Cell Phone Forensic Services - Using Forensics to find Exculpatory Evidence

Today cell phone is undoubtedly one of the most used devices on the planet. It isn't just an origin of communication but this high-tech trendy gadget has manifold functionalities. As of 2013, it has been recorded that 91 % of adult Americans are avid cell phone users, a major 63 % being smartphone users which brings Mobile Phones/ Smartphones to the forefront of the most widely adopted consumer technology. 

This trend has made cell phones/tablets a very important aspect of investigative procedures and a source of potential evidence. Since cell phones carry an imprint of almost every aspect of one's personal and professional life, gaining access to the information is critical to an investigation in order to secure evidence. Cell Phone Forensics is a branch of digital forensics which is used in extracting data/information from mobile phones with the help of forensic techniques and equipment.

Cell phone Forensics Services primarily involve extracting evidence/information in the form of phonebook contacts, SMS, Text Messages, MMS, calendars, appointment records, call records, photos, videos, voice messages, web history information, social media contacts and messages stored in third-party applications. Apart from these, one of the most interesting aspects of this science is, it can easily establish a definite trail to your current location simply by tapping into the GPS system of your smartphone.

It finds application in fields like law enforcement investigations, private investigations, corporate crime investigations, military intelligence, civil and criminal defense, and electronic intelligence discovery.

Cell phone Forensics Services can recover the data on a cell phone, even if that data appears to have been deleted or removed. At ICFECI, as a certified cell phone examiner, we extract data pertaining to:

    Call history and call records

    Contact books and list recovery

    Extract data even if it is encrypted or contained inside an app

    Extract contents of chat, email and SMS/MMS/instant messaging

    Social media activities data extracted

 Access cell phones and data within even when they are password protected and encrypted

Any of this data could be of vital importance and could be a determining piece of evidence that influences the outcome of trial proceedings. It is our unique capabilities that can make all the difference.

At ICFECI, Dan James handles computer/cell phone forensics Services and criminal investigations. His clients are accused of crimes and or they are defendants.  Also, courts appoint him to investigate indictments of criminal defendants. Gain satisfactory answers to your queries from him. He will be happy to help you.

ICFECI has, without question, earned a reputation by delivering what it promises. In conformity with Title 18, USC, Sec 3006A, ICFECI goes above and beyond the requirements for defending the rights of the accused. We are the solution you are looking for. The results of forensic science are likely the number one factor in solving cold cases.

Discover the solution for your next case with us.

Increase in Digital Crime and Rise in Security Concerns Shall Pace the Computer Forensics Market

In the tech savvy world, the digital forensics market is expected to experience an upsurge on account of the increase in sophisticated digital crime and economic growth in developing countries.  The detail analysis and reporting of digital data for a legal purpose is the most prominent market within the overall digital forensic market, which is referred to as computer forensics. Computer forensics has become much active in the field of cyber-crime, to perform a structured investigation, in order to detect hidden facts for accurate investigation results.

Many people think that just because you delete something off of your computer, or other device, that it's gone forever. This is not true and more people are finding this out the hard way. Minor cases that require the help of ICFECI computer forensics analyst include civil cases where an employer may want to monitor the daily activities of their employees to see how much company time is being wasted. Email was the first thing introduced into office life that was later found to be a huge waste of time, while people are on the clock. It is still an extremely efficient and easy way to communicate in the work place but as more people own Blackberry's and iPhone's it has become a large scale issue among employers. Up to 50%, or more, of a work day can easily be wasted by emailing friends.

Computer forensics have gained wide-popularity in developed countries such as North America and Europe owing to technological advancements and increased cyber-crime rates. Rise in corporate fraud has increased the demand for computer forensics services. As analyst's gain more experience they typically move on to providing their services to law enforcement agencies. During litigation a good computer forensics analyst will be able to give a thorough report on their findings and able to point out the relevance to the case. All pertinent information will be accessed and fully analyzed and when it's time for their testimony they must be concise, clear and provide all information that will benefit the case. For this reason it is unlikely for the police, or any other agency, will hire an analyst without several years of experience in this realm.

At ICFECI, we understand that finding the right representation can be difficult. It has, without question, earned a reputation by delivering what it promises. In conformity with Title 18, USC, Sec 3006A, It goes above and beyond the requirements for defending the rights of the accused. We are the solution you are looking for. We have an eye for detail and a large amount of patience. The result of forensic science is likely the number one factor in solving cold cases. Image for over 30 years, having an unsolved criminal case hanging over your head. One of the largest serial crimes was solved by the use of computer forensic services. It took law officials thousands of man hours only to come up empty handed in efforts to solve the BTK killer case, however, computer forensics solved the case in just hours. Dennis Rader was finally named in the murder of ten people.

How to avoid Health Care Fraud through Investigation?

Today, health care fraud is the headache of an entire world. It's no secret that healthcare fraud accounts for an estimated 100 billion dollars a year in the United States alone, and it's increasingly a reason that health care costs continue to rise. Unnecessary and fraudulent treatments are being submitted to payer organizations by organized crime and con artists have become big business in the world today. Increasingly, health insurance organizations are looking for new ways to detect, investigate and prosecute anyone submitting fraudulent health care claims. 

Healthcare fraud is a problem in the world, yet gets very little attention in the news media. It is a problem that needs to be solved in order to reduce the cost of health care for all of us. Independent review organizations are playing an increasingly important role in reducing health care fraud by helping fraud special investigative units close fraud investigations and provide important insight about which cases should be paid and which shouldn't.

To serve mankind, health care is a very sensitive issue in all parts of the world. Not only the third world underdeveloped countries, the countries like United States of America and European Union has always been seen in crisis over health care across the past decades, although the advancement in science, research and technology has brought wonders but still the healthcare frauds and health care crimes are increasing in huge numbers. The entire world is facing this problem.

Actually, we don't really need a reform in the healthcare industry but we need an approach to find out the places where a highly developed country can also lack in services of health care. It needs to pick out the health care fraud right from its root cause can curb the problem in a huge and decided manner.

Health care fraud steals the very essence of human life. The list of examples can create shocking news and generates a sense of hopelessness. So ICFECI health care fraud investigation is needed to overcome the issues. 

10 Things Which Indicate a Health Care Fraud:

•    Medical incidents or medical practices that are not consistent with the standard of care (substandard provision of health care).

•    Unnecessary cost to a healthcare program caused either directly or indirectly.

•    Payment in improper way or payment for services those fail to meet professional standards.

•    Medically unnecessary services

•    Substandard quality of treatment (e.g., in nursing homes)

•    Elaborated Schemes and cover-up strategies and failure to meet insurance coverage requirements.

•    The false statement of services rendered or goods provided.

•    Obtaining false insurance information

•    Unreasonable rates and misrepresentation of value and services regarding health care.

•    Consumer health care fraud. One example is forging family names to provide coverage to friends with the intention of dividing up the reimbursement.

At ICFECI, we, the healthcare fraud examiner, have knowledge and experience in this field and helps in solving the case of the accused. We investigate cases relating to false billing, false insurance claims, false diagnoses, forcing patients to undergo tests or surgery solely for pecuniary gains, and Medicare billing schemes. Get in touch with health care fraud investigation.

ICFECI: THE BEST DIGITAL FORENSIC SERVICE PROVIDER

A mix of competence, skill, knowledge, integrity, and reliability is what you will get once you put your trust in what ICFECI does. In a world where digital evidence gets increasingly sought after, they will help you get the help you need in a manner most professional. With a list of credentials and positive reviews Dan James, the founder is the man who mobilizes a team that works night and day just to collect data that helps prove your case. He is a certified cell phone examiner and fraud examiner. Most importantly, he deals with computer and cell phone forensics, criminal investigations, federal rules of criminal procedure as well as criminal justice services. Thus, if you have a case related to any of these, Dan’s company is a necessary additive to your legal team.

Computer and cell phone forensics: the company does everything as per Title 18, USC, Sec 3006A. Mind you; forensic science has proven quite steadfast in helping solve cold cases within short periods of time. Other than the mainstream child pornography and corruption, drug-related cases and sex violations; ICFECI goes further to provide unique solutions as pertains to alleged fraud cases linked to securities, tax evasion, mortgage, misrepresentation, healthcare and email scams.

Criminal investigations: other than being the only organization of its kind in northern Texas, the company boasts a well-equipped computer lab. It, therefore, has the capability of transforming complex data extracted from computers and mobile devices into simpler, easily interpret able formats presentable in courts of law.

Federal rules of criminal procedure: other than collecting, analyzing and summarizing data for use by the courts of law, the company goes ahead to provide experts as witnesses if need be. They are committed to ensuring that clients get fully represented in line with what the law provides. They can go as far as providing conducting interrogations and discreet surveillance. All in a bid to help acquit you from any accusations leveled against you.

Conclusion:

Here is a summarized list of what ICFECI offers to its wide range of clients.

Computer and cell phone forensic examinations.

Consultancy on sex crimes, child pornography, assault, murder, and crime of violence.

Certified fraud examinations in the healthcare, insurance and tax canters.

While collar frauds, Ponzi schemes, civil frauds, bank frauds, and criminal litigation cases.

Criminal Justice Act services where applicable.

However, what matters most is the manner in which your case gets handled. In collaboration with your defense team, the experts involved have only one goal in mind. Theirs is to come up with compelling, yet reasonable evidence. The technique has been proven to work as cases, which almost seemed unsolvable got brought to conclusive ends in favor of clients. You too can solve a case with their help, just like others did. Furthermore, if you do not trust the reviews, you can always put your confidence in the resources and highly self-trained individuals who have known nothing but mining data most of their lives.

Blog Source: https://www.icfeci.com/icfeci-the-best-digital-forensic-service-provider/

Becoming a Computer Forensic Investigator

These days studies are all about gaining a degree that leads to a paying career. The human factor does not enter the equation except in avenues like healthcare. A young man starts his career as an IT expert and gain job satisfaction. If asked as to whether his job does anything to save or influence lives the answer would be “NO”.  If this factor is included in a career program then life becomes much more fulfilling. There are other avenues besides healthcare where one can work, gain job satisfaction and simultaneously influence lives. One such path is that of a computer and cell phone forensics examiner where investigators help defense attorneys build evidence leading to acquittal of a wrongly accused client.

As in any other field, it does require intensive study in order to become a licensed and certified investigator specializing in computer and cell phone investigations as well as cyber crime. An individual intending to become an expert would need to study various aspects connected with:

• Computers and cell phones: recovering data and translating it into solid evidence in support of a case
• Business: Knowing how businesses and the securities world work leads to knowing where to look for evidence, whether it is a paper trail or an electronic trail
• Legal processes: Compiling digital or paper data that is acceptable in court involves knowledge of due processes of law.

There are various institutes and colleges that offer certificate and degree courses that qualify an individual as a Certified Computer Examiner, GIAC Certified Forensic Examiner, Certified Computer Forensics Examiner and Certified Reverse Engineering Analyst. This is one field where the more one knows, the better it is. Apart from theoretic knowledge, hands-on practical experience in real life working environments prove to be much more useful in advancing knowledge and career path of an individual who wishes to earn and also contribute to helping save someone’s life or reputation. More than money, the gratitude of an individual thus helped can be immensely satisfying.

Led by Dan James, a BS in Criminal Justice, a Certified Fraud Examiner, a licensed private investigator and an expert in computer cell phone forensic examination, ICFECI trains individuals to become computer forensic investigators through a hand on internship.  There are distinct advantages to ICFECI internship:

• Internships are designed and cover competencies based on real cases with current and future requirements utilizing in-depth, hands-on training in cell phone and computer forensics
• ICFECI is led by Dan James and a team of professionals who are actually engaged as investigators
• A fully-equipped computer and cell phone lab
• Options for internship to engage in defense of civil fraud and criminal allegations
• Chance to meet defendants, understand legal processes, appear as witness, prepare reports and interact with attorneys

To cap it all, ICFECI is dedicated to the pursuit of justice and providing serves to help those wrongly accused of a crime to emerge with their reputation untarnished. An intern learns about the technical and, vitally, the human aspect of commitment and immense satisfaction from working for a just cause. 

Certified Cell Phone Examiner to Investigate and Recover Evidences

No matter what kind of mobile phone is used, whether it is a smart phone device or a common cell phone, it is basically used for call and messaging purposes.  All kinds of cell phones are playing a significant part as digital evidences in investigations regarding criminal and civil litigations.  The technology which has been used in these cell phones enables them to save each and every repository about personal information.  That saved data is referred to as solid evidence. With the help of cell phone forensics useful information from the cell phones can be obtained like call records, location, files, multimedia files and appointments that can be used as admissible evidence in all the legal proceedings.  A  Certified Cell Phone Examiner or a forensic expert team is deployed by private or government sector so as to categorize the useful information or evidences.

Private or government sector cell phone forensic investigators are trained in use of advanced forensic tools and have expertise in many techniques used to recover distinct kinds of evidences.  Additionally, investigators deal with the most stringent aspects of cell phone forensic evidence recovery, such as device’s flash memory analysis, even when the device is un-operational, broken, or when the analysis is not compatible with the forensic application.  

• Cell Phone Examiners extensively deal with assembling evidence from the cell phones in varied sorts:
• Records of Call History
• Recovery of Contact List/ Phone Book
• Recovery of Text Message / Determining receiver & sender and thus creating a timeline for events
• Recovery of To Do List
• Analysis of Cell Phone Chat/ Email
• Recovery of Multimedia Message
• Extracting Audios/Photos/Videos
• Tracing of  Social Networking Activities
• Data Extraction from Physical Memory/Sim Cards
• Access Encrypted Data & Back Up Files / Decode Data
• Detecting of Spyware/ Malware

The extent of cell phone forensic examination is broadly increasing in several investigation areas.   They  primarily follow  this investigative measure in  order to deal with white collar crimes like securities fraud, bankruptcy frauds, investment frauds,  bank frauds, Ponzi schemes,  identity thefts and serious offenses like homicides, child pornography, cyber bullying, stalking, and espionage. Cell phone examiners are proficient in recovering lost/deleted information or evidence from all sorts of cell phone models including array of high-tech smart phones such as Blackberry, Androids and iPhones.

ICFECI provide Cell Phone Examiners specialized in tracking transactions, social connections, appointment schedules, communication by third party applications, meetings and location trace with respect to the event’s timeline.   Cell Phone Examiners are experienced and well trained in performing as a professional witness in presenting digital/electronic evidence.

Cell Phone Examiners handle preservation, acquisition, and processing of evidence, in a forensically sound manner.  Evidence custody is maintained in full compliance with codes and rules of evidence.

5 STEPS TO CONDUCT A COMPUTER FORENSIC INVESTIGATION

The increase in criminal activities involving the use of electronics warrants a structured investigation of criminal and civil litigations by employing computer forensic analysis. Digital forensic analysis is a meticulous process of uncovering data/ evidence that is relevant to the successful resolution of a case. However, deploying digital forensics to aid investigation demands a team of experienced computer forensic analysts, high end digital forensic tools and equipment and an organized lab where evidence recovered can be converted to structured reports thus helping the effective representation of defendants during trials.

Here is a detailed view of the process that can help you understand its role, limitations and the activities involved if you are willing to pursue a career in the stream.

 

Selecting a Process of Investigation

Digital Forensic has been a part of investigation procedures since 1984 when officials started employing computer programs to uncover evidence hidden in electronics and digital formats. The process has evolved to become more organized, sophisticated and well equipped with latest tools and technologies. However, choosing a particular method of investigation is the duty of the digital forensic analyst. A messy process of analysis can lead to the accumulation of random data and inconclusive evidence thus directly affecting the outcome of a trial. It is important to construct a design plan and to choose appropriate tools and software to conduct the investigation and ensure that not a single step has been bypassed or ignored. 

Acquisition

Once the case study is completed and a strategy decided upon, the first basic step involves the acquisition of data/ evidence in the form of digital documents, videos, images, files, financial records, accounts, recent computer activity, browsing history, emails and social media messages. Computer forensic analysts are experts in finding evidence by recovering deleted files, emails, social media activities, tracking and monitoring transactions, tapping into servers and finding relevant data to support an investigation. 

 

Also a dedicated part of computer forensics involves retrieving information from cell phones in the form of call records, location information, phonebook details, text messages and other personal details like schedules, appointment details, videos and image files. In this phase the analysts ensure that the evidence has been retrieved using methodologies that abide by the law and are done with proper approval of authorizing personnel. 

Identification

This phase requires analysts to separate the relevant discovery in digital format and converting them into a form understood easily by laymen, judges and juries alike. All the retrieved data can be preserved in the form of raw digital data.  The raw data may then be culled and processed. The resulting data can then be organized producing well systematized reports using forensic tools.  Organization of the retrieved data is accomplished by using sophisticated forensic tools like Forensic Toolkit (FTK), Mobile Phone Examiner (MPE+) and dtSearch as efficient document search tools.   

 

The relevant data may be hosted on an evidence review platform, accessible via internet.

Evaluation

This is the most important phase of digital forensic investigation which decides whether authentic and conclusive evidence has been discovered and subsequently determines the outcome of the litigation. The forensic analysts strive to find whether the information obtained is legitimate evidence and whether it can be presented during a trial. The components identified and preserved during the previous phases are correlated, a timeline of events is established and an inference is drawn that is relevant to the case and provides sufficient support in favor of the defendant. The Evaluation phase is an important element of effective representation of the client since it directly affects the successful resolution of a case. 

Admission

The carefully constructed reports and material evidence are of no use if they are discarded in a court of law as "inadmissible evidence". Therefore it is imperative that the proofs have been obtained using legal means, with permission from the authorizing entity, and the evidence is relevant. This factor will lend reliability to the evidence especially if it has been retrieved by a Certified Computer Forensic Examiner and ensure that the evidence is admissible at trial. 

Computer Forensic Investigation is a process which requires expertise and years of experience and desired results can be achieved only by following a well defined strategy.