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  1. #1

    Default Blackmail of a Foreign National

    My apologies right off the bat, I don't even know enough about the law to know if this is the correct place to post this. So my apologies if this is the wrong place. I don't want to get into to much detail for obvious reasons, but in a nutshell, my question is this. I am a Canadian citizen living in Canada and I met an American citizen living in America, online, and they are blackmailing me, do I have any legal repercussions?

  2. #2
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    Oct 2014
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    Default Re: International Blackmail

    Quote Quoting CuriousCanadian
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    My apologies right off the bat, I don't even know enough about the law to know if this is the correct place to post this. So my apologies if this is the wrong place. I don't want to get into to much detail for obvious reasons, but in a nutshell, my question is this. I am a Canadian citizen living in Canada and I met an American citizen living in America, online, and they are blackmailing me, do I have any legal repercussions?
    Two comments. First, a lot of people use the term "blackmail" to cover a variety of situations that would not meet the usual legal definition of the term (in those places that still have blackmail as distinct crime). So it very much matters what the other person is doing, in what state/territory/district the American is located, and in what province/territory of Canada you reside. Second, you asked if there are any legal "repurcussions". Well, not knowing what the details are, I cannot guess what consequences his/her actions might have on you. If you meant to ask if you have any legal remedies for what the other person is doing, that too requires knowing what is going on. You might start by meeting with a Canadian lawyer to discuss it if you do not want to share details here.

  3. #3

    Default Re: International Blackmail

    Thanks. I'm not sure why you changed the spelling and added quotes to repercussions, is that a lawyer thing? Did I misuse the word, legally speaking perhaps? :/ And say the American did live somewhere that had "blackmailing laws" or whatever you'd call them, could I just call their local police or whatever?

  4. #4
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    Default Re: International Blackmail

    You could call the police local to the blackmailer or you could call our federal authorities. The fbi accepts internet crime reports here: https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

  5. #5
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    Default Re: International Blackmail

    Quote Quoting CuriousCanadian
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    Thanks. I'm not sure why you changed the spelling and added quotes to repercussions, is that a lawyer thing? Did I misuse the word, legally speaking perhaps? :/ And say the American did live somewhere that had "blackmailing laws" or whatever you'd call them, could I just call their local police or whatever?
    I did misspell it, a typo error. The word repercussion though means "an action or effect given or exerted in return : a reciprocal action or effect". So what you were literally asking was whether what the other person did would have any legal effect to you. In other words, would you end up suffering some legal consequence from what he did? If that is truly what you wanted to know, the answer is likely no, but again without details it's hard to say. I was guessing that you were really wanted to know if you had any legal remedy for what the American did, i.e. is there some legal action you could take against the American for what he or she did. But here, too, without details it's impossible to say what recourse you would have for what was done.

    Certainly you can report the facts of what was done to the local police in the city/county were the American lives if you know where that is. You might also report it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), too, and jk provided a link for that. The federal law on blackmail is very limited and it is unlikely that the American violated that law, though what he did might violate some other federal law perhaps. It is more likely that some state law was violated.

    You might want to read an overview on blackmail to see what generally constitutes blackmail in the U.S.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: International Blackmail

    The thing i see here is you don’t have to know if it’s a crime to report it. If you believe a crime has taken place, you are free to contact any authorities you believe would be appropriate and make a report. You can contact any or all of the possible agencies having authority to investigate and seek prosecution. If they don’t see it as criminal activity, they may tell you so or simply accept your report and take no further action. Often times the victim believes they have to know what specific crime has taken place. It is never the victims place to make that determination. That is up to the entity filing charges (prosecuting attorney or more often referred to as the prosecutor, the district attorney (DA), states attorney, or several other titles that mean roughly the same position).

    So, if you believe a crime was committed, make some calls to the local and/or the state police where the suspected offender lives. As well you can file a complaint at the link I provided. If any of them see a crime involved, they will take it from there.

  7. #7
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    Oct 2014
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    Default Re: International Blackmail

    Quote Quoting jk
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    The thing i see here is you don’t have to know if it’s a crime to report it. If you believe a crime has taken place, you are free to contact any authorities you believe would be appropriate and make a report. You can contact any or all of the possible agencies having authority to investigate and seek prosecution. If they don’t see it as criminal activity, they may tell you so or simply accept your report and take no further action. Often times the victim believes they have to know what specific crime has taken place. It is never the victims place to make that determination.
    I agree with that. And on the criminal side of things, reporting what the person did to the local police and FBI is all he or she can do.

    But if the OP wants to pursue civil remedies, he or she will have to provide the details of what happened to a lawyer to figure out what recourse he or she may have. If the OP shares some details here then he or she might get useful feedback on whether any crime was committed and whether any civil recourse is possible (both from a U.S. standpoint as we don't generally do Canadian law here ).

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    284

    Default Re: International Blackmail

    It might make a difference if what you are being blackmailed for is of particular interest to the police. Let's say (hypothetically) that you were the 2nd shooter at the JFK assassination and that is the blackmail issue. You would be arguably at greater risk involving the police then dealing with the black mailer. If on the other hand your hands are legally clean, you have no reason to not involve the police (FBI, Mounties, whoever). And if your issue is of particular interest the press, say Princess Diana was your mother, then the chances of the police leaking the information just went up.

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