RAMALLAH, West Bank — According to Palestinian police reports from Dec. 7, 2015, a 25-year-old woman, A. B., from Hebron fell victim to Internet blackmail, when a young man from a city in the northern West Bank hacked into her Facebook account, stole private photos of her and threatened to publish them. The woman was forced to pay him 10,000 shekels ($2,500) and 250 grams of gold in the hope that he would not make her photos public. The man threatened her until she ran out of money and went to the police cybercrimes unit, which followed up on the case and arrested the man.

Louay Erzikat, official spokesperson for the Palestinian police, told Al-Monitor, “Cybercrimes are on the rise in Palestine, especially in light of technological developments, the Internet and social networking sites. Around 1,020 cybercrimes were registered in 2015 in Hebron, the most populous area in the West Bank, compared to 922 in 2014.” 

Cybercrimes typically involve blackmail, defamation and hacking into social media accounts and credit card information. Many Palestinian women and girls who have been subjected to blackmail or other online threats are reluctant to file complaints with the police given that the situation typically involves a sensitive matter, which can be intimidating in a conservative society.

Statistics from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology published in May 2015 revealed that 48.3% of households in Gaza and the West Bank have Internet service, and about 63.1% own computers. Among individuals, 53.7% over 10 years of age use the Internet, while 75.1% of Internet users participate in social networks. Seventy-five percent of social network users create accounts to meet new people, while 76.5% use them for entertainment.