BLACKMAIL AS A METHOD OF EXTORTION

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of criminal liability for extortion, taking into account historical, modern and digital aspects. The relevance of the topic is due to the growing number of crimes, the increasing complexity of extortion methods, as well as the transformation of criminal practice in the context of the digitalization of society. The main purpose of the work is to systematically review the development of legislation, qualification issues, detection, investigation and prevention of extortion in Russia, as well as to compare national experience with foreign approaches. The article examines the historical and legal stages of the formation of norms on liability for extortion, analyzes the current legal definitions and qualification criteria, identifies the difficulties of their application in judicial practice, reflects the problems of differentiation from related structures. Considerable attention is paid to cyber-harassment, its forms, as well as the victimological characteristics of victims, types of threats and the consequences of psychological impact on victims. An important section is the analysis of the difficulties of detecting and investigating extortion, the features of latency, the use of new methods of criminology and interdepartmental interaction, as well as forecasting new threats. Historical-legal, formal-legal, comparative-legal, criminological and victimological methods are used, which ensures comprehensive consideration of the problem. The experience of Russia and foreign countries in the field of qualification, prevention and response to extortion is compared. In conclusion, it is concluded that it is necessary to improve legislation and the practice of its application, taking into account new types of threats, the development of operational investigative activities, the introduction of digital methods of criminology and the expansion of interstate cooperation. The promising directions of prevention and protection of the rights of victims of extortion in modern conditions are substantiated.