What should I do if I encounter online extortion?

1. Be sure to save evidence, such as chat records with merchants. If you receive harassing or threatening phone calls or text messages, you should pay attention to keeping phone calls, information records and verifiable information sources;

2. You can complain to the online trading service platform where the seller is located;

3. If the circumstances are serious, you can choose to call the police or bring a civil lawsuit to the court.

If there is evidence that the seller does have telephone harassment, insult, intimidation and other acts, then the seller's behavior has constituted a civil infringement, and if the circumstances are serious, it may be subject to criminal investigation.

Relevant laws and regulations:

Article 42 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law:

One of the following acts shall be detained for less than 5 days or fined for less than 500 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, he shall be detained for more than 5 days 10 days, and may also be fined up to 500 yuan:

(1) writing threatening letters or threatening the personal safety of others by other means;

(2) publicly insulting others or fabricating facts to slander others;

(3) fabricating facts, falsely accusing and framing others, and attempting to subject others to criminal investigation or public security administration punishment;

(4) Threatening, insulting, beating or retaliating against witnesses and their close relatives;

(5) sending obscene, insulting, intimidating or other information for many times to interfere with the normal life of others;

(six) voyeurism, sneak shots, eavesdropping, spreading the privacy of others.

2. Article 293 of the Criminal Law: Whoever commits one of the following acts of provoking troubles and disrupting social order shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, criminal detention or public surveillance:

(a) beating others at will, and the circumstances are bad;

(two) chasing, intercepting, insulting or intimidating others, and the circumstances are bad;

(three) extortion or arbitrary damage, occupation of public or private property, if the circumstances are serious;

(4) Causing serious disorder in public places.

Whoever gathers people for many times to commit the acts mentioned in the preceding paragraph and seriously undermines social order shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years and may also be fined.