Found out something illegal by reading my friends emails, what should i do?

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First off I would just like to say that my friend gave me her email password for work purposes and knew I was using it for that. I noticed an email down the page with me as the subject name so I opened it! It was trying to frame me for something that I had previously said I wouldn't do, she tried to involve me anyway without my permission! so from then on, and forgive me for putting my own interests first, I continued to log in in secret. (I will say here that at first it was only for my own peace of mind in case I was being implicated in something quite serious) Yes there have been a couple of minor other times she has blamed me for something in her emails since! but my problem is, this girl is a liar and a thief. She has been caught in the past and imprisoned for stealing a few hundred thousand pounds believe it or not!

Im trying to cut her out of my life slowly and without any issue but over the past 4 months ive read numerous emails to various different people of whom she is stealing money from. Literally conning them by way of fraud. It amounts to tens of thousands already. I don't know what to do about it. Can I get in trouble for reading the emails if I were to approach the police? also if I did this anonymously, The police would need to search the emails for the key evidence, would they do a check to see who else has access and I could be found out?

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Type: Question • Score: 7 • Views: 1,141 • Replies: 18

[+3] - jespah - 09/19/2015Work issues? Call HR. This is one of the reasons they exist.

Is this a work email account, or her own personal email? Also she sounds quite stupid if she has done bad things and gave you her password when that meant you could see the evidence. You say she "tried" to do this, and "tried" to do that, has she actually succeeded in committing a crime which she has implicated you in, or is it all just talk on her part?

1 Reply

@sally1968,

Work issues? Call HR. This is one of the reasons they exist.

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@jespah,

Quote:

Work issues? Call HR.

Yes, and if, later she gets in trouble, and it comes out that you knew and did nothing, you could get in trouble too.

1 Reply

@Tes yeux noirs,

Ayup. I'm sure HR will at the absolute minimum will have something to say about sharing passwords on company-owned equipment.

1 Reply

@sally1968,

Through the IT department, if there was an investigation, they could trace your activity to see your login attempts from your computer into her email. It is possible. Likewise, I believe also they could trace from her account, a login from your account/computer.

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@jespah,

Quote:

I'm sure HR will at the absolute minimum will have something to say about sharing passwords on company-owned equipment.

It's a disciplinary offence where I work, whatever your seniority. Also mandatory to report the incident to the Information Security department.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

Its her own personal email. She's not very technically minded in the slightest (Hence why she gave me her password so I could do something for her) so I don't think she would even realise all her archived things are still viewable. In fact she once asked me to change her Facebook password for her because she didn't know how. She has committed fraud on up to 7 separate occasions that I can confirm.
The stuff about me never came to anything but she still broke my trust and potentially involved me in an attempt at a con.

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@jespah,

She doesn't work for a company. Shes self employed and I was helping her with some downloads etc that's all.

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@sally1968,

My question doesn't involve a workplace. She has conned thousands of pounds from a few people be pretending to give them something in exchange for cash which she doesn't have and never has. She just takes their money and runs!
I wanted to know if I will get in trouble with the police for reading her emails if I were to anonymously report her to them. They will obviously need to be told to find the proof they need from her emails so will know somebody is reading them. thanks

1 Reply

@sally1968,

Because you say she conned pounds out of people I guess you are from the UK? You could go the Citizens Advice Bureau to get free advice, they will respect your anonymity and possibly refer you to a free or cheap solicitor. Morally, cheating people is wrong, and trying to get your name involved is not what a friend would do. Can't you dump her right away? Legally, fraud and conspiracy to defraud are serious criminal offences which can go to Crown Court and the maximum penalty is 10 years in chokey, and good luck getting a decent job with it on your CRB check! So you owe her nothing, and if you are truly not involved in her fraud spree you may want to think about getting that established with the police. I doubt very much you would get into trouble for reading her emails - she did give you her password after all. Whether the police will do anything may depend on whether any of her victims have made a complaint. If you decided to report her to the police you should not tell her anything in case she deleted the emails before the police seized her computer. Just a thought - are we talking about "rinsing" here? You mentioned something she didn't have so I guess not.

1 Reply

I wonder why my above post got voted down to zero? Any ideas? What did I say wrong?

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There we go again. A coward is lurking. I think I have a troll following me about.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

Quote:

I wonder why my above post got voted down to zero? Any ideas? What did I say wrong?

Consider it a badge of honor and

http://www.kotapparel.com/images/categories/kk-251-cat.png

1 Reply

@panzade,

It's gotten so meaningless that it's not even that anymore.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

No.
There seems to be a random downthumber out there recently, or a very crabby person. This happens periodically, and once in a while to a great extent... such as as to all posters all over the place. Loony toons.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

Hi, yes i'm from the UK. I know what youre saying about needing to rid her from my life, the only problem I have is that she can be quite aggressive and nasty when she wants to be. I'm sort of only 1 of very few friends she has left, I just don't want to be on her wrong side, My plan was to just slowly distance myself which has been working. I would never warn her beforehand if I were to do something, the point is I don't want her finding out I have been reading her emails! I just wondered if this would have to come out or if I could remain anonymous? Without going into much detail, she had a business which lots of people invested in (with no intention of paying anyone back), then went bankrupt taking hundreds of thousands of pounds from lots of families on purpose. Even though not allowed, shes starting to do the same thing again.

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Well, if you are afraid of her being nasty to you then you'd better do nothing. By being nasty do you mean she might say some spiteful things that would upset you, or do you mean really nasty, like violence? Either way I can't see why you are hanging on dithering if the situation is as you have described. As for her dodgy business activities, you might want to weigh up the risk of unwelcome police attention, bad credit score, etc if she is using your name falsely. Personally I would bring down the shutter on this so-called 'friendship' and just not see her any more.

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@sally1968,

Go talk to a lawyer. Make sure they are familiar with laws associated with hacking and unauthorized computer access.

In the US, you could likely be charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The fact that she gave you the password does not mean that you continue to be authorized to access the account.

I'm not sure what the laws are in the UK, though.

Even if you forward the information anonymously to those affected, it's possible that the data breach can be traced back to you, especially if you have accessed the mail account via your personal device(s).

Be careful. Don't get a criminal conviction.

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Found out something illegal by reading my friends emails, what should i do?

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