Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion . In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence ; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded threats in order to obtain an unfair business advantage is also a form of extortion.
24-639: Ogu or OGU may refer to: OGUsers or "OGU", an internet forum Ogu people , an ethnic group in Nigeria Ogu–Bolo , a local government area in Rivers State, Nigeria Ordu–Giresun Airport , an airport in Turkey Other uses [ edit ] John Ogu , a professional footballer Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
48-403: A federal crime across a computer system, phone, by mail, or in using any instrument of interstate commerce . Extortion requires that the individual sent the message willingly and knowingly as elements of the crime. The message only has to be sent (but does not have to reach the intended recipient) to commit the crime of extortion. In England and Wales extorting property and money by coercion
72-426: A security leak or launch an attack that will harm the company's network. The message sent through the email usually demands money in exchange for the prevention of the attack. In March 2008, Anthony Digati was arrested on federal charges of extortion through interstate communication. Digati put $ 50,000 into a variable life insurance policy by New York Life Insurance Company and wanted a return of $ 198,303.88. When
96-485: A threat of a criminal act, such as violence, merely a threat used to elicit actions, money, or property from the object of the extortion. Such threats include the filing of reports (true or not) of criminal behavior to the police, revelation of damaging facts (such as pictures of the object of the extortion in a compromising position), etc. In law extortion can refer to political corruption , such as selling one's office or influence peddling , but in general vocabulary
120-399: Is also known as shakedown , and occasionally exaction. Extortion is distinguished from robbery . In robbery, whether armed or not, the offender takes property from the victim by the immediate use of force or fear that force will be immediately used. Extortion, which is not limited to the taking of property, involves the verbal or written instillation of fear that something will happen to
144-457: Is an Internet forum that facilitates the discussion and buying of social media accounts and online usernames . Established in 2017, the website is dedicated to the buying and selling of "rare" or " OG " online accounts that are considered valuable due to their name or age. The website acts as a platform for cybercrime and the harassment of individuals for access to their online accounts. Several high-profile incidents have been linked to
168-447: Is simply abstinence of harm from the same party, and such is implied in the "protection" offer. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime . In some jurisdictions, actually obtaining the benefit is not required to commit the offense, and making a threat of violence which refers to a requirement of a payment of money or property to halt future violence is sufficient to commit the offense. Exaction refers not only to extortion or
192-588: Is the offence of blackmail which covers any "unwarranted demand with menaces" including physical threats. See section 21 of the Theft Act 1968 plus sections 29 and 30 of the Larceny Act 1916 . A group of people may also be committing conspiracy . Extortion is a common law crime in Scotland of using threat of harm to demand money, property or some advantage from another person. It does not matter whether
216-467: The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Digati was apprehended. On February 15, 2011, Spanish police apprehended a man who attempted to blackmail Nintendo over customer information he had stolen. The man stole personal information about 4,000 users and emailed Nintendo Ibérica, Nintendo's Spanish division, and accused the company of data negligence. He threatened the company that he would make
240-651: The time — or the stolen patient data would be published. The extorters published 100 patient records a day on a Tor message board to add pressure for their demands. The leaked patient records contained patients' full names, home addresses, social security numbers, and the therapists' and doctors' notes from each session. After the extortion of the company failed, the extorters sent victims an email demanding they pay either 200 euros within 24 hours or 500 euros in 48 hours in order to avoid publishing their sensitive personal data. The company's security practices were found to be inadequate:
264-465: The world's wealthiest people , accused the National Enquirer and its parent company American Media, Inc ., of attempting to extort him by threatening to reveal nude pictures of him unless he publicly stated that he "[has] no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces." This threat was in response to Bezos investigating
SECTION 10
#1732773286649288-423: The demand itself is legitimate (such as for money owed) as the crime can still be committed when illegitimate threats of harm are used. Cyber extortion is when an individual or group uses the internet as a mean of demanding some sort of material gain. The group or individual usually sends a company a threatening email stating that they have received confidential information about their company and will exploit
312-594: The demanding and obtaining of something through force, but additionally, in its formal definition, means the infliction of something such as pain and suffering or making somebody endure something unpleasant. The term extortion is often used metaphorically to refer to usury or to price-gouging , though neither is legally considered extortion. It is also often used loosely to refer to everyday situations where one person feels indebted against their will, to another, in order to receive an essential service or avoid legal consequences. Neither extortion nor blackmail requires
336-463: The federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 USC In blackmail , which always involves extortion, the extortionist threatens to reveal information about a victim or their family members that is potentially embarrassing, socially damaging, or incriminating unless a demand for money, property, or services is met. In the United States , extortion may also be committed as
360-574: The firm did not comply, he threatened to send out six million spam emails . He registered a domain in February 2008 that contained New York Life's name in the URL to display false public statements about the company and increased his demand to $ 3 million. According to prosecutors, Digati's intent was not to inform or educate but he wanted to "damage the reputation of New York Life and cost the company millions of dollars in revenue,". New York Life contacted
384-505: The forum involved in the trafficking of hijacked accounts. Facebook told Krebs that the forum uses various tactics, such as harassment, intimidation, hacking, coercion , extortion , sextortion , SIM swapping, and swatting. Extortion Extortion is sometimes called the " protection racket " because the racketeers often phrase their demands as payment for "protection" from (real or hypothetical) threats from unspecified other parties; though often, and almost always, such "protection"
408-457: The forum, most notably the 2020 Twitter account hijacking . The site has been linked to various SIM swap scams , where discussion took place on identity theft methods to change login information for online accounts. Graham Ivan Clark , regarded as the "mastermind" behind the 2020 Twitter account hijacking , was a former member of the forum. Two participants, Mason Sheppard and Nima Fazeli, acted as brokers in selling of Twitter handles on
432-567: The information public and complain to the Spanish Data Agency if his demands were not met. After Nintendo ignored his demands, he published some of the information on an Internet forum. Nintendo notified authorities and the man was arrested in Málaga . No information has been revealed as to what the man demanded from Nintendo. On February 7, 2019, Jeffrey P. Bezos , owner of Amazon and The Washington Post and currently one of
456-532: The tabloid for publishing details about his relationship with Lauren Sanchez , which led to Bezos and his wife Mackenzie announcing their divorce on January 9 of that year. Bezos refused and posted the threat on Medium . On October 21, 2020, the news sources reported that roughly 40,000 patient records had been stolen from the Finnish private health care provider Vastaamo . The extorters demanded 40 bitcoins — roughly 450,000 euros at
480-450: The title Ogu . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ogu&oldid=1209414184 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages OGUsers OGUsers ( OGU )
504-410: The victim if they do not comply with the extortionist's will. Another key distinction is that extortion always involves a verbal or written threat, whereas robbery may not. In United States federal law, extortion can be committed with or without the use of force and with or without the use of a weapon. Violation of many state extortion statutes constitutes "racketeering activity" under Section 1961 of
SECTION 20
#1732773286649528-406: The website was hacked again with user data being stolen. Brian Krebs , an American journalist and investigative reporter known for the coverage of cybercriminals, has described the forum as a place "overrun with shady characters who are there mainly to rip off other members." In his report, he described how Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , and Twitter have taken steps to crack down on users of
552-547: The website. In 2020, a man from Tennessee died from a heart attack from a swatting . An individual in the United Kingdom was attempting to coerce the man for an online username by utilizing tactics of the site, with him later being sentenced to five years in prison. The website was hacked in May 2019, with the administrator of RaidForums uploading the database of the website for anyone to access. In December 2020,
576-426: The word usually first brings to mind blackmail or protection rackets. The logical connection between the corruption sense of the word and the other senses is that to demand bribes in one's official capacity is blackmail or racketeering in essence (that is, "you need access to this resource, the government restricts access to it through my office, and I will charge you unfairly and unlawfully for such access"). Extortion
#648351