""Listen carefully, you have a debt of 400,000": This is how the owner of a hospitality villa in Safed was blackmailed

August 8, 2023   

As part of the police's fight against collecting protection fees, officers arrested Yousef Hussein Hayeb, 32, a resident of the village of Tuba Zangaria - after he was suspected of trying to blackmail two business owners in the north through threats and demanding that they pay hundreds of thousands of shekels, otherwise he would harm them and their families. The arrest was made after complaints were received that businessmen were approached via WhatsApp to pay protection fees - hundreds of thousands of shekels, otherwise they would be harmed. ▪️ In one case, a businessman who owns hospitality villas in the Nof Kinneret neighborhood in the city of Safed received a demand via WhatsApp to pay 400,000 NIS or he will be harmed. "Listen... You on the target (the target) know how many houses you have and how much money, listen very well if you talk to Moses (someone) you and your daughters (and daughters) are gone and the houses will go.... From the threat you have a debt of 400,000...," the message said. ▪️ In another case, the manager of a money exchange business (change) in the area of ​​the village of Boketa was threatened to pay half a million NIS, otherwise he will be harmed. "... You have until Friday to bring 500,000... You have until this evening at 7:30 to send a message that you are ready, you understand idiot.... "Don't play with me, Toba... Be careful... You want us to start with violence..." Upon receiving the complaints, an investigation was opened, during which the Northern District investigators were able to trace the identity of the suspect - who was arrested. After an intensive investigation, enough evidence was collected against the suspect that led to the filing of a prosecutor's statement by the Northern District Attorney's Office. The suspect's detention was extended and, in accordance with the prosecutor's statement filed by the Northern District investigators, the Northern District Attorney's Office intends to file an indictment against him and a request to detain him until the end of the proceedings. "The Israel Police calls on every citizen who has fallen victim to a crime accompanied by threats, not to give in to blackmail and to immediately notify the police! The accumulated experience in a variety of blackmail crimes with threats shows that paying or obeying the same offender does not guarantee anything and often even encourages the offenders to deepen the blackmail and to continue carrying out their plot against the same victim and additional victims," ​​the police statement said. "The Northern District Police are using all the means at their disposal to combat the phenomenon and will do whatever is necessary to ensure the peace of the complainants, arrest the perpetrators and take them in handcuffs to court.".