A Study of the Level of Media literacy for Victims of Electronic Extortion for Iraqis (A survey of victims of electronic extortion in Iraq)

The current study aims to reveal the level of media literacy for victims of electronic extortion on websites, determine the necessary skills for media literacy among victims of electronic extortion, and know the mechanisms of addressing and confronting electronic extortion, and the main question of the study is: What is the level of media literacy for Iraqi victims of electronic extortion on websites In order to answer this question, the researcher relied on the descriptive approach, considering that the study belongs to quantitative studies, by surveying a sample of victims of electronic extortion in Najaf Governorate, and (86) victims were reached, but the victims who agreed to fill out the form were the result. Their number is (28) victims, through the questionnaire newspaper, in order to know everything related to the electronic extortion process.

The study concluded with a set of results, including that most of the ages of the victims of extortion range between (18-25) years, and most of them have a bachelor’s degree who use the Internet for four hours or more, and most of the victims have been blackmailed through a mobile phone, and they suffer from psychological and family trauma, Most of the extortion operations took place through the Facebook platform, and that the highest average media knowledge of the victims is related to the skill of receiving and the lowest is related to the skill of thinking, and that men enjoy more media literacy than women.

Among the most prominent recommendations made by the researcher are adjusting and documenting the account settings and not accessing unreliable and known sites, the need to provide smart devices to track the blackmailer through the (IB) of the mobile device, the need to increase societal awareness of individuals to immunize them from falling victim to extortion and not to remain silent and inform the authorities The necessity of facilitating the complaints procedures submitted by the victims to overthrow the perpetrator, the need to formulate strong deterrent laws, and not to establish illegal relations with strangers.