Do Blackmailers Give Up If You Ignore Them?

. Blackmail has become a universal threat to anyone that has an online presence. Countless victims are coming forward stating their private content is being threatening online.  Many victims have no idea how to handle the threats. In this article, we will discuss Do Blackmailers Give Up If You Ignore Them, and what you can expect if you do so. Specialists have formed many opinions on what a person should and shouldn’t.  Should you ignore the suspect? Give in and pay them? The uncertainty of the results based on what you do can stress anyone out, so how does one go about blackmail?  

Do most blackmailers go away?

When it comes to Blackmail and their perpetrators, it’s hard to form certainties, because of how unpredictable these criminals are. Blackmailers are all different. Some are far more aggressive than others, and use different scare tactics when it comes to their victims.

Although there are many uncertainties.  One thing we do know is that these criminals have one objective in common and that is money. Keeping that in mind, it is safe to say that once these suspects deem you as a target, they will be rate you until they get what they want.

Based on the countless cases we have worked on here at Digital Forensics, there have been a repeat of criminals that reside in certain countries outside of the United States. The top three countries we have seen act on Online Blackmail, especially sextortion, is The Ivory Coast, The Philippines, and Nigeria, amongst other countries as well.

Do blackmailers ever follow through?

When dealing with numerous suspects from the same country over and over again, we get to learn how these suspects’ work. First things first, once these criminals have their target, they are going to instill enough fear in them so that they comply with all of their demands. In order to do that, these suspects have a plan thought out before approaching anyone.

Once you have exchanged explicit content with a suspect, they will quickly provide you proof that one, they have recorded your explicit content, and two, they are going to publish it to the world through social media, and send the content to your family and friends specifically.

This is terrifying enough, but these criminals can keep taking it further if they would like. As I mentioned before these criminals are all unpredictable.  Depending on what type of suspect you are dealing with, a suspect can actually follow through and post your content online. Sometimes they try to scare you enough to believe they will post your content, but have no intentions of doing so. 

First, let’s get into what you can expect if you are dealing with a far more aggressive blackmailer and what possible consequences there can be if you ignore them.

How to deal with sextortion?

There are ways of telling whether your suspect is serious about their threats. When dealing with an aggressive sextortionist,  your content is more vulnerable to exposure. If they are feeling like their demands are not being met on time, they will show you how serious they are by forming group chats on social media, that consist of your friends and family and other followers.

This is a scare tactic they use to show that if there is any more delay in their demands, they are ready to pull the trigger. In worse cases, the suspects will just send your content. Then, provide proof, and explain to their victim that they will not delete their messages until money is sent.

This can put any suspect in a state of panic and that typically is enough for them to give in and pay their harasser. Another threat hostile suspects can and have pulled through on is reaching out to your employer or community groups you are a part of.

Based on what information your suspect has on you, they will use any and everything against you. There have been many cases where a suspect has found a victim’s employer and community groups online and reached out to them with false claims of inappropriate activity the victim has taken online. It’s important to note that suspects will create awful narratives that can damage your reputation. These are only a few examples of what can happen if you ignore a blackmailer online. These threats will not stop if you ignore their demands and could make it worse for you.

Don’t ignore sextortionists

If you try to ignore these criminals their harassing messages and calls will keep on until you give them what they want. When dealing with less aggressive blackmailers the outcome can be quite different but has a potential to be just as harmful.

You have to keep in mind that you are not their only victim. These criminals add hundreds of accounts online and use the same scheme to get other victims as well. In order to be most successful in their plans, suspects work in groups. Similar to companies, resulting in criminals making millions of dollars from more than one victim.

So, just because your suspect isn’t bombarding you with harassing messages everyday throughout the day, doesn’t mean he isn’t going to follow through with his plans.

The less aggressive blackmailers will play the disappearing act on their victims, which means they will be in contact with you for a few days then disappear altogether. This can cause some victims relief but this doesn’t mean your harasser is gone for good.

Ignoring blackmailer – is not the best idea

These suspects could either be too busy dealing with other victims, or use this disappearing act as a mental game. They want you to believe you are in the clear. But just as soon as you’re comfortable the harassment will start again. This can make a victim break down and think there is no way out other than giving the suspect what they want.

There have been a few cases where a suspect can give up if ignored, but this is extremely rare. The reason this may be is if the suspect is new to blackmailing. He doesn’t know how to play the game.  Or they are afraid of the repercussions of posting explicit content and don’t want to have to post anything to get your attention.

Either or, since the majority of these suspects work in groups, it is highly likely your blackmailer will share your content with one of his partners and you could be harassed in the future if not by the same suspect but a far more aggressive one. With all that being said, ignoring your blackmailer is not the best idea, and would not be something we recommend to do.

How to report sextortion?

What’s important to keep in mind is that this criminal has your explicit content. They can potentially share it with the world whether you ignore them or not.  Online Blackmail is a cyber-crime that needs to be handled by professionals, and professionals only, that includes blackmail specialist and law enforcement.

We hope you have gained some helpful tips and learned a little bit of how these criminal’s work. Before making any decisions. It’s important to do some research. There are plenty of companies available to you that work with these crimes – us included.

We specialize in many other cyber-crimes. Our team comes with a 90% success rate in receiving proof of deletion of your content.  If you or someone you know is the victim of blackmail, give us a call or chat with us online so we can help you move on with your life. Our Sextortion Helpline helped thousands