Federal Computer & Internet Fraud Attorneys

Protecting Your Constitutional Rights

Due to the pervasive presence of technology in every part of our lives, cybercrime has become one of the newest and most rapidly growing areas of criminal activity. Some of these crimes were not even in existence a few years ago, and others are handled differently today than they were in the past. The most commonly occurring form of cybercrime is computer fraud, in which a person accesses the Internet with a computing device to obtain something valuable that belongs to another person, company, or government entity. Unlike most instances of fraud, computer fraud can involve unknown or anonymous individuals, making it difficult to find and prosecute guilty parties.

If you have been wrongfully accused of perpetrating computer fraud, you will require legal expertise to navigate this challenging case. Just like in other criminal cases, the burden of proof rests upon the prosecution to prove you committed these crimes, not on you to prove your innocence. Often, an experienced criminal defense attorney can negotiate favorable plea agreements or obtain an acquittal based on a lack of compelling evidence. Learn more about computer fraud below, then contact the expert criminal defense team at Marwaha Law Group, PLLC for the best legal representation in the New York City area.

According to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), computer fraud is defined as accessing a protected computer without proper authorization or by exceeding accepted authorization. Any computer that can access the Internet is considered a protected computer.

Computer fraud includes:

Computer fraud consists of the following four elements:

1. A person has access to and enters a protected computer that does not belong to them. Usually, the device is owned by a private individual and located in a private area or is owned by a company and located in the company’s facilities.
2. This person accesses the protected computer without authorization or employs previously given authorization in a manner exceeding that which the person or company has provided to them for a specific task or within a predetermined timeframe. This can involve opening security-protected hard drives or entering network servers designed for a limited number of users.
3. The person using the protected computer without proper authorization is accessing this information with knowledge of or intent to engage in committing fraud against a person or an entity. With this intent, the person typically will copy or steal something of value to the victim, such as bank account information.
4. The fourth element of computer fraud is the valuable item itself, typically taken for later use. This information usually consists of a specific individual’s personal information, allowing the perpetrator to commit instances of fraud such as identity theft or purchasing items on the victim’s line of credit. In most cases, the goal is to steal important personal or financial information, and the plan has been thoroughly developed before the crime takes place.

Computer fraud can be classified into the following three categories:

Within the FBI, the Internet Fraud Complaint Center was developed to monitor computer fraud and prosecute individuals found guilty of committing fraudulent acts online. A perpetrator of computer or internet fraud can be charged with a felony and penalized with fines ranging to $250,000 or prison terms of up to 20 years. Usually, when someone is charged with computer fraud, they can also be charged with other white-collar crimes, such as identity theft, wire fraud, or mail fraud.