Cairo -
“Electronic extortion” has become one of the most prominent crimes that have topped the news of incidents in Egypt recently, especially with its repercussions that led some of its victims to commit suicide, or to be killed by family members to escape “shame and scandal.”
In parallel with the increase in the stories of these crimes, various attempts have emerged to curb them and besiege their perpetrators, including parliamentary efforts to legislate harsher punishment for extortionists, and awareness platforms that direct victims to the correct methods to confront the methods of extortion and not give in to it.
Never succumb to it.. These methods may help you face electronic extortion pic.twitter.com/nzyAX6XGPC
- Al-Istiqlal Newspaper (@alestiklal) January 23, 2022
With the last days of last December, coinciding with the end of 2021, the suicide of the young woman, Basant Khaled, 17, from the city of Kafr El-Zayat in the Gharbia Governorate, topped social media sites, after she fell victim to electronic blackmail, so she preferred death rather than facing her family. and society.
The "Resist" initiative on Facebook to support victims of electronic extortion represented an effective and influential goal in addressing this phenomenon, as it receives complaints from extortion victims, works to support them and pressures the blackmailer to back down from what he is doing, and also helps victims turn to the competent authorities.
The founder of the initiative, Muhammad Al-Yamani, reviewed - in his speech to Al Jazeera Net - the idea of the platform, which has become the most prominent in this path, and observers considered it the most effective and safe to deal with cases of electronic blackmail and support its victims, taking into account the privacy of the complainant and the confidentiality of his personality.
Muhammad Al Yamani: 400 volunteers participate with us and we receive more than a thousand messages per day, of which we deal with 85% (Al Jazeera)
Idea and founding
The idea of the initiative began - according to Al-Yamani - in the middle of 2020, when a number of girls resorted to it. Their underage friend was blackmailed by someone with private pictures of her, before the blackmailer sent the pictures to her brother, which prompted the girl to commit suicide.
This matter left a psychological impact on Al-Yamani, and raised questions for him about the number of those who decided to commit suicide because they were exposed to the same situation, and since then he formed the idea of “resist” and sought to form its team through a group on Facebook, and a month later he launched the official “resist” page, which reached Followers within 3 months to 150 thousand.
Spread size
After the closure of the first page of Qassem, a new page was launched, and the number of its followers exceeded half a million, while about 400 male and female volunteers participate in the support operations in its various stages, divided into different teams, the first to receive complaints, the second for legal support, and the third for technical support, in addition to two teams to resolve problems and to collect the required information and data.
Al-Yamani points out that the initiative’s success, effectiveness and widening circle of trust prompted them to think about the work of an official institution, which they seek to achieve during the next stage, to be affiliated with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, under the umbrella and supervision of the state, in order to facilitate obtaining legal and official support.
Resist group makes a great effort. They thank him for the truth.
Resist fights the idea of blackmail
, but does not perform the behavior of
Resist helps the blackmailer even if he is part of the problem or if the root of the problem
Resist helps girls and boys with the idea of
what blackmail has no religion or gender pic.twitter.com /S1ttbuGxA5
— Mamadoo0oo (@Mamadoo0ooo) January 9, 2022
According to Al-Yamani, the number of messages and complaints that reach the page daily exceeds a thousand messages, about 85% of which are interacted with, in light of a continuous effort to increase the number of female volunteers in order to respond to the largest possible number of complaints, but this is done within the limits of necessary controls, To preserve the privacy of complainants.
help mechanism
The mechanism for dealing with complaints is represented in distributing tasks to the teams working within the initiative, where the complaint team, which is a team of girls trained in dealing with these complaints, receives the "resist" page.
After receiving complaints, they are analyzed, categorized, and conceptualized to address them. They also play the role of psychological and moral support for the victim of extortion.
https://t.co/yj5CToDodu De Resist to Support Victims of Extortion, NGO.
If you are subjected to blackmail and need help, you will find people standing next to you, it does not mean that you sold pictures or did something that you think is a scandal and you are being blackmailed with it, that you are alone, and definitely you must resist any criminal who tries to blackmail you, submitting to him will not stop him believe me https://t .co/nAFfwrEXs5
— Salma el Daly (@salmaeldaly) January 5, 2022
This team continues to communicate with the victim during the stages of addressing her problem until it is completely resolved, and a team works with it to collect information and data necessary to deal with the blackmailer, and another team studies the problem and its legal dimensions to contribute to supporting the victim.
extortion slides
Al-Yamani pointed out that contrary to what some might imagine, the victims of extortion are not limited to young girls only, as there are those who target women over fifty, and males are subjected to extortion cases that may be more complex and difficult to deal with than ordinary extortion cases.
In this context, Al Yamani recalls two stories of extortion that the page dealt with. The first victim was a fifty-year-old woman and her son, as the blackmailer was threatening her with private pictures of her, and when the woman refused his demands, he went to her son and threatened him to publish his mother’s pictures in case he did not respond to his financial requests, but " Resist" I dealt with him.
On the occasion of the centenary of the victim of extortion, may God have mercy on her and forgive her. There
is a group called (Resist)
that makes a bone in the story of extortion, literally every day they help a case of two, three and five, and the blackmailer apologizes formally, and they take the right of the victim calmly,
- Imagine that you have a problem that destroys months and your whole life pic.twitter.com/D0B28tlrai
— ﮼ Mostafa (@mostafa_safan) January 4, 2022
The second, for a widow over fifty years old, a young man in her twenties met her, tried to blackmail her and benefit as much as possible from her, and demanded from her half a million pounds, otherwise he would communicate with her children and expose her.
But the page succeeded in dealing with him and forcing him to send a letter of apology and a pledge not to be the victim again.
Al-Yamani reveals that the complaints of males that they receive are not few, although the complaints of females are more, but he pointed out that the complaints of males are more difficult, as extortion usually occurs in them from professional gangs, which calls for greater attention and a longer time in the treatment.
A girl named Alia from Kafr Al-
Bdammas. He resisted.
From a while it came out that she was arrested on charges of extortion and defaming families and families.
Six Alia was threatened for 6 years, and all the reports that were filed against her did not happen
because she was smart and knew how to act. There is nothing
worse than being the enemy of yourself
— Nadine 🦋 (@Nonoali38) January 11, 2022
formal interaction
The response of state institutions to the page's requests is generally positive, according to Al-Yamani, who confirms the presence of encouragement and support from these bodies.
He referred, in this context, to a recent case of a girl, who requested the treatment of extortion to arrest the blackmailer, which the security forces did after approaching them and presenting the problem.
Feminist welcome
These initiatives are celebrated and supported by those concerned with women's rights, as they contribute to reducing cybercrime against women, as they are the most affected by this type of crime.
Many Internet users, especially girls, are victims of cyber-extortion, but how does the extortionist access the content in the first place?
Let us know together where the crimes of electronic extortion are concentrated?
pic.twitter.com/obimjChUv7
— Mohammed Al-Assar (@ALAlassar) January 25, 2022
In this context, Omaima Abu Bakr, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the "Women and Memory" Foundation in Egypt, Professor of Comparative Literature at Cairo University, considers this initiative "very positive", as it is truly effective, contributes to raising society's awareness of these crimes, and draws the attention of the state and perhaps Later, it pays to enact laws that are more effective in protecting those affected.
Omaima Abu Bakr: The Qam initiative is very positive because it is effective and contributes to raising community awareness (Al-Jazeera)
Omaima - in her speech to Al Jazeera Net - stresses the importance of the great support and assistance this initiative provides to the victims, which contributes to avoiding tragedies that have become regrettable recently, such as suicide, polluting and destroying the reputation of girls or killing their parents.
However, she pointed out the need for these platforms to adhere to controls that ensure that information and the identity of people are correct, and that their work includes raising awareness for girls in general in dealing with any party, so that they avoid rushing to give confidence to those who do not deserve it, and be cautious and prudent in sharing photos or any materials Especially.
community presence
In turn, Kawthar Al-Khouli, Director of the Women for Justice Foundation, says that such initiatives are an important means for societal pressure to curb sexual harassment and extortion, especially with the increasing rates of cybercrime, whose news has become almost daily, the latest of which is the suicide of a 17-year-old student, Basant Shalaby. ).
The opposition judge in the Kafr El-Zayat Court in the Egyptian governorate of Gharbia decided, on Monday, to release 11 defendants on bail of 2,000 pounds in the suicide case of the student “Basant Khaled”, known in the media as the “Gharbia Girl” case, a victim of electronic blackmail.
Details.. https://t.co/DbfFoqODFs pic.twitter.com/Nzr9ttY6EY
— Pulse (@MubasherPulse) January 24, 2022
And Al-Khouli considered - in her speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that the importance of this community presence is increasing, as it comes in exchange for a scourge represented by a segment of society blaming the victim instead of punishing the blackmailer and harasser, and it also contributes to bridging a legislative gap, as there is no law that deters such crimes. That affect the reputation of girls and destroy their lives.
She pointed out that the fear of scandal and the lack of confidence in the executive authorities represented by the police, is one of the reasons why many girls are reluctant to report the cybercrime they are exposed to. So far, there is no real protection umbrella for those reporting crimes of sexual extortion, and there is no strict policy to protect them.
Kawthar Al-Khouli: These initiatives are important for societal pressure to curb sexual harassment and blackmail (Al-Jazeera)
Legislation to increase the penalty
And last January 4, a member of the House of Representatives (Chamber One) Amal Abdel Hamid submitted a proposal to amend a law, “to reconsider the penalties prescribed for the crime of electronic extortion, to achieve the desired deterrence,” against the background of the Basant girl case.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ratified the law on combating information technology crimes in August 2018, one of its articles stating that “he shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of no less than 6 months, and a fine of no less than 50 thousand Egyptian pounds (about 3 thousand dollars) and not more than 100,000 pounds, or one of these two penalties, whoever assaults any of the family principles or values (..) and publishes information, news, pictures and the like, violating the privacy of any person without his consent.
#parliamentary |
Crimes of #electronic_extortion.. How does the law punish hacking accounts and assaulting the sanctity of #private_life.. #Casson addresses a woman's threat to publish indecent images of her https://t.co/tM4JECsxD1
— parlmany (@parlmany) January 24, 2022
And Abdel Hamid demanded that the penalty be amended to "become a ten-year prison term for anyone who divulges matters that violate honor or affect the lives of others, and the threat is accompanied by obtaining a request or benefit or commissioning and implementing an immoral order."
On January 9, a member of the Senate (the second chamber) Yasser Al-Hudaybi announced that he had submitted a proposal to the council to amend the Anti-Cybercrime Law, with the aim of increasing the existing penalty, which “the practical reality has proven to be non-deterrent,” after a major shock to public opinion in the Basant incident. He demanded that the penalty be 15 years in prison if the crime causes a person to lose his life.
The Law on Combating Information Crimes did not explicitly address the crime or term of electronic extortion, which an Egyptian drama in 2021 shed light on, with facts in the series “Civil War” and “Except Me” (the second season), and the statistics of electronic extortion that do not have official figures yet. in the country.
However, Al-Youm Al-Sabea (private) newspaper reported in November 2019 a study of the Communications and Information Technology Committee, which revealed that September and October of the same year witnessed the submission of 1,038 reports of electronic crime, including the installation of pictures of girls, and the Ministry of Interior succeeded in seizing The majority of those accused of these crimes.