Your data and pictures with malicious hands .. Tips to deal with extortion

Inas Hamed

In December 2018, 22-year-old Alina's family found the body of their daughter hanging in the roof of her room. Police investigations revealed that the girl had decided to commit suicide after a young man in her area threatened to publish her videos because she refused to marry him.

If you think you can not be the victim of "electronic extortion," you may be wrong. Even if you do not publish their photos and videos on social media, you may be an easy catch for someone who has restored the contents of your mobile phone after it's sold.

Cyber-extortion is defined as obtaining material gain or information from individuals and companies through coercion by threatening to publish private matters and confidential data through social networking sites.

Your photos and personal data reach the hacker either by hacking personal accounts like Facebook and Instagram, retrieving the contents of the mobile phone after the sale, or through the victims themselves, who may send their photos and videos in inappropriate situations to others (friend or lover). In turn exploits its content to threaten and get what it wants.

This is done through organized gangs, which use girls to communicate with victims via Facebook, and seduce them to send pictures and blatant conversations.

What do you do if you are blackmailed?
First of all, do not try to respond to the extortionist, or convince him not to publish your pictures, he may find you scared in his demands, and may find your tone violent with him and implement his threat immediately.

Second, do not respond to your request at all, whether by paying money or giving your bank card information, because your first response will encourage you to ask for more money, or more photos and videos.

Third: Do not scan the content that is being extorted by him, no matter how worried you are or feel ashamed of his appearance in public, nor threatening messages, because you delete evidence against the extortionist, and only make pictures and videos in his possession.

Fourth: While you do not have to get rid of the evidence of conviction, you should block the hacker from tracking your accounts on social networking sites, and change all passwords for your accounts and email.

Fifth: Do not be alone, and it is better to tell a reliable person what happened with you, to give you psychological support, so that you overcome this ordeal.

Sixth: Do not hesitate to contact the concerned parties, here is the Department of Combating Electronic Crimes, located in all countries, it is the most capable and fastest in dealing with such crimes, and then the official indictment of the person plagued.

In Egypt, there is an administration to combat computer crimes and information networks, and any attempts to blackmail can be reported through the Ministry of Interior website or through the hotline on the number 108.

And in Qatar by phone 2347444 or hotline 66811575. In Jordan you can report cyber crimes through toll free number 192. Saudi Arabia also provided a hotline on 1909 to report cases of extortion.

It is also available in the UAE through the TRA website. And in Bahrain through the Department of Combating Cybercrime. And in Lebanon through the service of "Dag".

How to protect yourself from stealing your information?
1 - Choose strong passwords for your accounts on social networking sites, words that are difficult for the hacker to guess, so far away from your name and date of birth, as well as 123 consecutive numbers, which are often preferred by users.

2 - Do not trust social networking sites, no matter the person you send your photos or information is honest, and even if you published images only you see, you will not ensure that your account is compromised, and your privacy is all within reach.

3. Do not hold video conversations in private with someone you do not know very well, especially if your account is newly created. It may confuse you to talk about secrets that belong to you or someone else, and then become a threat to get money or learn more.

4. Do not just scan the pictures and numbers and exit all your accounts on your mobile before you sell it. You must do Format for the device, then turn on the camcorder and leave the phone in a dark room, for example, until the internal phone memory is fully filled. Hide the video, so make sure that anyone trying to restore the contents of the camera will only find this dark video.

If you want to be more sure, you can restore your phone's content by Drfone to see if all images and videos have been discarded and available on iOS and Android.