The email arrives on a Friday afternoon. It claims to have compromising images, or stolen files, or details of a family member’s movements. It sets a deadline measured in hours and insists that telling anyone will make things worse. Extortion works by isolating its target and rushing them. The most effective defence is knowing, in advance, that both of those tactics are part of the script.
The forms it takes
Sextortion, where someone threatens to share intimate images. Data-leak extortion against businesses. Threats to harm reputations, publish private information or target relatives. Old-fashioned blackmail by someone who knows the victim. Some threats are empty bluffs sent to thousands of people at once. Others are targeted and serious. Telling them apart takes calm assessment.
What people learn
How to recognise an extortion attempt. Why not to engage, negotiate or pay on impulse. How to preserve messages and details that may become evidence. Who to tell, and how to escalate quickly within an organisation or family.
For whom
Executives and their assistants, finance and IT teams, household staff, and families with a public profile, including teenage children, who are increasingly targeted online.
For live incidents, our KRE consulting team provides experienced advice. Talk to us about training for your team or family.
