Is this blackmail?

UglyBolloxFace

Bonjour,

Long story short, I received a very insulting letter from a bank (they, wait for it, called me a 'cúnt' within said letter).

Journalists contacted me about writing a story on it, after they found out about it (through Boards).

A poster on Boards suggests I should 'ask the reporter how much he is offering and then ask the bank how much they will pay to not have the letter published'.

Now, my question is - would this be illegal? Is it technically blackmail?

Cheers.

smokie2008

:eek: Is this a joke??

A Bank???? called you a c u next Tuesday??? In writing????

I find it exceptionally difficult to believe that a bank used that word in a letter.

Very close to calling shenanigans on this one.

UglyBolloxFace

smokie2008 wrote: »

:eek: Is this a joke??

A Bank???? called you a c u next Tuesday??? In writing????

Not a joke. It happened:o Any input on the original post?

grizzly

I don't think so, people are always getting paid to not talk to the media by large corporations. Normally not hard cash though – more likely in the form of credit/free services.

smokin ace

Deleted User wrote: »

I find it exceptionally difficult to believe that a bank used that word in a letter.

Very close to calling shenanigans on this one.

i also find this story a very difficult one to believe

Now, I've read the thread where you told the actual story you refer to above (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056231995) and it seems you didn't really find it that offensive and that it happened four years ago.

This seems pretty nasty all round to me.

EDIT: That is, if it's actually true.

UglyBolloxFace

Deleted User wrote: »

I find it exceptionally difficult to believe that a bank used that word in a letter.

Very close to calling shenanigans on this one.

smokin ace wrote: »

i also find this story a very difficult one to believe

Regardless of whether you believe it or not, do you have any input to the original query?

(also would you care to hypothesise as to why I would make this up?)

UglyBolloxFace

Deleted User wrote: »

Now, I've read the thread where you told the actual story you refer to above (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056231995) and it seems you didn't really find it that offensive and that it happened four years ago.

This seems pretty nasty all round to me.

EDIT: That is, if it's actually true.

So I am nasty because of this then yeah? And not the actual bank, no?

Typical solicitor mentality (if, of course, you are one).

Edit: and in fairness, I let them off very lightly.

UglyBolloxFace

grizzly wrote: »

I don't think so, people are always getting paid to not talk to the media by large corporations. Normally not hard cash though – more likely in the form of credit/free services.

Thanks for your input - I appreciate it.

UglyBolloxFace

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

So I am nasty because of this then yeah? And not the actual bank, no?

Typical solicitor mentality (if, of course, you are one).

1. I said all round, not just on your part. Bank shouldn't have sent it and you shouldn't engage in blackmail. See, nastiness on both sides (i.e all-round nasty)

2. I'm not a solicitor. Thanks though.

Drumpot

Is it right to try to get money off anybody/company for something that doesnt really bother you ? Of course not , particularly in this instance where it very obviously didnt upset you.

Do you owe anything to the bank ? No

In a perfect world you wouldnt even consider doing what you suggested. Unfortunatley, this is not a perfect world and I would hazzard a guess that the banks would screw you silly if roles were in some way reversed. I would do whatever I can to benefit from the banks mistake.

UglyBolloxFace

Deleted User wrote: »

1. I said all round, not just on your part. Bank shouldn't have sent it and you shouldn't engage in blackmail. See, nastiness on both sides (i.e all-round nasty)

2. I'm not a solicitor. Thanks though.

Corrected.

Ah so it is 'blackmail'?

UglyBolloxFace

Drumpot wrote: »

Is it right to try to get money off anybody/company for something that doesnt really bother you ? Of course not , particularly in this instance where it very obviously didnt upset you.

Do you owe anything to the bank ? No

In a perfect world you wouldnt even consider doing what you suggested. Unfortunatley, this is not a perfect world and I would hazzard a guess that the banks would screw you silly if roles were in some way reversed. I would do whatever I can to benefit from the banks mistake.

True, I wasn't bothered at the time. But looking back, I let them off very lightly - wouldn't you agree?

So, I'm in two minds about it to be honest. I can just about guarantee if it happened to anyone else then they would certainly pursue it.

UglyBolloxFace

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

Corrected.

Ah so it is 'blackmail'?

Well I'm unaware of an Irish definition of blackmail but the English definition (found here) seems pretty succinct.

Blackmail.

(1)A person is guilty of blackmail if, with a view to gain for himself or another or with intent to cause loss to another, he makes any unwarranted demand with menaces; and for this purpose a demand with menaces is unwarranted unless the person making it does so in the belief—

(a)that he has reasonable grounds for making the demand; and

(b)that the use of the menaces is a proper means of reinforcing the demand.

(2)The nature of the act or omission demanded is immaterial, and it is also immaterial whether the menaces relate to action to be taken by the person making the demand.

(3)A person guilty of blackmail shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

It might fall short of blackmail but it's certainly immoral. This is a non-story that you want to make money from. Fair enough. Trying to get even more money out of the bank that did it just seems a little low is all.

Not meant as a personal offence by the way as I am sure there are innumerable people who would do the same and people who would have good reason for doing so in certain circumstances.

Drumpot

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

True, I wasn't bothered at the time. But looking back, I let them off very lightly - wouldn't you agree?

So, I'm in two minds about it to be honest. I can just about guarantee if it happened to anyone else then they would certainly pursue it.

Well, Given the fact that you didnt really care, the "crime" wasnt really that bad in comparison to the bad press that the banks would get means it is open for discussion as to whether or not you let them off lightly. However, had you been a holy Joe and really upset, then I would of said most definitely yes.

I profess I absolutely hate the banks, so I struggle to be objective (or show any moral/ethical stance to the banks). I would say take them for whatever you can.

Keith186

Blackmail or not I think its bad form trying to make money out of it seeing as it was a practical joke by your cousin.
I'm sure the journalist is reading this post of yours too and knows your game.

MagicSean

Did your cousin not sign you up to a service using that name? Isnt that why you got the letter?

UglyBolloxFace

Drumpot wrote: »

Well, Given the fact that you didnt really care, the "crime" wasnt really that bad in comparison to the bad press that the banks would get means it is open for discussion as to whether or not you let them off lightly. However, had you been a holy Joe and really upset, then I would of said most definitely yes.

I profess I absolutely hate the banks, so I struggle to be objective (or show any moral/ethical stance to the banks). I would say take them for whatever you can.

Well in my opinion they were let off very lightly. Just imagine it in the newspaper - they were certainly let off lightly.
I will ponder about it, but I may not go ahead and do anything.

Keith186 wrote: »

Blackmail or not I think its bad form trying to make money out of it seeing as it was a practical joke by your cousin.
I'm sure the journalist is reading this post of yours too and knows your game.

True, on all your points. But the bank were inherently at fault here - the letter should never have made it through to my house; it should never have been printed.
And of course, I know full well that the journalist could be reading it, hence why I posted.

k_mac wrote: »

Did your cousin not sign you up to a service using that name? Isnt that why you got the letter?

True. But see my remark above - the bank were inherently at fault here - the letter should never have made it through to my house; it should never have been printed.
So that means that any Joe Soap could have sent the letter - he could have typed in any address and any profanity and it would have been delivered. It, therefore, makes no difference who sent the letter. Do you get my point?

The_Morrigan

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

True. But see my remark above - the bank were inherently at fault here - the letter should never have made it through to my house; it should never have been printed.
So that means that any Joe Soap could have sent the letter - he could have typed in any address and any profanity and it would have been delivered. It, therefore, makes no difference who sent the letter. Do you get my point?

Why do you think that the bank are at fault?
Did the letter not contain the details that the bank were supplied with?

I could understand there being an issue if the bank were supplied with the details of a Mr John Smith and that person got a letter addressed to a Mr C Face.
The banks send out hundreds of letters a day that are printed from a database, they are not hand typed by a monkey chained to a desk!

MagicSean

Why should they not have sent it? I've seen plenty of stranger names in my time.

UglyBolloxFace

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

True. But see my remark above - the bank were inherently at fault here - the letter should never have made it through to my house; it should never have been printed.
So that means that any Joe Soap could have sent the letter - he could have typed in any address and any profanity and it would have been delivered. It, therefore, makes no difference who sent the letter. Do you get my point?

Just a word of advice. If you give your story and the journo does the research then it could quickly become a "Cousins try to Scam Bank" story.

Wolfe Tone

Mention it to them and see who offers the most money, the bank or the journo.

BrianD

I don't think the bank will be bothered what you do ... it's not as if they can't go much lower in the publicity stakes.

All they'll do is blame the person that sent it , issue an apology and continue to ask for whatever you owe them.

moy83

It would be nice to get enough out of the banks to cover all the extra tax you will have to pay over the next few years to cover the bailouts they are all getting

UglyBolloxFace

BrianD wrote: »

I don't think the bank will be bothered what you do ... it's not as if they can't go much lower in the publicity stakes.

All they'll do is blame the person that sent it , issue an apology and continue to ask for whatever you owe them.

- I don't owe money to the Bank? Have you read the posts etc; it's about them calling me a cúnt.

The_Morrigan

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

- I don't owe money to the Bank? Have you read the posts etc; it's about them calling me a cúnt.

No, they didn't - your cousin did.
The bank cannot be held responsible for false information being given to them, unless it was part of AML procedures that they missed.

UglyBolloxFace

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

- I don't owe money to the Bank? Have you read the posts etc; it's about them calling me a cúnt.

No they didn't call you a ****. If your first name was charity they wouldn't be calling you a charity would they?

Calling someone a **** is pejorative. Calling them Mr. **** Face is just the appropriate mode of address given their information. Nothing wrong there.

keysersoze0330

Get whatever you can of the journo, cause the bank will give you nothing but a big legal bill

Abelloid

Your cousin called you a cúnt, he just used the bank's mailing system to do it.

I don't think the Sunday World will hold the front page for you.



..maybe they will. I don't know.

Offy

Cop on OP, what will happen to your cousin if you do go to the papers? Who is really responsible? The bank or your cousin?

BrianD

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

- I don't owe money to the Bank? Have you read the posts etc; it's about them calling me a cúnt.

The impression you gave is that the called you a "see you next Tuesday" in the course of regular correspondence over some matter outstanding between you and them. This is seems not to be the case.

I have had a look at the meandering link to the other boards post which seems to imply that somebody requested information to be sent a Mr. C. Face at your address as a joke.

There is no story here - especially as it's 4 years old. Funny admin story at the most. The journalist will pay you nothing for your story ... in fact you might name him or her and their newspaper so we can see exactly what sort of idiot we are dealing with that thinks there is a story. Obviously they'd prefer to write about this then examining their own behaviour over the past years.

Also it's worth noting that if the letter was addressed to Mr. C. Face at your address and unless your name is as appeared on the envelope then the letter wasn't for you.

I'd keep the letter and show it to your mates down the pub and wouldn't waste any more time on it.

Reloc8

There's no way a newspaper will run a story like this in a way that doesn't make you look pretty ridiculous.

i.e. How would you feel about this story :

"THE BANK CALLED ME A C$NT AND NOW THEY DON'T CARE'

There'll then be a pic of you sitting on your sofa holding up the letter and looking sad and a story along the lines of :-

John Doe of 1 Doeborough Avenue, Doe Ville, County Doe thought he was receiving a letter from his bank about his money. Then he opened it and couldn't believe his eyes. It was addressed in vulgar terms which we as a family newspaper do not think it appropriate to repeat without warning our readers before proceeding further and to ensure that their children are not exposed to it.

[TURN TO PAGE 56 FOR SAUCY TEXT MESSAGES AND SEXY FUN!!!!!!]

'SHOCKED'

'I was shocked' John Doe told our reporters. 'It was really shocking that they would shock me by writing such a shocking letter. I just can't understand how they could do such a thing'.

SOFTWARE CORRUPTION

The offending word in question was apparently missed by the Bank's security software, giving rise to huge issues regarding the security of the security software which may be corrupted.

'DISGUSTED'

'I was just disgusted' said John Doe. 'It was disgusting that they would write to me in such disgusting terms. Our children could have read the letter and then they would be asking me why I was a c$nt. They've never even heard the word before. I had to sit down and explain it to them in case they found the letter or read this newspaper.'

BANK HAS NO ANSWER AND NO COMMENT

When contacted the Bank in question stated that the problem started when John Doe's cousin registered him as a c$nt and automated correspondence began to issue in that name. They apologised for any distress caused. However when asked why John Doe's cousin would do such a thing they told our reporter they could not answer that question. The Bank went on to say that they could not comment on whether John Doe was a c$nt or not.

'RIDICULED'

'I feel as if I have been made to look ridiculous' said John Doe. 'It's ridiculous that the Bank would write me a letter calling me a c$nt'. When contacted by our national news reporting team he said 'if I told anyone about it they would ridicule me.'

IMF BAILOUT

We have established that funds procured from the IMF Bailout may have been applied to fund the printing and postage of the letter calling Mr. Doe a c$nt. A Bank spokesman had this to say :-

'Are you people serious ? I don't know how the postage was paid. It probably did come from the IMF. Have you honestly go nothing better to report on the banking crisis than this ?'

A source within senior management confirmed that while the Bank did not really believe John Doe was a c$nt they were fairly sure that everyone else in the country was, having regard to the terms of the bail out in question.

SADDENED

'I'm just sad about the whole thing' said John Doe. 'It made me sad when they called me a c$nt and now I feel as if I will be sad for a long time. I just want to make sure that this kind of thing doesn't happen to anyone else.'. Mr. Doe agreed that he had called himself 'Uglybolloxface' on a well-known internet site but said that was a matter for himself and nothing to do with the uglybolloxface in the bank who called him a c$nt.

OUTRAGE

We spoke with Shawn Aolottoftime, president of the NAPWHBCC (national association of people who have been called c$nts' He had this to say: 'the NAPWHBCC was set up in April 2011 to help people who are in exactly this position. What is needed is emergency legislation to ensure that when one of our members is called a c$nt they have immediate recourse to large sums of money'.

CRISIS

The IMF refused to confirm or deny or speak to our reporter whatsoever when asked what implications John Doe being called a c$nt would have for the national budgetary crisis.

VISIT

President Barrack Obama was unavailable for comment. It is understood that he will visit the country in the immediate future but will not be asked to adjudicate on whether Mr. Doe is or is not a c$nt

HAVE YOU BEEN CALLED A C$NT ??

Contact our national news broadcasting reporting investigation team immediately by email, phone, text or shouting loudly outside a supermarket."

Delancey

OP - the bank did not call you a cunt , your cousin called you that name on bank stationery - huge difference.
Journalist pay for your story ? Not a hope , though we could have a whip round on boards to pay you not to post such nonsense again.

Plazaman

I am calling the bank to whistleblow on you're scam to try to extort money from them....... unless of course you put a few thou into my account at that very same bank.

UglyBolloxFace

Reloc8 wrote: »

There's no way a newspaper will run a story like this in a way that doesn't make you look pretty ridiculous.

i.e. How would you feel about this story :

"THE BANK CALLED ME A C$NT AND NOW THEY DON'T CARE'

There'll then be a pic of you sitting on your sofa holding up the letter and looking sad and a story along the lines of :-

John Doe of 1 Doeborough Avenue, Doe Ville, County Doe thought he was receiving a letter from his bank about his money. Then he opened it and couldn't believe his eyes. It was addressed in vulgar terms which we as a family newspaper do not think it appropriate to repeat without warning our readers before proceeding further and to ensure that their children are not exposed to it.

[TURN TO PAGE 56 FOR SAUCY TEXT MESSAGES AND SEXY FUN!!!!!!]

'SHOCKED'

'I was shocked' John Doe told our reporters. 'It was really shocking that they would shock me by writing such a shocking letter. I just can't understand how they could do such a thing'.

SOFTWARE CORRUPTION

The offending word in question was apparently missed by the Bank's security software, giving rise to huge issues regarding the security of the security software which may be corrupted.

'DISGUSTED'

'I was just disgusted' said John Doe. 'It was disgusting that they would write to me in such disgusting terms. Our children could have read the letter and then they would be asking me why I was a c$nt. They've never even heard the word before. I had to sit down and explain it to them in case they found the letter or read this newspaper.'

BANK HAS NO ANSWER AND NO COMMENT

When contacted the Bank in question stated that the problem started when John Doe's cousin registered him as a c$nt and automated correspondence began to issue in that name. They apologised for any distress caused. However when asked why John Doe's cousin would do such a thing they told our reporter they could not answer that question. The Bank went on to say that they could not comment on whether John Doe was a c$nt or not.

'RIDICULED'

'I feel as if I have been made to look ridiculous' said John Doe. 'It's ridiculous that the Bank would write me a letter calling me a c$nt'. When contacted by our national news reporting team he said 'if I told anyone about it they would ridicule me.'

IMF BAILOUT

We have established that funds procured from the IMF Bailout may have been applied to fund the printing and postage of the letter calling Mr. Doe a c$nt. A Bank spokesman had this to say :-

'Are you people serious ? I don't know how the postage was paid. It probably did come from the IMF. Have you honestly go nothing better to report on the banking crisis than this ?'

A source within senior management confirmed that while the Bank did not really believe John Doe was a c$nt they were fairly sure that everyone else in the country was, having regard to the terms of the bail out in question.

SADDENED

'I'm just sad about the whole thing' said John Doe. 'It made me sad when they called me a c$nt and now I feel as if I will be sad for a long time. I just want to make sure that this kind of thing doesn't happen to anyone else.'. Mr. Doe agreed that he had called himself 'Uglybolloxface' on a well-known internet site but said that was a matter for himself and nothing to do with the uglybolloxface in the bank who called him a c$nt.

OUTRAGE

We spoke with Shawn Aolottoftime, president of the NAPWHBCC (national association of people who have been called c$nts' He had this to say: 'the NAPWHBCC was set up in April 2011 to help people who are in exactly this position. What is needed is emergency legislation to ensure that when one of our members is called a c$nt they have immediate recourse to large sums of money'.

CRISIS

The IMF refused to confirm or deny or speak to our reporter whatsoever when asked what implications John Doe being called a c$nt would have for the national budgetary crisis.

VISIT

President Barrack Obama was unavailable for comment. It is understood that he will visit the country in the immediate future but will not be asked to adjudicate on whether Mr. Doe is or is not a c$nt

HAVE YOU BEEN CALLED A C$NT ??

Contact our national news broadcasting reporting investigation team immediately by email, phone, text or shouting loudly outside a supermarket."

Bravo...that is fúcking hilarious!:D

UglyBolloxFace

BrianD wrote: »

The impression you gave is that the called you a "see you next Tuesday" in the course of regular correspondence over some matter outstanding between you and them. This is seems not to be the case.

I have had a look at the meandering link to the other boards post which seems to imply that somebody requested information to be sent a Mr. C. Face at your address as a joke.

There is no story here - especially as it's 4 years old. Funny admin story at the most. The journalist will pay you nothing for your story ... in fact you might name him or her and their newspaper so we can see exactly what sort of idiot we are dealing with that thinks there is a story. Obviously they'd prefer to write about this then examining their own behaviour over the past years.

Also it's worth noting that if the letter was addressed to Mr. C. Face at your address and unless your name is as appeared on the envelope then the letter wasn't for you.

I'd keep the letter and show it to your mates down the pub and wouldn't waste any more time on it.

The journalist (actually journalists, there were a few) have been duly told to feck off.

Kind regards to you all,

UBF

MagicSean

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

The journalist (actually journalists, there were a few) have been duly told to feck off.

Kind regards to you all,

UBF

I hope you signed your letter with your username.