Man Extorts Large Sums by Threatening to Publish Defamatory Information on Odnoklassniki.ru

A 29-year-old resident of Vayots Dzor has been arrested for extorting money from individuals by threatening to publish defamatory information on Odnoklassniki.ru. This information comes from the Investigative Committee.

Through necessary investigative and procedural actions carried out by the Erevan and Nubarashen administrative districts of the Investigative Committee, a number of circumstances regarding the extortion of significant and particularly large sums through threats to publish defamatory information about individuals by the resident of Vayots Dzor have been clarified.

The defendant faces charges. The resident of Vayots Dzor, born in 1991, with the intent to commit extortion, contacted a resident of Yerevan in August 2016 using a personal page registered with false information on the Odnoklassniki.ru social network. They became close and exchanged intimate messages, after which, from August 11, 2016, to January 7, 2020, under the threat of publishing defamatory information, he systematically extorted a total of 3,244,985 AMD from the Yerevan resident via payment systems, causing particularly large property damage to him.

Additionally, in May 2017, the 29-year-old man, having gotten acquainted with another resident of Yerevan in the same way, became close to him and, under the threat of publishing defamatory information, demanded on May 8, 2017, to transfer a significant amount of money to him through a payment terminal.

Based on the accumulation of sufficient evidence, charges have been brought against the 29-year-old under Articles 182.1 and 182.3(2) of the RA Criminal Code. He has been placed in custody as a preventive measure. The investigation is ongoing.