E-mail forgery

E-mail forgery

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Acrimonious liquidation. I am a creditor. Desperate company founder has forged an e-mail from me to himself & 3 others to explain away payment of sizeable cash sum by me into his personal bank account not company bank account. Clear offence under Insolvency Act 1986. E-mail purports to say I sent cash for 'expenses'. No invoice, nothing.
I have not seen it. Obvious forgery. Liquidator & DTI have swallowed it.
How and through whom can I prove forgery and how complicated is it?
gwilym rhys-jones

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David Winch
By David Winch
08th Nov 2005 13:39

Not an IT guru

Gwilym

I am not an IT guru but I think the electronic copy of the email will have attached to it various data which will show its source and route to the company founder's inbox. Of course, if he no longer has it in his inbox . . . .

Away from IT matters, why in truth did you send the cash to him? Is there any evidence in support of your explanation?

Are you alleging the company founder is being dishonest and retaining your money through his dishonesty? If so this is theft.

Are you alleging that others have agreed to back up his (untrue) version of events to assist him to retain your money dishonestly. If so this is conspiracy to defraud.

You can, if you wish, complain to the police (not just the DTI and the liquidator). If you intend to do so then, as far as possible, you should provide them with all the relevant facts and supporting documents 'on a plate' in the form of a report or dossier, as they will have little time to devote to an investigation. You should also be able to explain why this case should be a high priority for them (if you expect them to take any action). Look for features such as (i) the amount involved, (ii) the risk of the alleged offenders re-offending against someone else if no action is taken (are they continuing as directors of other companies?), (iii) abuse of trust (if appropriate) if the alleged offenders are, for example, accountants / solicitors / magistrates etc.

If you wish you may find it helpful to either have a specialist put the dossier together or (less costly) review the dossier when you have put it together. An independent review by someone with relevant experience (such as myself) should assist in making the dossier more effective in establishing the necessary points. It may also add credibility to your argument to have the backing of a professional. You are less likely to have your report filed under 'whingers and cranks'!

David
[email protected]

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By User deleted
08th Nov 2005 16:10

For the future ....
Suggest you look into digital certificates for verification

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/digital_certificate.html

Verisign, Thawte etc. provide them

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By stratty
09th Nov 2005 15:58

Email
The email will have certain specific routing information as it passes across the internet.

If he has only provided a paper copy of this email then the information will not be reflected on that.

Request a copy of the email and then approach your internet service provider to see if they hold a record of it.

This is the approach that I would take.

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By User deleted
10th Nov 2005 13:03

If..
..they've only got a paper copy oif an email, then any muupet (me) on a word processor could knock up an email perporting to come from anyone (providing you have their email addy).

If they have an electronic copy, then it will have all the looging etc on it to show if it's genuine or not.

good luck

Chan the Man

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By AnonymousUser
10th Nov 2005 16:42

Gratitude
Thanks a lot and please keep 'em coming.

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