Social media and e-mail remain a critical sources of information for investigators. Social media and e-mail have one thing in common— people will always try to send, post, or tweet almost everything (Sammons, 2014). Due to people’s huge availability on social media platforms, detectives have a great opportunity to collect evidence regarding their suspects.
Part 1
Situations Where Social Media is Useful in Investigations
There are different instances where social media is useful in investigations. Digital forensics uses social media as a source of information when performing investigations regarding pre-employee screenings or internal investigations relating to current or former employees. During these investigations, investigators look for clues to ascertain specific evidence relating to possibly fraudulent acts, theft of data, or even gross misconduct (“Corporate Forensic Investigations,” 2020). During these investigations, investigators analyze photographs, IP addresses, social media posts, direct messages, and group messages. Also, investigators may use social media for investigations of misconduct during protests. Today, social media platforms like Facebook allow individuals to share live videos. This increases the chances of capturing misconduct during protests, thus offering investigators clues. Equally important, social media offers a clue into a missing person (Howlings & Solymosi, 2023). Snapchat, for example, can provide an individual’s location. However, investigators must have a search warrant or adopt an open-source investigation to ensure they do not breach people’s privacy rights (Trottier, 2015, cited in Howlings & Solymosi, 2023).
Methods of Preserving Evidence
Social media evidence can be preserved in different formats to ensure they remain accurate and thus admissible in court. One of the easiest methods of preserving social media evidence is taking screenshots or screen capture (“Best Practices for Preserving Social Media Evidence,” 2018). Specifically, this involves using software to photograph what is currently displayed on the device. However, screenshots as a preservation method are limited as it fails to capture dynamic content and page code metadata showing ownership of the content. Evidence can also be stored in the file metadata. Metadata helps tie the user to the evidence collected. Different social media platforms provide metadata fields that capture creation time and date, names of recipients of a message, application, and device used, and the user’s account ID (“Best Practices for Preserving Social Media Evidence,” 2018). Documenting all these in file metadata allows easy preservation for future use. However, a warrant must be sought before accessing metadata to ensure they are admissible in court.
Process for Obtaining Social Media Evidence from Provider
The process starts with the drafting and submission of a legal request, where investigators ask the provider to provide access to some information (American Bar Association, 2020). Here, the investigator provides an applicable legal authority, such as a court order to support their request (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], n.d.). Also, a description of the information about the evidence sought after, for example, the type of evidence, timeframe, and the particular social media, is provided. After receiving the request, the provider reviews it to determine whether it is valid. If valid, the provider provides evidence and submits it to the investigators. Following this, the investigators thoroughly analyze the evidence to get evidence relevant to their case.
Part 2
A Report on Finding Out Who Sending an E-mail Which Is subject to investigation
E-mail remains the best form of digital evidence as it can provide plenty of evidence. Among the evidence that e-mail can provide include e-mail addresses, messages, dates and times, and IP addresses. Analyzing these alongside e-mail headers remains one of the best sources of evidence (Sammons, 2014). These days, we all get mysterious messages. It piques interest whenever an anonymous source obtains an e-mail.
Nevertheless, many e-mails come from identities we don’t recognize or trust. As a result, we are very disturbed when we receive e-mails from an unknown individual. Before pressing the post button, you must first complete the e-mail verifications. Many skilled professionals can help you verify sources. You may wonder, “Can an e-mail address be traced back to the original owner?” or “How to identify an e-mail address user?” Many of the e-mails we’ve received featured headers that reveal much information compared to the e-mail’s body text. Yahoo is a fast way to find e-mail IP addresses.
Searching Backwards with Google
Google is the biggest search engine. Enter the e-mail address you want Google to learn in the address box and wait. Google wouldn’t help if that person doesn’t have a website or has never used an e-mail address in an open discussion. As the phrase goes, some things should be kept quiet.
Person’s Searches
Try Spokeo and Pipl if nothing else works. Spokeo has more databases than Pipl for reverse e-mail searches. In addition to typical web documents, Spokeo scans social networking sites and occasionally even domain name data for information relevant to an e-mail address (Sammons, 2014). Customers can only see Spokeo’s proportion. E-mails occasionally contain errors. To verify the e-mail’s authenticity and human origin, use a free unlimited e-mail verification service that indicates authenticity.
References
American Bar Association. (2020, January 30). Discovery of social media evidence in legal proceedings. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/gpsolo/publications/gpsolo_ereport/2020/january-2020/discovery-social-media-evidence-legal-proceedings/
Best Practices for Preserving Social Media Evidence. (2018). iris investigations. https://www.irisinvestigations.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Best-Practices-for-Preserving-Social-Media-Evidence-3.pdf
Corporate Forensic Investigations. (2020, March 2). CYFOR. https://cyfor.co.uk/corporate-forensic-investigations/social-media-investigations/#:~:text=Social%20media%20investigations%20involve%20the,or%20to%20establish%20an%20alibi
Howlings, E., & Solymosi, R. (2023). Exploring facilitators, barriers, and concerns of police using social media when investigating missing children. International Journal of Missing Persons, 1(1), 104. https://doi.org/10.55917/2769-7045.1003
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC]. (n.d.). Cybercrime module 6 key issues: Handling of digital evidence. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/cybercrime/module-6/key-issues/handling-of-digital-evidence.html
Sammons, J. (2014). The basics of digital forensics: The primer for getting started in digital forensics (2nd ed.). Syngress Press.
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