An Ivory Coast blackmailer can send dozens of texts in a day. I know because I have worked countless cases involving Côte d’Ivoire blackmailers, and they have blown up my phone too. Sometimes a hundred messages in one day.
That is the tactic. They want you staring at your phone, frightened to miss a message, and ready to pay just to make the noise stop.
I am Frank M. Ahearn, the Blackmail Fixer. When I take over, those messages come to me. You step away from the phone while I deal with the person making the threat.
Stall the Payment First
If the blackmailer is demanding money right now, tell them you need a few days to borrow it. Then stand your ground.
They may send ten more messages. They may tell you that you have only an hour. Repeating the demand does not mean you have suddenly found the money.
Keep your answer short: you are trying to borrow it, and it will take time. You can read more in Free Blackmail Help: What Do I Do Right Now?
You Do Not Have to Text All Day
In cases I have handled, blackmailers have demanded constant replies. They keep messaging until the victim feels obliged to answer every threat.
Tell them you are going into work and cannot use your phone there.
They may ignore what you said and keep texting. You do not have to stop working to answer every message. When you respond, repeat that you cannot use your phone at work and that you are still trying to arrange the money.
You are reducing contact while keeping the stall in place. I have watched that approach get them off the phone for the day. The difficult part is standing your ground while the messages keep coming.
Skip the Morning Check-In
Another demand I have seen is the daily check-in.
“Text me every morning.”
They want to become the first thing you deal with when you wake up. Now you are following their schedule before the day has even begun.
Do not turn that into your routine. If they ask why you did not check in, keep it simple: you forgot.
You do not need a long explanation about your family, job, or where you were. Those details are your life. They do not need them.
When I Take Over, They Message Me
I have dealt with this bombardment myself. The difference is that I am not reading those texts while picturing my wife, family, or employer being contacted. I can deal with the demands without the fear the blackmailer is trying to create.
When possible, I move the communication from your contact to one I control. I take over as you. I stall the payment, manage the messages, and work to prevent exposure.
I also look at what the blackmailer knows about your identity and the people they are threatening to contact. When possible, I use disinformation to change what they believe they know.
That is my work. You do not have to spend every hour answering them.
Read more about how I take over a blackmail threat:
A Little About Me
I started as a skip tracer in 1984. I found people for a living, then used what I learned to help people disappear and protect their privacy.
I am a public speaker, an extreme privacy expert, and the New York Times bestselling author of How to Disappear. Today, people call me the Blackmail Fixer because I step into the situation and deal with the person behind the threats.
There is no staff passing your case around. You deal with me.
If you want to start handling this yourself, my book Blackmail Survival Manual: 10 Rules Before You Pay or Panic explains my approach:
If your phone is being hammered with threats right now, stall the payment and contact me. Tell me what they are demanding, what they know, and how often they are messaging you.
I have dealt with the hundred-message days. Let me take over the phone.
FA@FrankAhearn.com