Good day.  My husband accepted a friend request from a lady on facebook.  They started chatting and in the heat of things she send him nood photos of herself and he send a picture back of himself.  The next day she went and made a collage of this photo as well as photos of myself and minor children.  Threatening him to post this collage online with his telepone number on the photos if he doesnt pay her R5700.  Am I right that this is blackmail and that she may not post the pictures of myself, minor children an even my husband without our permission?

Hi there and thank you for your question,

The is definitely blackmail. It unfortunately happens more often that you would think. It's probably NOT a woman that your husband was chatting to, but a man pretending to be a woman! Your husband was unfortunately caught by their SCAM!

This person is not allowed posting naked images of another person online, especially not where that person has explicitly told the person that they do not consent.

This is also a form of harassment which means that your husband could apply for a protection order against this person in terms of the Protection from Harassment Act 17 of 2011.  The real issue is that you don't actually know who the person actually is, because they are hiding behind an electronic profile.

BUT, the Harassment Act provides the Magistrates Court with strong powers to require a service provider (Facebook, Vodacom, etc) to provide the court with information pertaining to electronic communications. That means that eventually you would be able to find out who this person is, and you could also then institute criminal charges against the person!

My advice is that you make use of an attorney to assist you, and that you be aware that there is a good posibility that this person will just release the image as soon as you refuse to pay.  You should also be aware that this person will (if you pay now) most certainly ask for more money later ... be it in 1 weeks' time or 1 months' time. They will know that they have your husband on the hook, and that he will pay when asked! 

For that reason it is good to block this person and tell them to "speak to my lawyer". This person will then get a fright and think about what they are doing.

I can't refer you to a specific attorney, but I can direct you to www.southafricanlawyer.co.za, where you can find a list of qualified attorneys in your area who will be able to assist you further!

If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.

Att. Patrick

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.