The Offense of Electronic Extortion in the Libyan Legislation

Abstract

Recently, the offense of electronic extortion has spread and entered the scope of emerging crimes, which is one of the forms of electronic crimes that arouse terror and fear in the victim, as the extortioner with weak souls lures the victim to pressure and extortion her, which forces the victim to comply and respond to the extortioner's demands and carry out actions that harm him, his honor and his money.

This study aims to shed light and highlight a new and dangerous Offense that has recently appeared over the Internet and represents a violation of the sanctity of private life.

This study addressed the legal structure of the Offense of electronic extortion in terms of its concept, characteristics, and elements of the Offense of electronic extortion, as well as the attempt and criminal contribution to this Offense.

After presenting this study, we concluded that the Offense of electronic extortion is characterized by characteristics that distinguish it from traditional crimes in view of its connection to the Internet and modern technology, as well as the criminal behavior appears in an unclear and intangible manner, as its refuge is the virtual world. The Offense of electronic extortion is realized if it is related to the threat by the perpetrator to the victim to do or refrain from doing an act.

The study recommends the necessity of spreading awareness among Community members and their awareness of this dangerous Offense and urging victims who are exposed to this Offense of the importance and necessity of notifying the security authorities and not submitting to the perpetrator’s requests and working to include the Electronic Offenses Law No.5 of  2022 on the Offense of electronic extortion and creating security agencies and providing them with qualified cadres entrusted with combating electronic extortion Offenses.

Keywords: extortion - electronic - electronic crimes - criminal contribution.