However, if extortion is an illegal way to extort money from the victim, then blackmail in legal practice is defined as a way to commit another crime, in most cases extortion, which is expressed in the form of a threat to commit any actions undesirable for the person who has been blackmailed, which are not related to threats of death or death.

That is, if a person is threatened with beating or murder, this cannot be considered blackmail, it falls under the corresponding article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on threats.

Thus, blackmail is legally equated with extortion. The punishment for this offense can be imprisonment for up to four years and a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles if there are no aggravating circumstances, if they exist, then the punishment can be from seven to fifteen years and a fine of up to one million rubles .

Types of blackmail

There are several main types of blackmail, however, regardless of the severity of a particular type, they all carry a danger both for an individual person and for society as a whole.

emotional blackmail

In fact, emotional blackmail is a certain way of manipulating a person, and it is more of a psychological nature than a legal one.

Practically every person has encountered this form of blackmail, most often it is applied to you by close people, and it is expressed in the form of the condition “if ... then ...”.

There is no criminal punishment for such a manifestation of blackmail, but one should not forget that emotional blackmail can easily develop into a more serious form, which can subsequently lead to a legal solution to the problem.

Blackmail from friends

This is an unfortunate situation. But often a person familiar to the victim acts as a blackmailer: colleagues, neighbors, casual acquaintances, etc. It is easier to solve such a crime, because the person of the suspect does not need to be established, in contrast to the situation when blackmail is conducted anonymously.

Blackmail on someone else's behalf

The most common form of blackmail. It is dangerous because you do not know who exactly is blackmailing you. Often this type is found.

In general, a favorite place for blackmailers, if you have access to your personal account, it costs nothing for a criminal to take possession of any confidential information that you did not intend to share with the public, and then blackmail you by making this information public.

political blackmail

This type of blackmail is especially common today. It can be public or closed, and is most often associated not with the manipulation of some particular person, but a desire to get something out of the community he represents. Such blackmail can be fraught with a variety of consequences.

How to recognize blackmail and how to behave

How can you tell if you are being blackmailed? And now we are not talking about domestic blackmail, but about a criminal offense. In fact, it is quite simple and does not need much commenting.

If a certain person contacts you directly or through anonymous calls/messages and claims that he has certain, materially provable, discrediting information that he is ready to keep secret in exchange for money or other material values, or services, then you definitely have blackmailer.

In such actions, signs of a corpus delicti under article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are already seen. However, what to do if you are being blackmailed?

What to do? The first and most important rule is not to panic. The blackmailer is very interested in getting any benefit from you, respectively, he will not make public the information he has an hour after he made a statement to you. And this means that you have time to properly think about the current situation and make a decision.

The biggest mistake that the victims of a blackmailer often make is to make concessions to him. Once the criminal understands that you are afraid and consider the threat real, he begins to gain momentum and demand more and more. Also, there is no need to try to negotiate with him, a person who has already decided to blackmail is unlikely to make concessions.

Another common mistake is trying to deal with the blackmailer on your own by using force. This is a crime, and it will be punished in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, so it is better to act by legal means.

From the point of view of jurists, there are two options for dealing with a blackmailer. The first one is to call the police. But be prepared for the fact that when contacting law enforcement agencies, you will have to provide the information because of which you are being blackmailed. If these data do not contradict the law, you have nothing to fear, feel free to apply.

You must attach to the application the available evidence that you are indeed being blackmailed. This can be an audio recording of a phone call, a printout of a correspondence with a blackmailer, or a video recording of a conversation with him.

If there are witnesses, this must also be indicated, they can help bring the perpetrator to justice. Also, in the application, you must record all the information that you know about the blackmailer: name, address, place of work, phone number, etc.

Most often, a police officer is offered to catch a blackmailer red-handed. That is, you agree to its terms, make an appointment, which takes place under the control of the police, and after the sum of money is transferred to the suspect, he is detained.

There is another option how to get rid of the blackmailer. You can try to collect counter compromising evidence on him. This method is suitable if for some reason you cannot or do not want to contact the police.

You can act independently or involve certain specialists in the process. For example, a professional detective. As soon as compromising evidence is collected, invite the blackmailer to start a dialogue again, but now on mutually beneficial terms. You can also involve a specialist at this stage - a mediator who deals with dispute resolution in private, without the participation of third parties.

Responsibility

As mentioned earlier, there is no special article for blackmail in the Criminal Code, it is included in the offense under article 163 "Extortion".

The scheme of the crime is as follows:

• there is an object, it can be absolute any person or group of persons;
• the subject is directly an extortionist or blackmailer, there may be one person or a whole group;
• the objective side, most often it is money, less often services or any property, with blackmail, there may be coercion to sexual intercourse or any actions;
• the subjective side is the presentation of claims, personally or anonymously.

The blackmailer may threaten with the threat of reprisal or murder (in this case, the qualification of the crime changes), damage or destruction of property, dissemination of confidential information. The punishment of the perpetrator will depend on the specific situation, on the signs of what crimes will be found in addition to extortion.

Under article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a blackmailer can receive up to 4 years in prison and up to 80 thousand rubles in fine if he acted alone, but if the crime was committed by a group of persons, on a large scale, then members of an organized criminal group can receive up to 15 years imprisonment and up to a million rubles fine.

The defendant will not bear responsibility only for blackmail, but he may be included in other crimes - extortion, threats, coercion to have sexual relations, etc. Punishment, therefore, will be imposed on the totality of proven crimes.

Conclusion

Blackmail is unfortunately common, especially with the advent of social media. When you find yourself in the role of a victim of a blackmailer, remember that your emotional well-being is more precious than any secret, no matter how sensitive it may be for you.

Do not follow the criminal's lead, immediately contact law enforcement agencies, and then, with a high probability, he will be held accountable for what he did.

The real drama unfolds in the family of my client Elvira: her "poor, unhappy and offended by life" little horse daughter snapped at her mother when she tried to cut off the flow of investments, which supported their "strong" marriage with Vovochka. You all know Elvira very well, because she was the heroine of the OPL column in July. After reading the comments, the woman realized that - quote - " she made herself a tree, on which all the members of the family sat down and hung their legs"and began to slowly throw off the grown and insolent child with her" lap-dog husband "from her already middle-aged and pretty tired neck.

Thanks to you, a way out of the situation was found: since the end of July, instead of transferring another hundred to the daughter’s card, Elya simply brought food, diapers and clothes to her granddaughter, and also paid for the communal apartment donated to Alina. And proudly said to the dumbfounded "kids":

- All other expenses - please yourself. Does Little Johnny need Calcedonia socks? Let him go and earn. Need Alya tonalka "Bobby Brown"? Onward to work. I'm tired, Maria. I am not iron. And only now I realized how much I was shaken. I can not.

You know, I remember our consultation with her in September, the first after the publication of the post and my vacation: Elvira came rejuvenated, thinner (of course, she began to take off such a burden from her shoulders!). I got proud of her! Maybe, madam! Live for yourself! You deserve it!..

- How did Alina react to the fact that you stopped supporting her? - Then I asked Elya.

- Ambiguous. The first time she thought I was joking and... defiantly put a bag of food for the baby out the door, like "take your handouts and your snack, we'll live on our own." Then the package, apparently, was taken after all. But he and Vova either did not answer calls, or answered coldly. Vova had a twenty-fourth birthday, so they didn't even invite us. In early August, she ran out of some kind of cosmetics, she, under the pretext of "Mom, let's go for a walk together," lured me to a cosmetic store and there she shook off a dozen for creams. Okay, I think so be it. And so this month I did not spoil her. After our "walk", she decided that everything was as before and wrote a list of what we should buy them at the "Metro": food for 12 thousand and wine for 18 thousand. I, remembering you, again restrained myself and brought only food for granddaughter, toys, several packs of diapers. I bought cereals and spaghetti for adults. My son-in-law then made a surprised expression, and I simply said that I had a crisis in business.

- Well done, what more can I say! What are you planning to do now?
- I will fly on vacation with my husband, while the dollar is adequate. We want to go to the Dominican Republic. It turns out that if you don’t support a second family, you can fly on vacation much more often, - joked Elvira.

Indeed, they flew away. Then I rubbed my hands, I wanted to thank all the commentators for their help, but ... I didn’t have time. At the end of October, Elvira came to the consultation crying, with swollen eyes and hands shaking from an excess of Corvalol:

- To me, - speaks, - I was forbidden to see my granddaughter. When my husband and I flew in from the Dominican Republic, I was called "the last pig that drives around luxury hotels when the children swell with hunger." My granddaughter's diapers flew from the third floor along with mashed potatoes, the German bear was thrown into the trash, and they simply did not let me go to my granddaughter's name day. I stood at the entrance for half an hour, then my daughter took pity and let me in. Says I'm ruining their marriage. That Vovochka walks sad, angry, gloomy, constantly rude, delayed. He says that I am depriving my own granddaughter of her father and normal nutrition, which means that I am an enemy for her, and I can’t see her in any way. She didn't let me in that day. And now he won't let me. And he says that they will starve together, but they will no longer live on my "handouts". You know, Maria, I almost had an accident that day. I got behind the wheel, I was driving, there were tears in my eyes. I accidentally taxied into the oncoming lane, if the man behind me hadn’t started honking heart-rendingly, I would have collided with a packed Gazelle. I then slowed down on the side of the road, sitting in the cabin, crying. The man (the one who was riding behind) stopped, first swore, then wanted to call an ambulance, but I just asked him to call my husband, and he took me in about ten minutes.

- And your daughter is smart - I answer without hiding admiration.
- Why?
- Found your new sore spot. For twenty-five years she was considered “poor and deprived”, she really liked it and she tried to shake off material compensation from you for this, but now she has made her own daughter “deprived”, which she hides behind like a shield. Tell me, to be honest, how much did the maintenance of your granddaughter cost you?
- Yes, it’s inexpensive, fifteen thousand for everything about everything, but I didn’t save: I bought good toys, good German puree, diapers, again, the most expensive. A child is not such an expensive pleasure. With a communal apartment and cereals, I spent a little more than twenty.

- How much does your son-in-law earn?
- He does not work.
- Where does the money come from then? You said that your daughter is on maternity leave.
- The daughter is now remotely, on the Internet, works, gets somewhere around thirty.
- Is it worth asking a question about who destroys a marriage? - I ask surprised. - Or do you continue to prefer to consider yourself guilty? Your twenty, your daughter's thirty and at least twenty, which Vovochka could receive if he deigned to lift his ass from the sofa. In the end, it would have been seventy. With this money, people take out a mortgage, and they don’t even need to bathe with the housing issue: you decided everything at the time, wrote off real estate to Alya. Live, rejoice, buy Calcedonia socks and wine once a week. And it would be possible to take a second apartment in a mortgage - and rent it out, in five years - the net profit will go.

- That is, to succumb to her threats is not worth it?
- I cannot advise you anything.
- Not worth it. I myself understand this. Thanks, Masha.

Then I "came out" of it, one might say.

She gave several exercises to increase self-esteem, made a soothing aroma composition and let go. Elvira cheered up this month, came to her senses, returned to work. But the problem has not gone away: the daughter still demands money in exchange for the opportunity to communicate with her granddaughter. Alinochka's marriage is bursting at the seams, Vovochka's naked body giving birth has ceased to excite him, which he directly told his wife about. Forgetting only to add that it stopped stimulating him not after the birth, but after the termination of the mother-in-law's sponsorship stimulating erection. Alechka, tired of “plowing” for thirty thousand for three months, crossed all the lines in insulting her mother: when Elvira showed me a few SMS, at first I thought that they were not written by her beloved daughter, but by a collector from the 90s.

Another question for you: what should Elvira do, who suffers without her granddaughter? Pay your daughter and her Alphonse husband? Or take will into a fist and wait until the daughter's marriage reaches its logical conclusion, and, perhaps, Then try to get in touch with her? And, most importantly, what to do after a divorce, if the daughter still does not want to understand why Vovochka left her? What to do if the daughter accuses her mother of having ruined the family and continues to turn her child against her grandmother, who wanted to provide Lyalka with the best diapers in the world? The option "send everyone to hell" is not considered. We need to look for an approach, this is relatives after all.

PS. Elvira's letter to the rubric "

Corbis/Fotosa.ru

Emotional blackmail is the most primitive and painful form of manipulation. Everyone now and then hears from their loved ones, friends, children or colleagues: “If you are like this, then I am that way. And blame yourself!" or “Prove your love to me - do as I ask”, “If you don’t give in to me, we will part forever!” etc. Conflicts as a result of such ultimatums arise even in the strongest and most sincere relationships. However, you should not consider all manipulators to be soulless monsters and egoists - most often people resort to brute emotional force unconsciously.

It is impossible to avoid emotional blackmail - this is the most common form of interaction. Children are taught the basics of playing on the feelings of others from the cradle: “If you don’t sit down for lessons, I’ll get angry!”, “If you behave badly, I’ll give birth to another, and I’ll give you to the gypsies.” After 20 years, boys and girls themselves are already using with might and main the technique learned in childhood: “Since you do not agree with me, then your feelings are worthless!”, “Oh, so! Well, look, you will be responsible for everything later!

Going along with a blackmailer, no matter how much you value him, is a huge mistake. He will end up sitting on your head and manipulating you daily. Emotional extortion can and should be resisted. But first you need to learn to recognize it.

How to understand that you are being blackmailed

“Using emotional blackmail, people close to us directly or indirectly threaten trouble if we refuse to comply with their demands,” says Susan Foruard, a well-known American psychotherapist and author of the sensational book Emotional Blackmail. - The main support of the manipulator in this case is our feelings for him. So, any requirement that begins with a phrase like: “If you love me (respect, appreciate, etc.), you must do this and that” is the first signal that should alert you.

There are other signs of manipulation:

- the blackmailer presents his interests as common, and calls the refusal to comply with the requirements a selfish act. “You have to do this for us! And you only care about yourself, so we both suffer!

- the ultimatum is presented either in an exaggeratedly emotional form (screams, sobs, tantrums), or, conversely, emphatically calmly;

- The blackmailer threatens trouble not only for the victim, but also for himself. “If you don’t give in, I will leave home and die. And remember, my torment will be on your conscience!”, “Why are you making me suffer like this? For what?";

- The most common threat is a complete break in relations. “Either it will be in my opinion, or it’s all over between us!”, “If you don’t like it, no one is holding you!”;

- blackmailers love to play on our natural desire to be good in the eyes of society. Any hint that if we refuse, we will pass for a bad friend (an unloving parent, an inattentive son, or an ungrateful daughter) are perceived especially sharply. Statements like, “Are you going to spend Christmas with your friends? What kind of son are you after that? or “As long as you earn less than your wife, you are not a man!” is a sure sign of an emotional attack.

Diplomatic way of avoiding ultimatums

Psychologists know that the outcome of a conflict depends more on the behavior of the victim than the extortionist. If, under the influence of anger and resentment, you abruptly refuse the blackmailer, most likely, you risk destroying the relationship to the ground. If, succumbing to the fear of loss, you follow the lead, you will lose self-respect and the right to vote. However, if you have enough endurance and Solomon's wisdom, then you will get out of the conflict royally with dignity and without loss.

- Never rush to answer. Avoid categorical "yes" and "no". The weakness of the blackmailer is that he lays out all the cards at once. He threatened: “If you don’t do this, our relationship is over!” - and that's it, he has nothing more to scare you with. Retort with uncertainty and reasonableness: “I heard you, but I need time to think everything over.” Or: "Please, give me a little time out, I need to consult with someone." It really doesn't matter if you actually have an adviser or not. One has only to mention that not only your blackmailer can influence you, and his ardor will noticeably decrease.

- Control yourself. Let the manipulator know that you care about the outcome of the conflict and value your relationship, but at the same time demonstrate calmness and prudence. Only then will your arguments cool the heat of the situation. When talking to a blackmailer, keep your back straight, arms down, and look at the bridge of your nose, not straight in the eyes.

- An emotional rebel, acting unconsciously, either does not understand at all that he is hurting you, or does not believe in it. “Calmly, without nerves, tell the extortionist what his behavior looks like from the outside,” he advises. And how much suffering it brings you. No person is ready to openly admit that he deliberately hurts his loved ones. If your arguments are convincing, the former extortionist himself will refuse threats, agree to negotiations and a partner way out of the conflict.”

And, most importantly, never become like a blackmailer, do not respond with a threat to a threat. Multiplying ultimatums: "Then I will also fall into, and we'll see who gets worse!", You will only aggravate the conflict, bringing it to the point of absurdity. The struggle of two blackmailers is a priori lost by both - remember this.

During childbirth, the daughter could not give birth for 16 hours, paid anesthesia was refused several times, the attitude of the staff left much to be desired ... In the evening, the daughter called in horror from the delivery room - her mother, 7-8 people attacked with towels, take away the phone, call names .. .I was just driving in a taxi to talk to the head physician and ask for paid pain relief, so I arrived in time. As we understood, due to the impossibility of giving birth, the granddaughter was going to be squeezed out - this, unfortunately, is practiced ... After my intervention and the demand to take action, the daughter was sent for a caesarean section. So I also have something to do with the birth of Diana! :-) The girl is healthy, sunny, smiles a lot .... But ... lately, the daughter is often out of sorts - 1. the son-in-law drinks 2. she has a tendency to depression, and before marriage she used to "steam" for a long time, she feels melancholy , discontent, does not speak, irritable ... During the christening of the granddaughter, there was a misunderstanding in the local church, the daughter incorrectly reported the time of the christening, relatives arrived - as it turned out, we arrived almost an hour late. My daughter was extremely annoyed, there was a scandal in the church ... Batiushka was very worried and later he called and offered to be baptized tomorrow. The next day, my daughter was again dissatisfied and I asked her not to make scandals in the temple, especially since colleagues from my school (I work as a teacher) help in this temple. After my request, the daughter did not talk to me for several days, defiantly avoided my visits, invited her second grandmother to her granddaughter: - (The other day another emergency happened: my son-in-law called me, asking where his wife was. I was with friends outside the city and could not know. ..It turned out the following: the son-in-law returned from work in the STRONGEST drunk, at work he got into a fight with a colleague, began to find fault with his daughter. For some reason, my daughter left home ... I immediately called my eldest daughter - we live in the same house - with a request to go settle, talk to a drunk son-in-law ... The daughters returned to the child, the son-in-law continued the scandal , didn’t let them go home, insulted me on the phone with 7-story swear words (for the first time in a year of communication!) Later it turned out that the child had a temperature, the granddaughter had to call an ambulance, but the son-in-law did not let the mother of the child or the doctors go home ... I called the matchmaker ask him to contact him by phone and convince his son-in-law to open the door, but the matchmaker took everything as a personal insult: “My son is not so drunk, and my daughter SAMA went for a walk. If you don’t like my son, get a divorce! I understood that I was annoying everyone with my calls, but I was horrified at the thought that a 5-month-old baby with a high temperature was with a HARD drunk father. Outside the city, I caught a bad cold, didn’t sleep that night and returned to the city completely ill .. Both my eldest daughter and my sister strongly scolded my daughter “Why provoked a drunken husband to jealousy, threw the phone, left a sick child to a drunken father? We won’t be surprised if the guardianship authorities are interested in your antics !!!" RESULT: “Mom, if you don’t apologize, you won’t see your granddaughter” ... My question to psychologists: 1. how normal are my daughter’s regular tantrums (in personal communication, I am ready to provide additional facts ), how to convince my daughter to turn to specialists ... 2. what to do if the granddaughter became very dear to me, I lived without being spoiled by love: unfortunately, there was not enough closeness in communicating with my parents, the father of the children did not help raise them - children I raised without alimony ... My current chosen one is a peculiar, "characteristic" person, he drinks heavily ... Spiritual closeness with my daughters, helping children and communicating with my granddaughter mean a lot to me, but my daughter does not think about what she is depriving me of and granddaughter... I would be grateful for your advice... Marina, 48 years old, teacher.