Personal data of individuals are obtained unlawfully through malicious software or programmes. These data are used by malicious persons as a means of blackmail and pressure against individuals, and in order to prevent the dissemination of this data, an amount of cryptocurrency is requested from the data owners. The purpose of preferring the demand as cryptocurrency is due to the fact that the identities of the malicious persons trying to obtain benefits are not disclosed and their mysterious titles are not damaged. Unlawful acts carried out in this way constitute the offence of blackmail in accordance with Article 107 of the Turkish Penal Code. The offence of blackmail is the offence of forcing a person to do or not to do something that is illegal or not obliged to do, or to provide unfair advantage, by betting that he will do or not do something that he is entitled or obliged to do, and it can be committed intentionally. The person who commits this offence is punished with imprisonment from one year to three years and a judicial fine up to five thousand days in accordance with the relevant law.

It is also an offence that can be prosecuted ex officio. That is, it is not among the offences whose prosecution depends on complaint. This means that when the prosecutor’s office learns that an offence has been committed in any way, an investigation will automatically begin for the relevant offence. There is no there is no complaint period; the statute of limitations for the offence is 8 years. This means that the legal process must be completed within 8 years at the latest from the date of the offence. Otherwise, no further criminal investigation or prosecution will be possible for that act.

To give an example for concreteness; Let’s imagine that the malicious person who captured your data contacted you, stated that he accessed your computer, stated that there were sexual images of you and demanded an amount of crypto money from you in order not to spread them on the internet. In fact, this is not an ordinary example; it is a real event that happened. As a result of this unfair act, the offence of blackmail is committed by threatening to disclose or attribute matters that may damage the honour or reputation of the victim. The protected legal interest in sanctioning the offence is the free will of the individual and the protection of his property.

If such a situation has occurred, legal proceedings should be initiated as soon as possible.