Email hacked into and court documents destroyed

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Brentwood1280

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Hello,

I'm currenly in the process of taking my ex-roomate and bestfriend of 8 years to small claims court for unlawful repossession of my car, refusing to return personal possessions in my car, refusing demanded final payment on my car, and then attempting to sell my car.

This same individual hacked into my email account (having been privy to my password for several years) and deleted all emails and personal documents on the same day that my car was repossessed. She also changed the security and billing information on my account so that I would not be able to access it. I contacted my email/internet provider and had her screename removed from my personal master account and all security/password information changed. After a full week of proving my idendity as account holder for the past 7.5 years,I finally had my accout reinstated and gained access to my account only to find that it was emtpy. This was 2.5 months ago.

I accessed my email account two days ago to find that my security question and password had once again been changed. All of my emails, both sent and saved had again been deleted. All of my emails pertaining to court and all of my court documents had been deleted. Thankfully I had made hard copies this time. My question is whether this activity on her end is criminal and if so, to what agency/authorities do I need to approach in reconciling the matter. Also, thought I personally know that she is the only individual witht the pertinent information to do this, how do I prove it is her and have her identified in such transgressions. Hell of a year. Thank you for your counsel and time.
 
If she had your password then she did not "hack" into your account. You don't have much of an argument to make on that issue, though it surely was frustrating.

The second time it happened- you clearly suspect her, but you have no proof. Even if you knew it was her.... nothing comes to mind that she could be charged with criminally. She is accessing your account with a password. If she was "hacking" in, then it would probably be the service provider that would have to bring a suit against her since she is getting into their servers, not into your computer.

If I were you I would abandon the idea of trying to get her busted over it because you don't have the proof, and it would be incredibly difficult to get. Even then- what are your damages?

I suspect two things.

First, you may be too predictable with your passwords and security questions. Security questions are too easy to guess for people who know you well. Use nonsense words or spell the correct word backwards... do something to make it harder to guess and gain access.

Second, if she isn't guessing your info, then it is possible that you have a keylogger or other spyware programs on your computer. This is very possible if she ever had access to it. If she knows what she was doing she could have installed it and configured your security software to overlook it as safe. She could potentially be seeing everything that you type, and viewing everything that you view.

Keyloggers are actually pretty cool when you are the one gathering the info... but you certainly don't want one on your computer without your knowledge. Scan your system thoroughly.
 
What about invasion of privacy and tampering with evidence. She deleted all of my documents. Even if this is a futile effort, will it have any sway with the Judge during my small claims hearing?
 
You have no way to prove it was her. Again, if it was her, she got into the servers, not your computer. The action would be for the internet service to bring. It is not "tampering with evidence" in the way that you think.
Do your best to keep a local copy of these documents so that you are not lost if they are deleted from your email again.
Unless she uses the information that she accesses in some unlawful way (bank transactions, applying for credit, etc), there isn't really a crime here.

It really sounds like you need to tighten up your security practices.
 
I'm not a lawyer... don't call it counsel...
But as a deputy, if you were reporting the same thing to me, I think I might be shrugging my shoulders at you.You could certainly make a civil claim, but short of admission of what she did, you don't have much to work with... and even then you don't really have anything in the way of actual damages... just frustration.
 
mightymoose has a great grasp of the situation and much of it is common sense that isn't so common. One of the problems you have is that you gave this person consent to use your account so that isn't "hacking" in the sense of the word. Did you revoke it? If so, when? Was it effective? In court, you'll have to prove your case. It's possible you may win something but I'm not sure what small claims will grant you given that it is a court of limited jurisdiction. If the defendant won't lie under oath, what are your money damages?

My guess - change what you have and move on and forget, learning from the past.
 
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