abstract:A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim (usually a business) to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they don't—they damage the victims' property.
"It was a protectionracket just like those run 40 years ago in London's nightclubs, " says Michael Deats, detective superintendent of the U.K.'s National Hi-Tech Crime Unit.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott accused Ms Gillard, who initially stood by Mr Thomson, of running a "protection racket" for him, says the BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney.