Blackmailed for doing video chat. What punishment did a young man receive who threatened his girlfriend with compromising photos
A young man from Iași was recently sentenced to one year and eight months in prison after he threatened his ex-girlfriend that she would reveal to her family that he was doing video chat if she did not give him money.
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According to Ziarul de Iasi, the young woman initially agreed to send him money, for fear that his family would not find out what he was doing.
Elena I. had a relationship with Mihai Bejan during 2023-2024. After they broke up, the young woman started video chatting without her parents knowing.
The situation became known to the ex-boyfriend after he received photos of her from a friend, and he later began to threaten her to reveal his activity to the family, suggesting this through several messages sent at the end of October and the beginning of November 2025. On November 4, he sent her another message, accompanied by the girl's profile on a video chat platform:
“And how do we make sure I don't know anything?” He then sent her a screenshot of the young sister's Facebook profile, suggesting she could tell her what she was up to. Initially, he told him that his car had broken down and he needed 3,000 lei.
Elena I. told him that she would send him the money in two or three days, but asked if it would be the only money requested.
In the afternoon of November 6, the financial claims would have been increased to 4,000 lei, a sign of a typical escalation in cases of digital blackmail, writes Agorapress.
She refused and filed a complaint against the blackmailer. Hearing as a suspect, Bejan admitted the deed, but in a nuanced way
The young man initially claimed that he had only asked for the money as a loan and that he wanted to get the ex-girlfriend to give up the video chat, threatening to send the images only to her sister. Later, he fully admitted the crime of blackmail, and the messages found in his phone contradicted the version of a simple loan, showing pressure and direct threats to the victim.
Mihai Bejan was sentenced by the Iași Court in the first instance for blackmail to one year and eight months of suspended prison, after he threatened his ex-girlfriend in order to get money.
The judges took into account his age, the fact that he is socially integrated and applied a minimum sentence. At the same time, he was forbidden to approach or contact the victim for two years. The sentence is not final.
