The filing of criminal charges against President Cyril Ramaphosa by Arthur Fraser has sparked a debate about what persons with information about you may do to your reputation.
What can you do if you’re being blackmailed? Whether they’re dangling the information or whatever nefarious data they have against you as a threat or as leverage, what can you do?
The most crucial thing to keep in mind is that exploitation is a serious crime that is categorized as a common law offense.
When you’re requested to do something you don’t want to do and you’re threatened with negative consequences, the term “blackmail” is loosely applied.
As an example, “If you don’t sleep with me, I’m going to share all our sexy text messages to social media and expose you.”
LISTEN: Kaya Drive listeners share the time they were blackmailed
Can you protect yourself?
If you’re being blackmailed, the first thing to remember is that paying or complying with your exploiter’s demands does not guarantee that they will stop harassing you.
Following that, remember not to take matters into your own hands. In more serious cases of blackmail, the victim would often go to drastic methods to avoid the excessive demands being made.
When faced with blackmail, high-profile people are forced to pay significant quantities of money or arrange favors for their blackmailer, frequently at their own expense.
You may not like the notion of reporting your blackmailer to the authorities, but it is quite likely one of the few options to convince them to stop.
Unless the information this individual possesses on you is related to a crime that you don’t want to be made public.
Revenge porn
When an ex-partner threatens to share your explicit images or films after you leave a relationship with them, this is one of the most typical forms of blackmail.
For releasing explicit content (i.e. nudity or pornographic) without the consent of the individual involved, revenge porn is a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison and/or a fine.
If you’re being exploited in this way, you should submit a criminal complaint and pursue the legal process.