I have written a series of articles (all is available and accessible here on Tekedia) on how sexual blackmail and sextortion is a crime not just in Nigeria but in other jurisdictions around the world, it is punishable with at least 5 years jail term. For the umpteenth time, I will be writing on sexual blackmail and sextortion again because I recently learnt that it is the most lucrative internet fraud in Nigeria at the moment.
For the past two weeks, I have had three briefs from victims of sexual blackmail. According to them, how they became a victim of having their private pictures and videos in the hands of the blackmailers is that some folks pose as beautiful and horny ladies on social media, they spam strangers and anybody that accepts or responds to the spam message becomes a potential victim.
The beautiful lady who is obviously a fake persona will either request they exchange nudes or that they should engage in online sex. Once you agree to that and send your private pictures or videos over to them they will start using them to blackmail you; threatening to release them online if you do not meet their demands which are usually money requests.
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The other incident is an angry ex-lover who wants to get back at his ex-girlfriend for dumping him. They regularly exchanged nudes while they were dating, When the relationship went sour the ex-boyfriend decided to leverage on the sex tapes and nudes of the lady to blackmail and extort money from her.
The other incident is that these criminals hack into people’s devices and if they see any compromising private pictures or videos, they will download them and start using them to blackmail and extort money from you.
If you ever find yourself in any of these situations or something similar to it, one thing you should know about blackmailers is that once you have paid them or succumbed to their demands once they will never let you go again, you will automatically become their cash cow. They will keep demanding payouts from you until you give up or decide to call their bluff.
Therefore, the recommended best way to get not just sexual blackmailers but every other kind of blackmailer off your back is to call their bluff and ignore them, while you are doing that also report to law enforcement agencies: it is a crime so it falls under the purview of the Nigeria police force, in fact, I just filed a petition at the Interpol division of the Nigerian police force this morning on behalf of a client who is currently a victim of sexual blackmail.
Most importantly, you as an internet user or a lover should exercise some level of discretion, Not every private picture or video you should send across and if you must share those private files with your online lovers, make sure that your face cropped your face off, blurred your face or just ensure that your face is not showing on them.
Blackmailers are criminals who threaten to reveal embarrassing or damaging information about someone in order to extort money or something else of value. Blackmail is a crime under federal and state law. It is a felony that can carry over a year in prison and high fines. Blackmailers often have information that is damaging to the victim. They may threaten to reveal this information to family members or associates, rather than to the general public. Blackmailers may also threaten to tell a harmful secret about someone in order to try to force them to do something.
Blackmail is a crime based on information, while extortion is a crime based on force. Blackmailers may want the victim to believe they are in the clear, but they will start harassing the victim again as soon as they are comfortable. This can make the victim break down and think there is no way out other than giving the suspect what they want.