Lebanese authorities arrested a man Sunday for allegedly blackmailing a woman with private photos in exchange for $14,000 in Beirut’s Furn al-Shubbak. But the case is only the latest in a string of incidents of sextortion reported to the Internal Security Forces this year. “We receive such complaints on a daily basis,” an ISF source said. “Either the victim directly calls or we receive complaints via our website and social media platforms.”
Despite previously warning citizens against sending “inappropriate” pictures to avoid exploitation, the cases are still adding up.
The ISF has only in recent years deemed sextortion in Lebanon a “growing concern.”
In late August, authorities arrested a man in Beirut’s Hamra neighborhood for allegedly blackmailing a former partner with nude photos unless she paid him $20,000.
He reportedly received the photos via online messaging applications and Facebook.
Only two weeks prior, the ISF arrested a repeat offender in Tripoli.
For his second offense, the man had allegedly first coerced his victim into sending nude photographs by threatening to publish “private” conversations they had held on Instagram if she refused.
After she complied, he threatened to publish the photos unless she paid him $500, a demand that she rejected. He told her to meet him at 8 p.m. near a park to have sex – or else he would publish the photos.
But the woman showed up to the rendezvous with the police, who arrested him.
The suspect allegedly admitted to having contacted multiple women on Instagram with the intention of blackmailing them for money and sexual encounters.
Police said that they found photos of over 30 women aged 14 to 24 on his phone.
Similarly, the ISF announced in February the arrest of a man and woman accused of cooperating to blackmail a woman with nude photos and sexual videos in Zahle.
The man was involved in defaming the woman with whom he had previously been in a two-week relationship, in addition to impersonating her online and threatening to kidnap her son and kill her.
Sextortion cases have also been reported in other areas of Lebanon, including Chouf and Nabatieh.
The incidents “develop every year” according to the ISF source.
The blackmailers come in many forms. Sometimes victims are blackmailed by previous partners, while in other instances perpetrators are strangers who film the victims without their knowledge or consent.
“If a victim is in a circumstance where they are being abused and blackmailed with such photos and videos, we advise them to call the Anti-Cybercrimes Bureau or to directly contact the agency,” the source said.
Echoing previous ISF warnings, the source added: “We advise citizens to avoid taking inappropriate photos and videos of themselves to be sent out to anybody in order to avoid such incidents.”
This article has been adapted from its original source.
