Know that friend who suddenly disappeared off of social media? No explanation, just went off the grid? It could be that they joined the burgeoning movement that thinks social media is bad and ruining the world and lives, etc. But, more like than not, especially in Lebanon, they might be a victim of sextortion.

Sextortion is when sexually explicit content is used to blackmail someone into paying money or doing something they don’t want to.

Our friends at SMEX Beirut did a nice video in Arabic explaining what usually goes down.

The point is, if you match with an Eastern European super-model whose Tinder profile or Facebook Profile pics are all professional-looking, I know you think you’re all studs and girls are waiting in line to bed you, but come on, use your brain a little. By the time you’re Skype-sexing her, all the revealing images and videos of you beating your meat will be with them, and sooner than later, they’ll threaten you with sending them to your significant other/parent/boss/friends etc. So, you end up sending Western Union payments to wherever-istan, and still getting blackmailed despite that.

If you’re a girl, think twice about who you send nudes to. If it’s a vindictive, macho Lebanese type who might use them against you when you inevitably dump him, that’s sextortion too. It doesn’t need to be a gang in Algeria or wherever doing the blackmail, it could be a disturbed guy that’s unable to accept you’re leaving him, and use nudes against you to stay with you.

The cybercrimes bureau, which you’re used to arresting and questioning people like me for speaking their mind, actually spend most of their time following cases of sextortion (hundreds of cases according to sources close to the bureau). In a country where being sexually liberated is an issue, people tend to get carried away when someone becomes sexually suggestive online. Don’t fall for it, try to keep your sexy time offline, or face the issue of most of Lebanon getting your nudes or sex tapes on their Whatsapps.

The Government Itself

We know for a fact that our own police forces would steep to incredible lows to entrap taxpayers they’re targeting. They often use fake backstories to lure you to their office, or send you emails or messages on social networks with phishing links

Phishing is the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. (wikipedia)

We know that the cybercrimes bureau has used this method to trace the location of “suspects” before, so make sure you never click weird links sent by obviously fake accounts. What’s also interesting, is that every time we go down to the streets, several prominent activists’ Facebook profiles get flooded with obviously fake friend requests, usually attractive women with foreign sounding names with a couple of pics and no mutual friends. These might be sextortion assholes who notice the accounts when they’re being tagged and shared heavily after the protests, or it could be the security appartus in Lebanon trying to unearth everyone’s social networks. Both cases are not good.

Be Smart

Always be cynical online. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Use Tinder and Faceboook and Instagram wisely. Don’t be so easy to trust folks with information they could use against you or to blackmail you. Ignore questionable friend requests, never click on shortened urls like “goog.gl/aswd” etc.

Don’t be a victim. Think, read carefully and don’t just say it’s just a friend request/skype sex/sexting. It could cause you a lot of unnecessary grief…