. It cannot be erased from his memory, after he spent difficult hours thinking about the impact of the scandal on his family and his future, and he was admitted to the hospital for treatment for high blood pressure caused by stress and depression.
Challenge
Meanwhile, M.S. resorted to a different method, after being subjected to enormous psychological pressure. He announced the challenge and confronted the blackmailer with all severity, stressing that he did not care about publishing the video, but that he would pursue him in his country and take revenge on him. What is strange is that the criminal actually stopped trying to blackmail him.
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To view topics related to the investigation:
■■ Electronic sexual blackmail “Late-night shock” (1-2)
■■ Men in the trap of electronic sexual blackmail… “Nudity and humiliation”
■■ Sexual blackmailer: “Images of wealth” are the criterion for selecting victims
■■ Escaping from electronic sexual blackmail to suicide
■■ Psychological consultant: “The blackmailer” is behaviorally disturbed… and the victim suffers from a lack of trust
■■ 95% of victims do not report to the police
■■ Information security expert: Sextortion gangs target celebrities
■■ “Counterattack” is a security weapon against electronic blackmail (2-2)
■■ Sexual blackmailers take advantage of “weak legislation” in their countries
■■ Control “Disturbing content” is difficult as long as the electronic blackmailer is free
■■ Al-Hajri: Electronic blackmail has transformed from random practices into organized crime
■■ “Secret support” for victims of electronic blackmail
■■ Facebook: We deal seriously with blackmail cases
■■ “Trust in strangers” is the key to “electronic blackmail”
■■ “Electronic blackmail” harms governments and the economy
