More and more young Saudi women are found involved in blackmailing men and extorting money, with some even boasting about their “successes,” thanks to social networking sites, dating apps and hacked smart phones.

This is the latest phenomenon haunting society, with local newspapers publishing stories about women blackmailers in the Kingdom almost daily. Local papers have also interviewed experts about their opinions on the best possible way to fight this problem.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) last year established a special unit to counter women’s blackmail. The unit was established as a result of the increasing complaints of this nature.

An official at the commission said it has dealt with 500 cases in the conservative Saudi community where citizens were subject to blackmail. A total of 250 cases were filed by women whose photos were published on social media.

Data shows that around 278 young men asked for help after falling victim to women blackmailers in one year, after having shared their pictures and personal information through Skype.

Experts blame the lack of religious awareness, bad company, lack of family monitoring, Internet and BlackBerry for the spread of this evil.

Legal expert Hadi Al-Yami said that blackmailing is when somebody gets something they don’t deserve by threatening someone else, or using their weak points or threatening to reveal information or secrets about them unless they respond to the blackmailer’s demands. He added that this could destroy a person.

Al-Yami stressed that the Article 3 of the Criminal Law states that whoever publishes an Internet recording with the intention of defaming others could be sentenced up to one year in jail, or fined up to SR500,000 or both.

He added that if the documentation process involves technical and professional skills then the punishment could be raised up to five years in prison and a fine up to SR3 million, whether the documentation was done by audio or video, and regardless of whether the person is known or not.

Mahmoud Al-Kisnawi, sociologist at Umm Al-Qura University, said the blackmailing problem is on the rise, driven by the excessive and unrestricted use of Internet and social media. He explained that manipulative people tend to use this technology to steal people’s money.“Many women find Gulf men, particularly Saudis, as an easy prey as they come from conservative societies, yet have the financial ability to pay them money,” he explained.

Supreme Judiciary Council head Sheikh Saleh bin Homaid said that blackmailing is prohibited, “Blackmailers cause others psychological, social and financial harm, and misuse their title and power,” he explained, “They also attack other people’s privacy and harm believers.”

An official source at the Interior Ministry told the SPA that the counter-cybercrime system is now under implementation. He added that the system is a very important legal framework to define IT crimes, limit and confront them.