issued Giza Criminal Court Deterrent rulings were issued against 16 people, including 3 foreigners (Malaysian, Chinese, and Arab nationality), in the case of accusing them of threatening and blackmailing citizens by using private photos and linking them to immoral content, to force them to pay the dues of “loans” in Giza.
The text of the criminal ruling included the following:
First: Punishing “Israa A.,” “Salma A.,” “Hussam A.,” “Yasmine.” “Haidi,” “Jihad K.,” and “Alaa” with imprisonment with labor for one year.
Second: “Afra” (Arab nationality), “Hong” (Malaysian), and “Li Qiu” (Chinese) were punished with aggravated imprisonment for 7 years.
Third: Punishing “Iman H.,” “Habiba M.,” “Iman A.,” “Marina R.,” “Karima A.,” and “Samar A.” with imprisonment with labor for two years.
Loan applications have become a means of blackmail
Investigations, in Case No. 4936 of 2025 in Giza, revealed that the defendants created and managed electronic applications over the Internet, ostensibly to provide financial loans to users, while they were later used to threaten and blackmail the victims after obtaining their personal data and private photos. Investigations added that the defendants sent messages via social media applications containing threats to publish pictures and data of the victims or send them to their acquaintances and relatives if the required amounts were not paid.
During the investigations, the defendants admitted to committing the incidents attributed to them, and admitted to using electronic means and threatening messages to force the victims to pay.
The prosecution listens to the victims and examines the digital evidence
The Public Prosecution also heard from a number of victims, where one of the victims, who works as a first teacher, confirmed that he downloaded the application via Facebook website To obtain a financial loan, he was later subjected to repeated threats to publish his private photos.
The report of the General Administration of Information Technology demonstrated the presence of clear threatening messages and phrases inside the seized phones, in addition to digital evidence that supported the accusations against the accused.
Investigations revealed that the application used was available via Google Play StoreIt requests broad powers that include access to the camera, contacts, messages, geographical location, and personal data, in addition to obligating the user to upload a photo of his national ID card and a personal photo.
Threats to send pictures to contacts when defaulting on payment
The case papers revealed that the application was giving users a short payment period not exceeding 7 days, and in the event of late payment, threatening messages would begin by publishing photos and personal data and sending them to the contacts registered on the phone, in an attempt to pressure the victims and force them to pay additional sums of money.
