Internet Blackmail and Turkish Criminal Law
Information technologies and the Internet have found a place in our lives and has made it very easy with innovations. However, the result of these developments is that our personal information is transferred to the technological environment and has made us susceptible to illegal activities such as blackmail and threats. Because of the increase in these activities, legislation such as the Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237 (the “Turkish Criminal Code”) has emerged to protect victims of these crimes.
Article 106 of the Turkish Criminal Code makes it a criminal offence to threaten another individual by attacking their life, body integrity or sexual immunity or that of their relative(s). The offence also extends to property damage.
The crime of blackmail is where the perpetrator compels the victim to do or not to do something unlawful or not liable or to gain an unfair advantage by mentioning that he will or will not do something that he is right or obliged to do. If the person who violates the privacy of her private life provides an unfair advantage with the threat of revealing it, he is punished for the crime of blackmail (Article 107 Turkish Criminal Code).
These types of crimes are typically carried out by targeting victims through social media platforms such as Facebook, or LinkedIn, internet applications like Skype and websites or even in person. The perpetrator then attempts to establish communication with the victim through devices such as smartphones, computers and tablets. This way, the perpetrator can threaten to expose embarrassing information in order to coerce money or other goods or forms of cooperation out of the victim. Therefore, people should exercise caution and remember that anything done on the internet is recorded.
If a threat or blackmail crime has been committed, it is important that the victim gathers all information about the perpetrator as evidence such as screenshots, photographs or profile information to file a criminal complaint with the relevant authorities. Where the authorities conduct their investigations and it is found that the perpetrator is guilty of an offence, he or she will be imprisoned from 6 months up to 2 years in the case of a threat crime and from 1 to 3 years and a judicial fine of up to 5,000 days for blackmail crime. The sanction will be applied according to the severity of the threat or blackmail and the damage to the victim.