The crime of extortion occurs when someone coerces another person to carry out an act contrary to their will in order to obtain some benefit, usually a lucrative one.
Normally, to achieve his purpose, the extortionist resorts to violence or some type of intimidation against the extorted person. This criminal figure bears a certain resemblance to others, for example robbery or blackmail.
It is a malicious crime and the person who commits it is usually part of an organized crime group. In any of its forms, extortion is based on intimidation and the use of some form of violence ("you pay me 1000 dollars or your family is in danger", "you accept protection or I will burn your business", would be common phrases between who engage in extortion).
Typical examples
- One or more criminals demand a financial amount from a victim in exchange for protection. This criminal practice is part of the mafia tradition.
- An individual is held against his will in order to blackmail his relatives into paying a ransom for his release.
- Prison extortion occurs over the telephone and consists of a prisoner posing as a member of a criminal gang to blackmail his victim with some kind of threat.
- Sextortion on social networks consists of blackmailing someone so as not to spread images of sexual content. The person who commits this type of crime may be a former partner of the victim, a pedophile or directly a professional extortionist.
From the point of view of psychology
The extortionist knows that threats provoke intense fear that blocks the victim's mind. Extortion is based on the fear that affects the injured person. As a general rule there are three aspects that intervene: the surprise factor, the emotional imbalance and the lack of information. The fear that occurs after an extortion call can provoke two different reactions:
1) hang up the phone and ask for some help or
2) feeling paralyzed and continuing the conversation with the extortionist.
Extortion of businessmen and merchants
Entrepreneurs and merchants are potential victims of this type of crime. For this reason, experts recommend increasing security measures and developing a strategic plan to act against possible extortion. It should be borne in mind that in some countries many businesses have been forced to close because they are unwilling or unable to pay the "war tax" of groups that engage in extortion.
Photos: Fotolia - Daniel Jedzura / kasto
