“I do this for a living, so don’t mess with me.” This is one of the threats a Johannesburg woman received in an attempt to blackmail her using false nude photos.
When Nereshnee Elijah, 35, received the first of a series of e-mails from the Gmail account unfaithfulpayback@gmail.com last week, she thought it was a spam message.
“I initially ignored the e-mail as I thought it was spam, but then I saw it and it started to get creepy,” said Elijah.
In the e-mail, the author, who used the alias “Grim Ripper”, demanded that Elijah pay R3000 to avoid nude photographs of her being posted on her Facebook profile. In later messages, the amount increased to R6000.
Two photographs of either one or two women were attached to these e-mails and, although Elijah says these are not of her, she was concerned that others may not realise this.
“The thing that bothers me is that she is Indian [like me] and that her face is hidden and even though I know it’s not me, … if he is able to post these kind of pictures on my profile I am not sure what people out there would think,” said Elijah.
There were several e-mail exchanges between the two as Elijah tried to find out who was behind the threats. In the e-mails, the “Grim Ripper” told her: “I do this for a living, you will never find me, you will never trace me, but I have all your profiles, from LinkedIn to Facebook.”
The e-mails also revealed that the blackmailer knew where Elijah worked and who she was married to.
In the last e-mail she received, on Friday, she was instructed to order a meal at a specific fast-food outlet, place the money in the bag the food arrived in and dump it in a bin in the area. The e-mail ended with: “I will be watching, no funny business.” She didn’t pay the money and that was the last she heard from the Grim Ripper.
Louise Bick, a director at Werkmans Attorneys, said that Elijah’s case fell directly under the recently enacted Protection from Harassment Act.
The act provides for courts to issue protection orders against the harassment and recognises that harassment in the form of “engaging in verbal, electronic or any other communication” as well as “sending, delivering or causing the delivery of letter, telegrams, packages, facsimiles or electronic mail”.
The new law also provides for a court to order an electronic communications service provider to provide details of the author of correspondence. The court can also order the police to investigate the name and address of an unknown harasser.
However, in this instance, Bick said it was possible that the e-mails were sent from an internet café, anonymously.
She added: “A protection order may not assist if there is no way to identify the person as the order has to be served to the respondent.”
While Elijah has not reported the matter to the police, she has closed her Facebook account in attempt to protect herself.
“I hope that he is not serious and will not contact me again,” she said. Timesline.co.za
When Nereshnee Elijah, 35, received the first of a series of e-mails from the Gmail account unfaithfulpayback@gmail.com last week, she thought it was a spam message.
“I initially ignored the e-mail as I thought it was spam, but then I saw it and it started to get creepy,” said Elijah.
In the e-mail, the author, who used the alias “Grim Ripper”, demanded that Elijah pay R3000 to avoid nude photographs of her being posted on her Facebook profile. In later messages, the amount increased to R6000.
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| “I do this for a living, so don’t mess with me.” This is one of the threats a Johannesburg woman received in an attempt to blackmail her using false nude photos. |
“The thing that bothers me is that she is Indian [like me] and that her face is hidden and even though I know it’s not me, … if he is able to post these kind of pictures on my profile I am not sure what people out there would think,” said Elijah.
There were several e-mail exchanges between the two as Elijah tried to find out who was behind the threats. In the e-mails, the “Grim Ripper” told her: “I do this for a living, you will never find me, you will never trace me, but I have all your profiles, from LinkedIn to Facebook.”
The e-mails also revealed that the blackmailer knew where Elijah worked and who she was married to.
In the last e-mail she received, on Friday, she was instructed to order a meal at a specific fast-food outlet, place the money in the bag the food arrived in and dump it in a bin in the area. The e-mail ended with: “I will be watching, no funny business.” She didn’t pay the money and that was the last she heard from the Grim Ripper.
Louise Bick, a director at Werkmans Attorneys, said that Elijah’s case fell directly under the recently enacted Protection from Harassment Act.
The act provides for courts to issue protection orders against the harassment and recognises that harassment in the form of “engaging in verbal, electronic or any other communication” as well as “sending, delivering or causing the delivery of letter, telegrams, packages, facsimiles or electronic mail”.
The new law also provides for a court to order an electronic communications service provider to provide details of the author of correspondence. The court can also order the police to investigate the name and address of an unknown harasser.
However, in this instance, Bick said it was possible that the e-mails were sent from an internet café, anonymously.
She added: “A protection order may not assist if there is no way to identify the person as the order has to be served to the respondent.”
While Elijah has not reported the matter to the police, she has closed her Facebook account in attempt to protect herself.
“I hope that he is not serious and will not contact me again,” she said. Timesline.co.za
