Evidence in a New York Fraud Case

There are many ways that law enforcement may go about collecting evidence in a New York fraud case. It is possible that the police will want to secure the document or material that is alleged to have been forged to build a case against the accused individual.

If you have been accused of fraud and are looking to build a strong defense, it is important to contact a New York fraud lawyer as soon as possible. An experienced attorney will be able to understand the relevant evidence and build a case to help produce a positive result on your behalf.

Collecting Forged Documents

If forged documents have been created, things such as fake credit cards, passports, contracts, wills, et cetera may be taken by the government as evidence in a New York fraud case. The forgery device that was utilized in creating the fake documents may be seized as well.

If the evidence is not as blatant as that, for example, the crime surrounds falsified business records, then law enforcement may go to the employer and get copies of any false invoices, receipts or transactions, signature cards, and any other falsified documents.

Online Data

If the fraud was conducted online, the state may go back to the bank or the internet provider and track IP information, see where a login was from, who the account holder for that IP address is, and how many times they accessed something online.

The DA may then draft a search warrant with the police where they will go into an apartment, an individual’s cell phone, or the person’s computer and investigate whatever transactions were done on that computer. Law enforcement may also look for any images that were created.

Even if the person deleted this data, law enforcement can usually obtain the information and use it as evidence in a New York fraud case.

Because computer data is arguably preserved forever even when deleted, law enforcement can potentially access homes, places of business, email accounts, bank accounts, phone records, and more with search warrants well after a crime was committed.

In fact, even before a search warrant is executed, the DA or US Attorney can freeze an individual’s email inbox so that deleted emails can be preserved for a later search warrant on an email account that may be on an individual’s iPhone or Android device.

Role of the Internet

A computer gives a person access and the ability to create things exponentially quicker than a person could before in terms of false documentation. With the click of a button, a person can find out personal identifying information about people that a criminal could then use in another capacity to steal, defraud, secure a service, et cetera.

The internet allows people to phish, hack, install malware, and other related actions to secure another party’s account information, mother’s maiden name, date of birth, and more.

Alternatively, a business – big or small – can be hacked. The amount of information available is dizzying. The internet allows for the easy transfer of information and access of information, which is great for the business and professionally legitimate context, but equally concerning for criminals and those accused of crimes.

Any moves that an individual makes on a computer can be obtained and used as evidence by law enforcement in a New York City fraud case.