Computer Crimes, Hacking Wife hacking into husbands accounts

[milkmast]

Jurisdiction

New York

I'm in the process of getting divorced. My eventual ex-wife is not only jealous but has lost most of the common sense I used to think she had. I know that she has been trying to hack into my accounts to get information or am pretty sure. I have received notifications that suggest this including from one gmail account which has nothing of value for her, probably trying to find evidence of an affair or relationship or whatever it is she hopes to find. I guess she was able to figure out one of my passwords which I didn't change. I live in Brooklyn, New York and she lives in New Jersey. Is this a crime like a federal crime? On a TV show, maybe Law and Order or something like that, I thought I heard it was mail fraud but I don't know why that has to do with computers. Anyone involved in a story like this and know what it could mean?

 

[cbg]

Law and Order gets a lot wrong.

Let's cut to the chase here. Not in any way, shape or form defending her actions but what damages have you actually suffered as a result of her attempts?

 

[army judge]

Unless it can be proven she hacked your account, it will be one of many unexplained anomalies.

Even if it could be proven Henrietta Hacker cracked your "gmail", you would get nothing, as it would be prosecuted as a criminal matter.

That said, no law enforcement agency would care about this, unless Henrietta was a Russkie.

 

[Highwayman]

I know that she has been trying to hack into my accounts...or am pretty sure.

Yeah, that's really convincing evidence.

Doesn't sound like you know anything.

No one will care much anyway. Change your passwords, and make sure you use strong ones. Then forget about it.

If it makes you feel better, speak to your divorce attorney about it. He or she will set you straight.

 

[shrinkmaster]

What damages do yo have if any? If none change your passwords and continue with ending marriage.

 

[adjusterjack]

Anyone involved in a story like this and know what it could mean?

Don't waste your time thinking that ANY law enforcement will EVER help you with this.

Change your passwords so she can't figure them out and proceed with your divorce.

 

[ElleMD]

It is technically illegal to open mail addressed to someone else, though who among the married or cohabiting hasn't opened something addressed to the other? Be it by accident or on purpose. No one cares unless it is part of some greater crime such as identity theft. Email is the same way. If she didn't use access to your account to commit some other crime or harm you or someone else in some way, there are much bigger fish to fry. Couples frequently have joint accounts and share passwords freely making ownership and authorized access a he said, she said case.

 

[mightymoose]

Don't only change passwords, but also change any challenge questions that are set up to help remind you of passwords so she can not easily guess or otherwise obtain the new password.
Challenge questions are often the way appears access each other's accounts because they know the answers to the questions and do not need the password.

 

[leslie82]

You got notification that someone tried to access your account. You don't know who. I got notification that someone tried to access some account in California or something. I changed my password.

No one on the legal side of this is going to care. Just change your passwords and security settings.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I just happened to notice this. On the criminal side, you might be referring to wire fraud, which is often mentioned in the same vein with mail fraud, which are federal offenses. However, for a variety of reasons, this is probably not going to be the legal information that is of value to you as many users have pointed out.

On the civil side, there are some measures to take if this is an issue which may arise in a divorce proceeding. You may want to obtain the IP address of the user who accessed your email account. Gmail will sometimes notify you of what it believes to be intrusions when the most frequent IP addresses aren't used to access an email account, such as from a location that is clearly outside of the user's likely residence / place of work. I think that this is to what you are referring. Your divorce lawyer can subpoena the information from Google. As such, you may wish to send this page to your divorce lawyer: Serving Civil Subpoenas or Other Civil Requests on Google

 

[milkmast]

Hi everybody. Thanks for your answers. I know I am a little late in replying.

It feels like you have been violated if you have been hacked. Private information and emails and things you say to other people. Photographs of places we have been which are private. And you feel paranoid about everything after. I think you are minimizing the effect.

I told the divorce lawyer I hired about it and he asked me about the information about where the access took place. My soon to be ex-wife lives in the area. She denies it but it clearly jolted her and her. She doesn't have such an attitude and I think her lawyer is nervous that we would press this incident in court so he doesn't want to rock the boat. Thanks.