At my workplace (I am a sole proprietor), a now considered ex-family member of mine (we'll call him John for now) asked if he could come by and check some bills out for the reasons of budgeting and money management. One of the main reasons I given was, "I need to see why we keep going over our minutes." I agreed and let him go into the back office while I went upon my daily duties. What I didnt realize at the time was that he was actually going through personal e-mails, taking down the usernames/passwords of multiple sites to later be able to log in at the privacy of his own home and REALLY invade my privacy. I became suspicious after realizing I have NEVER gone over my minutes or data. With a little further investigation, it was a complete invasion of my privacy, and he even managed to change some of my passwords without informing me.

I am asking if it is unlawful because I technically did permit him to check certain bills for (what i thought was) the budgeting reasons.

I have not yet decided, because I'm a fairly patient person if its worth to pursue in court because it is somebody I have known for a long time. But John has done me very very wrong and has been lying to me constantly.

I don't want to send him to Jail, I just want him to pay consequences either monetary or some sort of community service.

--And I don't have the money to hire a reputable attorney. Business has been hard. Would I make any progress with a public defender?



Any help would be greatly appreciated.

One of the main reasons I was given was* (typo)

C'mon one of you smart people. Throw me a frikkin bone here!!!!

Yes,it's illegal. You gave him permission to use your computer not to trespass your accounts. He may be in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Although those cases are not easy to prove.

Thank you for the insight Hacker. Even somehow my Banking Account password was changed. Do you think banks have the capability of tracking down the location, computer, or person who made the change.

Any other advice people?

I don't want him to think he can just get away with this,

I would kick his ass, personally.

Ralph, I wish I could do more than just kick his ass. believe me. I'm sure if this did get physical, the police would be called on me and he'd have the first AND last laugh.

That's a really shitty situation. I would call the police and tell them what happened. At least you'd get to talk to them about it.

Non-emergency number, of course.

Shitty and hopeless indeed...
not to mention, to make things worse, he feels the right to curse me out saying theres nothing I can do about it.

i need a damn miracle.

you did NOT give him permission to change your password or accounts.

look at it this way - if I work at a bank, I am given permission to use the computer. My job does NOT give me permission to lrecord account information, change passwords, etc.

You have been TOTALLY violated and trespassed against, yo.

s 18.2-152.3. COMPUTER fraud.

Any person who uses a COMPUTER or COMPUTER network without authority and with the intent to:

Obtain property or services by false pretenses;
Embezzle or commit larceny; or
Convert the property of another shall be guilty of the CRIME of COMPUTER fraud. If the value of the property or services obtained is $200 or more, the CRIME of COMPUTER fraud shall be punishable as a Class 5 felony. Where the
value of the property or services obtained is less than $200, the CRIME of
COMPUTER fraud shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

s 18.2-152.4. COMPUTER trespass.

Any person who uses a COMPUTER or COMPUTER network without authority and with the intent to:

Temporarily or permanently remove COMPUTER data, COMPUTER programs, or COMPUTER software from a COMPUTER or COMPUTER network;
Cause a COMPUTER to malfunction regardless of how long the malfunction persists;
Alter or erase any COMPUTER data, COMPUTER programs, or COMPUTER software;
Effect the creation or alteration of a financial instrument or of an electronic transfer of funds;
Cause physical injury to the property of another; or
Make or cause to be made an unauthorized copy, in any form, including, but not limited to, any printed or electronic form of COMPUTER data, COMPUTER programs, or COMPUTER software residing in, communicated by, or produced by a COMPUTER or COMPUTER network shall be guilty of the CRIME of COMPUTER trespass, which shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor. If such act is done maliciously and the value of the property damaged is $2,500 or more, the offense shall be punishable as a Class 6 felony.

s 18.2-152.5. COMPUTER invasion of privacy.

A person is guilty of the CRIME of COMPUTER invasion of privacy when he uses a COMPUTER or COMPUTER network and intentionally examines without authority any employment, salary, credit or any other financial or personal information relating to any other person. "Examination" under this section requires the offender to review the information relating to any other person after the time at which the offender knows or should know that he is without authority to view the information displayed.
The CRIME of COMPUTER invasion of privacy shall be punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor.

s 18.2-152.6. Theft of COMPUTER services.

Any person who willfully uses a COMPUTER or COMPUTER network, with intent to obtain COMPUTER services without authority, shall be guilty of the CRIME of theft of COMPUTER services, which shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

s 18.2-152.12. Civil relief; damages.

Any person whose property or person is injured by reason of a violation of any provision of this article may sue therefor and recover for any damages sustained, and the costs of suit. Without limiting the generality of the term, "damages" shall include loss of profits.
At the request of any party to an action brought pursuant to this section, the court may, in its discretion, conduct all legal proceedings in such a way as to protect the secrecy and security of the COMPUTER, COMPUTER network, COMPUTER data, COMPUTER program and COMPUTER software involved in order to prevent possible recurrence of the same or a similar act by another person and to protect any trade secrets of any party.

s 18.2-152.14. COMPUTER as instrument of forgery.

The creation, alteration, or deletion of any COMPUTER data contained in any COMPUTER or COMPUTER network, which if done on a tangible document or instrument would constitute forgery under Article 1 (s 18.2-168 et seq.) of Chapter 6 of this Title, will also be deemed to be forgery. The absence of a tangible writing directly created or altered by the offender shall not be a defense to any CRIME set forth in Article 1 (s 18.2-168 et seq.) of Chapter 6 of this Title if a creation, alteration, or deletion of COMPUTER data was involved in lieu of a tangible document or instrument.

http://courses.cs.vt.edu/cs3604/lib/Crime/virginia.law.full


however, it's more a civil case than anything else. Yr gonna have to prove damages, that sorta thing. DEFINITELY make a police report, but mor importantly, talk to yr attorney as soon as possible

Thank you SO MUCH Gordon. That was very helpful. I owe you one... somehow, lol.

TheJake Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you SO MUCH Gordon. That was very helpful.
> I owe you one... somehow, lol.


-------------------------

just nail the asshole who did that to you and I'll call it even ;)

Please keep us posted on how you are doing with your case. And yes, a thanks to Gordon Blvd for the good information.

I also wonder if there could be some kind of charge regarding him going in and changing your passwords, in the sense pretending to be you and then accessing accounts under false pretenses--pretending to be you. I know there are legal terms for this but I am not sure what it is called.

Good luck to you!

Gordon Blvd is correct. Virginia has many laws about computer trespass. However, even if what the person did was illegal you need to prove damages. Go speak to a lawyer immediately.

You'll need to prove that he did what you say he did. That's actually pretty easy, take your computer to Geeksquad and have them pull your history and other information off your computer. Every action done on a computer is stored in the computer's hard drive, even if he tried to erase it. They should be able to pull that data, do a report for you, and that can be used as evidence.

Jake, Call the banks now to change your passwords so he can not access them. He cursed us out when we tried to reach you to help. He is out to take everything you have. Change the locks on the doors also.

Yes, first priority is to make sure you have re-established control over all accounts he hit. Then you can either call the police or not. If you have evidence of harm then have that organized and available.

A public defender is not something you would use. A public defender is used by someone who is accused of a crime that cannot afford a lawyer. You don't use a public defender to go after someone.

If you can pin a value to your damages and back it up with firm evidence then suing him civilly in small-claims court may be an option if the damages are under $5000.

@ Gordon Blvd. Thanks buddy! Good info!

justsayin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, first priority is to make sure you have
> re-established control over all accounts he hit.
> Then you can either call the police or not. If
> you have evidence of harm then have that organized
> and available.
>
> A public defender is not something you would use.
> A public defender is used by someone who is
> accused of a crime that cannot afford a lawyer.
> You don't use a public defender to go after
> someone.
>
> If you can pin a value to your damages and back it
> up with firm evidence then suing him civilly in
> small-claims court may be an option if the damages
> are under $5000.

Exactly. A public defender defends you from prosecution.

You need to look at this from 2 different sides. The criminal statutes that GB posted would be investigated by the authorities and IF they find enough evidence for a prosecutor to use, the prosecutor will be responsible to file criminal charges against him in CRIMINAL court. This does not require a lawyer, but you may need to be very persuasive to get someone to actually investigate it and then to prosecute it.

IF it goes to criminal court, AND he is found guilty; this will be an overwhelming amount of evidence that you can use in CIVIL court to sue him for monetary damages after the fact. You dont need a lawyer for this, either.

Remember, that if he is fined in the criminal prosecution, the courts get the fine, not you. Thesmall claims case after the fact will be your means to recieve compensation for yourself.

NOTE, you dont NEED the criminal conviction to file a small claim but it would help. You could go to geeksquad, collect your own evidence, etc and simply sue him, he would have to pay [EDIT: Assuming you win] but skate without any criminal record for his crimes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2011 03:56PM by JBass.

Gordon Blvd is absolutely correct and I feel everyone here has given very good advise. Take it and go with it but make it quick. Good Luck!

If you have GMail, log on and scroll all the way down. You will see:
"Last account activity: 2 hours ago at this IP (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx). Details"

Click on details and it will give you the IP addresses that your GMail was accessed over the last 10 logins.

If you do not recognize any of those IPs, that account is being used by your "friend". Take a screen capture of these as evidence and save them somewhere else (create a second GMail account and use a secure password). Please remember to change ALL of your passwords and never, ever click on "Remember My Password". Its just asking for this type of activity.

Consider yourself fairly lucky, if you are going to be hacked, its usually by people that can do far more damage than this ID10t.

Good luck and let us knwo what happens.