Requests for friendship through social networking sites, after being accepted by the other party, without sufficient knowledge of the owner, resulted in crimes of extortion, threats, rape, causing permanent disabilities, and prison sentences against the perpetrators.

The state courts have considered several cases of electronic blackmail, which occurred between "friends" as a result of giving another party love, wanting to associate with it, obtaining special pictures, or drawing it to distant places and attacking it. Many cases have ended with the punishment of the accused, while others are suspended pending trial.

Family and legal consultants have warned of the danger of giving up passion to social networking sites, calling for intensified awareness campaigns in schools and universities, and the workplaces of female employees to protect them from imaginary accountants trying to beat and extort them.

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD), in its weekly "Stories and Across the Courts of Abu Dhabi" report, issued an 18-year-old girl, who was abducted by a young man she met through a social networking site. During her wedding, he called her and asked to see her, especially as she would be his bride in the near future. They agreed to come to the wedding and wait outside, where he could only see her for five minutes before returning to her absence.

The victim said in the case papers that he had been asked to board his vehicle and that as soon as she responded to him, she moved quickly, leaving the place, indicating that at first she thought he was joking. She asked him to be reasonable and slow down, but then realized that she was in danger. Evil, as he took his boat to a remote area, and assaulted, and then returned to the place he took from him. She said she could not shut up after she returned to the wedding and rushed to tell her family what she had suffered.

Investigations into the case revealed that the victim's brothers had tracked down the perpetrator, so that they could catch him, beat him up, and caused him several injuries, which forensic medicine considered "permanent disabilities". When the investigations began, they confessed to the prosecution and discovered the reason for their assault. The prosecution charged the young man with rape, while the victim's brothers were charged with beatings leading to permanent disabilities. The court convicted the accused of the charges and sentenced the young man to 15 years in prison, while the brothers of the victim were sentenced to one year in prison with the obligation to perform the legal duty.

In another case, the Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation upheld convictions against an Arab national who had become a citizen. He worked for six months on blackmailing a Gulf girl by publishing her photos on social media sites, forcing her to surrender to extortion and hand over money To 700,000 dirhams. The court found that the defendant was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 500 thousand dirhams and deported from the state after the execution of the sentence.

Investigations indicated that the accused did not stop extorting the victim and demanded more money, which prompted her to inform the police of the incident. She identified the suspect and arrested him. The e-lab report concluded that the defendant had received photographs belonging to the complainant and sent e-mails to her phone containing threats and extortion.

In a third case, the Court examined the case of a young, unemployed Arab man arrested on charges of blackmail and threatening a girl through social networking sites. The victim was introduced to him through social networking sites, and dating the link after a love story arose between them and exchanged pictures. After that, he began threatening the scandal with $ 2,000, causing her a state of terror.

Professor Saif Rashed Al-Jabri, a professor of culture and society at the Canadian University, said that government officials should act on the so-called "pre-protection" to prevent girls in social media traps, On these sites to uncover networks and phantom accounts, which seek to lure girls and build imaginary and emotional relationships turn into extortion crimes. He called on the community to send messages to girls, mothers and fathers to warn them to make friends through social networking sites, with people we do not know. He also stressed the importance of conscious family control, to help our children learn the right way to create friendships. Teachers and teachers in schools and universities play a role in awareness raising and organize awareness workshops for female employees in the workplace in government and private institutions, because many of them fell prey to false feelings and faced multiple problems and crises.

In turn, the psychological specialist, and family counselor, Mozah Said, attributed the cases of electronic extortion to the desire of some girls to practice their lives outside the social restrictions, noting that «acquaintance through social networking sites is no longer limited to girls of marriage age, Schools, and some of them are vulnerable to extortion at a young age. "

"The problem lies in the style and origin of awareness," she said. "Advice must be given from within the family and girls should be given confidence in themselves, even if one of them is subjected to an attempted blackmail that is conscious and capable of addressing this crime."

"We need to understand the needs of our daughters, and to increase our tolerance and compassion," she said.

For his part, the legal advisor, Hassan al-Riyami, stressed the need for concerted family and media efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of falling into such electronic traps, protect young people and girls from falling into these traps, and exposure to abuse and extortion. He called on parents to provide adequate advice to their children and daughters Information or personal images through social networking sites, even in a way of humor and laughter, so as not to be exploited against them, in addition to the need for media attention to the publication of advertising materials that warn of entering into emotional relationships through the Internet.

Emotional needs

Psychiatrist Ahmed El Sayed said that the most vulnerable to harassment and extortion are young people and adolescents, because they are the most vulnerable age group behind satisfying their emotional needs.

He added that "the victims of electronic blackmail unknown more than doubling those who have been blackmailed and resorted to the competent authorities to seek support and protection," noting that «electronic extortion does not stand in the girls and women, but exposed to the young men and men, through compromising and threatening images and videos recorded to them, In order to get money from them in exchange for not defaming them ».

"The crimes of extortion leave psychological effects on their victims, cause them to be destroyed, human or social, or lead to depression and suicide, if they are not dealt with properly, especially that the victim of sexual extortion suffers from weakness and lack of self-confidence, Which makes it an easy Sidon, and needs to support psychological sessions to overcome this crisis ».

Dr. Saif Al-Jabri:

"Sensitive family control is necessary to help our children know the right way to create friendships."

Happy banana:

"Tips and warnings should be given to our daughters from within the family after giving them self-confidence."