The Internal Revenue Service, state tax authorities and tax preparers and others have been cracking down during the past decade on tax return fraud linked to identity theft. A pilot program that has been tested to reduce the number of fraudulently-filed returns will...
Internet Crimes
Cyberbullying charges can have serious legal consequences
Cyberbullying, as most people know, involves using the internet or other technology to intimidate, harass or threaten someone. It's commonly done via text, email and social media sites. While cyberbullying make lack the physical component of the bullying that many of...
What is mass marketing fraud?
Mass marketing fraud is a type of fraud scheme that uses more than one kind of mass-communication technique. The techniques could include the Internet, mail, telephone, email or even meetings with large groups of people. There are two general categories of mass...
Authorities accuse 56-year-old of internet sex crimes.
A man in West Virginia was accused of trying to arrange sex with a teenage girl in the Cleveland area. However, the "girl" was not in fact a girl at all; it was actually an investigator employed by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force who had been...
Man acquitted of disrupting public service for fake Facebook page
A 27-year-old man has been acquitted of charges related to the creation of a fake Facebook page made as a parody of the Parma Police Department's official page on the social media site. The man was arrested while exiting a convenience store in March. Afterward, he was...
Are you familiar with cyberstalking?
Many people are unfamiliar with computer related laws, as these are relatively new. Furthermore, these laws differ from one state to the next. However, there are many laws in place to protect people from online related crimes. For example, cyberstalking has been in...
What are Ohio’s computer crime laws?
With technology changing rapidly, states are left to keep up with laws regarding computer crimes. While this is easier said than done, it's something that most states, including Ohio, have put a lot of time and effort into doing. In short, Ohio computer crime laws can...
What are common types of computer crimes?
There is no denying the fact that computers have changed the world for the better. As technology continues to advance, it is safe to assume that this will remain true well into the future. But here is something else to remember: Computers are not all good. These...
Even outdated digital evidence can be used in court
When investigating both traditional crimes and Internet crimes, the police often turn to digital evidence. There are challenges to using this, such as the fact that it is possible to create fake evidence on a computer—such as doctored photos—and the fact...
2 main types of cyber crime
As the Internet develops and evolves, cyber crime is always changing. Things that were not possible 10 years ago are possible now, and that changes the landscape. However, there are still two main categories of cyber crime that law enforcement agencies recognize,...