This morning bleary eyed (before my morning coffee), I received an email that made my stomach drop. It was an attempt at extortion. If I sent this person a certain amount of money, they would not release a video of me sitting in front of my screen reportedly watching questionable material whilst doing “dirty things” (yep, their words. Not mine).
As the shock wore off, I imagined family, friends and work colleagues receiving a video clip from this seedy character. I decided honesty to be the best policy, and chose to warn colleagues of the imminent arrival of a “dirty” video from a dark stranger pissed at me not paying his extortion money. A suggestion was made that we could all sit around a computer and watch the video together on its arrival as it would be a real surprise to everyone (including me). I even bought bags of popcorn to get in the spirit. We mused that with any luck whoever this guy was would morph my face onto an attractive body double. The energy around the extortionate email became lighter.
I reflected on the “dirtiest” things I had done in front of my computer screen. The dirty screen of my monitor had been wiped, and the laundry folded. I think I even cleaned up dog shit once when Ridge was a pup. The most questionable things I watch on my computer screen are past episodes of America’s Next Top Model. What a cinematic treat people would be in for! Pondering all of this made the energy lighter.
I imagined my partner being sent the “dirty” video and pondered his reaction. Perhaps the morphed face on body double option would spice things up somewhat. The thought made me chuckle.
The Reality Of This Situation
Despite my lighthearted air, the reality of this situation is serious. It is very serious. People get sucked in by these low life scumbags. Many who receive these emails pay up even when they haven’t done the things the extortionist accuses them of.
I went to the local police station today to seek advice. It was not for me. I had nothing to be concerned about. I was more worried for those who do hand over their money, self-esteem and personal power to those preying upon vulnerabilities. The police officer at the counter told me I was the second lady to have reported an extortionate email this morning. Unfortunately there is very little the police can do about it.
They Key To Dealing With Extortionists
Re-reading the extortionist’s email, I note it seems to be all about energy. He makes it very clear that I am not to “waste his time”. The extortionist is literally banking on the hope that someone will be disempowered by his email. The prelude to a victim’s disempowerment and subsequent vulnerability is worry, stress and fear of judgement.
What if we were to starve the bottom-feeding low-lifes of “the energy” they crave? Can you imagine if people responded with humour in regard to the ludicrous content of the email? Have a good laugh, report the content to Netsafe or SpamCop and hit delete. Job done.
The sad thing is, whilst there are people who remain in fear of these bullies, the existence of these types of extortion attempts will remain.
Keeping It Light Is The Key!
Humour was the key to brushing this incident off today. It took the energy and power away from the try-hard extortionist. Also, the belly-laughs did me a world of good.
Could you please pass this blog post on to those you love and ask them to remain in their personal truth and power. Let them know these laughable twits can’t do harm if they do not receive the energy they desire. You are all worth so much more than that.
Thank you. xx
Anne McCormack is a New Zealand-based Photographer, Spiritual Healing Facilitator and author of Lovitude: Trying To Calm The Monkey Mind and the award winning book, Peacock Dreaming: The Wisdom Of Flowers (recently awarded the B.R.A.G.Medallion).
Peacock Dreaming: The Wisdom Flowers is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and selected bookstores.
Lovitude: Trying To Calm The Monkey Mind is available from Anne at www.thepeacockdreamingblog.com.
Feature image courtesy of Pixabay.
