# How could a person prove this type of a crime?



## ironpony (Mar 25, 2018)

For my story, it's a thriller set in modern times and basically the villain is being investigated by the main character, a cop.  The cop illegally hacks the villains computer to find out the truth about what is really going on.  However, the villain wants to use this hacking against the main character as leverage.  Basically the leverage is is that if the cop arrests the villain on a particular crime, the villain could prove to the court, that the main character illegally hacked into his computer, and therefore, the evidence is fruit of the poisonous tree, and cannot be used in court.

But when it comes to technology and evidence, how would the villain be able to get evidence that the main character hacked him, especially since the MC coerced a computer hacking expert, into doing it for him?  Basically the MC has to be back down, cause he doesn't want to get into trouble for fruit of the poisonous tree, so how would the villain get this kind of leverage evidence on the MC to get him to back down, technologically speaking?


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## Ralph Rotten (Mar 25, 2018)

He could get the hacker to testify.
He could have his lawyer begin rolling back the discoveries until they find an inconsistency that indicates that he was acting on probable cause besides that which he claims.
He could have a better hacker trace the first hack, but that would mean that the first hacker was a moron and left his IP address on the line.
He could get IA to confiscate the detective's PC and search it for evidence of the hacked data.
The villain could just find someone willing to lie about the hack. He is a bad guy after all.
Or you could get creative and write that the villain had his data booby-trapped so as soon as the hack started, the hacker was reverse-hacked, and the app left evidence on the remote computer for police to find.


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## ironpony (Mar 25, 2018)

Yeah but is possible to trace back to the hacker in order to get him to testify?  The MC would have to believe this is very possible, and not think the villain is bluffing.

Also, maybe I could write it so that the hacker left a trail of bread crumbs that would indicate the villain has been hacked on purpose, in order to warn the villain, that there is a cop after him, cause the hacker doesn't like being blackmailed by the cop, and hopes the villain will notice the warning, and take care of things?

If the MC blackmails the hacker to do the hacking, then the hacking evidence, would logically be on the hacker's computer, and not the MC's though, right?

I could go with the reverse hack idea as well.  However, I want the MC to win.

Which means that he is going to later on, have to get other evidence apart from the hacking, in order to avoid fruit of the poisonous tree.  So even if the villain shows the court he was hacked later on, the MC is still going to have to show other separate evidence, if that's possible in order to win.

I could go with the idea that the hacker left evidence on purpose in order to warn the villain hoping that the villain will get the cop off his back, if that's not too much of a stretch.  The problem with doing that is that the hacker risks making himself a target as well then.

Or I could go with the boopy trap reverse hack idea, but is that even possible or believer to readers?

Basically later the MC has to let the villain get away with crimes, because he knows that if he makes himself a witness and testifies, that his testimony can be thrown out if the villain proves he hacked him.  So the MC has to choose to keep his mouth shut on being a witness, and think the villain is likely holding all the cards, without even seeing the cards in court.


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## NathanielleC (Mar 26, 2018)

The cop can cover his own ass by getting a warrant after he finds evidence of wrong doing but before he uses the information to make an arrest. Or if the cop could buy a cheap tablet and send himself a "tip" through the police department's website containing all of the information he just found, but carefully curated and giftwrapped so that it would be admissible as evidence against the criminal whose computer he hacked.


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## ironpony (Mar 26, 2018)

NathanielleC said:


> The cop can cover his own ass by getting a warrant after he finds evidence of wrong doing but before he uses the information to make an arrest. Or if the cop could buy a cheap tablet and send himself a "tip" through the police department's website containing all of the information he just found, but carefully curated and giftwrapped so that it would be admissible as evidence against the criminal whose computer he hacked.



Okay thanks, but the MC would not be able to get a warrant based on the evidence he has.  He's following a hunch, but he cannot get a warrant based on a hunch.

He doesn't really have any evidence he could send as an anonymous tip either.  Basically the reason why he is following a hunch and doing the hacking is cause he wants to find out the truth, but also because he doesn't have any evidence.  If he had evidence, he would use it for sure.


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## DanR84 (Mar 27, 2018)

*Proof of Crime*

It's kind of complicated. It depends on what the police officer hacked into and if he actually downloaded/stole files from the criminals computer. Perhaps the criminal has a call home facility on his stolen files, so as soon as the files are opened or accessed on another computer/device, the file contacts the criminals computer and discloses the i/p address of the computer accessing the stolen files.

This could lead the criminal to discover that he has been hacked by the police officer.

Or the criminal could have the files laced with a RAT (Remote Access Terminal) kinda like how hackers do, which would alert him to the fact his files have been accessed on another computer and provide him with remote access to that computer, where he could in turn access the files and webcam of the police officers computer, maybe even allowing him to access personal, compromising files and pictures or videos of the police officer.

Its why you see celebs and even mark zuckerberg put something over the lens of their integrated webcam on their laptops

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/22/mark-zuckerberg-tape-webcam-microphone-facebook

If you look up hacking with remote access terminals you should find plenty of info that you could then use in your book in order for the criminal to adapt it's use to turn the tables on your police officer.

Hope that helps a little bit

Good Luck


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## ironpony (Mar 27, 2018)

Okay thanks, I'll see if I can find something, but a lot info is really complicated out there.  There is one thing else I could also use some advice on, is how does the hero hack the villain's computer in the first place... I read on how people can hack a computer by sending attachments to emails, and if you open the attachment, your computer is now hacked.

However, my villain wouldn't do that, since he is already being investigated by the police, he wouldn't trust any anonymous emails with anonymous attachments.  So is there a way to hack someone's computer without an attachment in an email, since that seems to be the way everyone knows of?


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## DanR84 (Mar 28, 2018)

Well most hackers don't just use random anonymous email address they use something to get the victims eye like use a fake paypal, facebook or bank email address like bankofamerica@whatever.com and when people see their bank name pop up with some query they generally click into it without checking the full email address to ensure it's actually from their bank.

or if your police officer knows the criminal he could create a fake email account using the name of someone known to the criminal maybe his solicitor's name @whatever.com and maybe the criminal clicks into it not realising that it isn't his solicitors genuine email account and clicks into a file.


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## ironpony (Mar 29, 2018)

Yeah okay thanks, I was thinking that, but the criminal would call that person he knows for confirmation, and then that person would deny that he sent him an email.  And therefore, the criminal would then know he has been hacked then.


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## Ralph Rotten (Mar 29, 2018)

DanR84 said:


> Well most hackers don't just use random anonymous email address they use something to get the victims eye like use a fake paypal, facebook or bank email address like bankofamerica@whatever.com and when people see their bank name pop up with some query they generally click into it without checking the full email address to ensure it's actually from their bank.
> 
> or if your police officer knows the criminal he could create a fake email account using the name of someone known to the criminal maybe his solicitor's name @whatever.com and maybe the criminal clicks into it not realising that it isn't his solicitors genuine email account and clicks into a file.




Does it have to be hacked?  If the officer were to get access to the system, he could drop the hard drive into a twin drive bay and duplicate that puppy.  If he were going from a solid state drive to a solid state drive it would be pretty fast. If it was a laptop, it's usually only 1 screw to get the cover off, then pop out the hard drive.

Here is the duplicator. There are other devices like this, also affordably priced.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XYL599P/?tag=writingforu06-20


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## ironpony (Mar 29, 2018)

Okay thanks.  He doesn't necessarily have to he hacked.  Are you saying that the MC should break into his place and take a hard drive and replace it with one that he has remote access to, to see what the villain is up to?


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