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Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded threats in order to obtain an unfair business advantage is also a form of extortion.
The Chicago Tylenol murders were a series of poisoning deaths resulting from drug tampering in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1982. The victims consumed Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide. Seven people died in the original poisonings, and there were several more deaths in subsequent copycat crimes.
Tamper-evident describes a device or process that makes unauthorized access to the protected object easily detected. Seals, markings, or other techniques may be tamper indicating.
Edgar Eugene Pearce is a British extortionist and bomber who was convicted of the Mardi Gra bombings, a three-year blackmail and terror campaign in the London area between December 1994 and April 1998.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) provides the FDA with a specific office to conduct and coordinate its criminal investigations.
The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a significant food safety incident in China. The scandal involved Sanlu Group's milk and infant formula along with other food materials and components being adulterated with the chemical melamine, which resulted in kidney stones and other kidney damage in infants. The chemical was used to increase the nitrogen content of diluted milk, giving it the appearance of higher protein content in order to pass quality control testing. 300,000 affected children were identified, among which 54,000 were hospitalized, according to the latest report in January 2009. The deaths of six babies were officially concluded to be related to the contaminated milk.
This timeline of the 2008 Chinese milk scandal documents how events related to the Chinese dairy products contamination by melamine unfolded. Complaints about kidney problems traced back to a brand of infant formula, subsequent discoveries of melamine contamination of liquid milk, and exported powdered milk of processed food products. The scandal decimated Chinese dairy exports, and re-exposed long-standing concerns about food security, corruption, lack of political checks and balances. Though the scandal came to attention in 2008, its roots can be traced back to events prior to 2008.
Sextortion employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercion, as well as to the category of sexual exploitation in which threatened release of sexual images or information is the means of coercion.
Robert Joel "Joe" Halderman is a television news writer, director, former producer for CBS News, and convicted felon. Halderman was found guilty of attempted extortion of talk show host David Letterman.
Assured Food Standards is a United Kingdom company which licenses the Red Tractor quality mark, a farm assurance programme for food products, animal feed and fertiliser. Multiple cases of animal abuse have been reported on Red Tractor assured farms.
The Tesco bomb campaign was an attempted extortion against British supermarket chain Tesco which started in Bournemouth, England, in August 2000 and led to one of the largest and most secretive operations ever undertaken by Dorset Police. During the campaign, a blackmailer identified by the pseudonym "Sally" sent letters to Tesco stores threatening to harm customers if his demands—for Clubcards, modified so that the holder could withdraw cash from ATMs—were not met.
Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market. It was launched in 2011 by its American founder Ross Ulbricht under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts." As part of the dark web, Silk Road operated as a hidden service on the Tor network, allowing users to buy and sell products and services between each other anonymously. All transactions were conducted with bitcoin, a cryptocurrency which aided in protecting user identities. The website was known for its illegal drug marketplace, among other illegal and legal product listings. Between February 2011 and July 2013, the site facilitated sales amounting to 9,519,664 Bitcoins.
The Rochdale child sex abuse ring involved underage teenage girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Nine men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child in May 2012. This resulted in Greater Manchester Police launching Operation Doublet and other operations to investigate further claims of abuse. As of January 2024 a total of 42 men had been convicted resulting in jail sentences totalling 432 years. Forty-seven girls were identified as victims of child sexual exploitation during the initial police investigation. The men were British Pakistanis, which led to discussion on whether the failure to investigate them was linked to the authorities' fear of being accused of racial prejudice. The girls were mainly White British.
Autumn Jaquel Jackson, also known as Autumn Williams, is an American interior designer. She first came to media attention in 1997 for her extortion attempt against comedian Bill Cosby. Jackson had threatened to go to the tabloids with her claim she was Cosby's illegitimate child unless Cosby paid her $40 million USD. Jackson's disputed paternity claim against Cosby resurfaced in the media in 2014, as a result of sexual assault allegations against Cosby.
In early 2017, a wave of more than 2,000 bomb threats were made against Jewish Community Centers in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and Denmark. Two arrests and two convictions were made in connection with the threats: Michael Ron David Kadar, a dual American-Israeli citizen, who received a ten year sentence, along with Juan M. Thompson, a former journalist, who received a five year sentence.
The Dark Overlord is an international hacker organization which garnered significant publicity through cybercrime extortion of high-profile targets and public demands for ransom to prevent the release of confidential or potentially embarrassing documents.
The 2007 Tesco blackmail campaign was an extortion attempt against the British supermarket chain Tesco.
Vastaamo was a Finnish private psychotherapy service provider founded in 2008. On 21 October 2020, Vastaamo announced that its patient database had been hacked. Private information obtained by the perpetrators was used in an attempt to extort Vastaamo and, later, its clients. The extorters demanded 40 bitcoins, roughly worth 450,000 euros at the time, and threatened to publish the records if the ransom was not paid. To add pressure to their demands, the extorters published hundreds of patient records a day on a Tor message board.
The Pedigree Chum dog food and Heinz extortion campaign was an attempted extortion against Pedigree Petfoods and Heinz, during which an extortionist contaminated tins of dog and baby food. Pedigree was advised by police to pay limited sums of money to the extortionist, while cash machines were put under surveillance. Heinz lost millions in sales and eventually offered a £100,000 reward, which the extortionist attempted to collect. However, he was arrested at the cashpoint, where police discovered the extortionist was former Metropolitan Police Detective Sergeant Rodney Whitchelo.
Rodney Whitchelo was a British law enforcement officer and criminal convicted of blackmail and food contamination. He poisoned baby products as part of a plot to extort Heinz, causing a baby food scare in 1989. Whitchelo, who was dubbed the "consumer terrorist", committed his crimes while serving as a detective of the Scotland Yard.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Davies, Caroline (20 August 2020). "Tesco blackmail trial: farmer convicted of spiking baby food". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 "Tesco blackmail plot: Nigel Wright contaminated baby food". BBC News. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- ↑ Craig, Peter (22 August 2020). "Tesco baby food blackmail farmer revealed as former North East Lincolnshire Councillor and Tory chairman". Grimsby Telegraph . Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- 1 2 "Tesco blackmail plot: Nigel Wright jailed for 14 years". BBC News. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.