Question

Law enforcement professionals and investigators use digital forensic methods to solve crimes every day. Locate one current news article that explains how investigators may have used these techniques to solve a crime. Explain the crime that was solved and the methods used to determine how the crime was committed. Some examples of crimes solved may include locating missing children, finding criminals who have fled the scene of a crime, or unsolved crimes from the past that have been solved due to the use of new techniques (such as DNA testing).

Answer 1

A case that was solved in the recent past using digital forensics was the case of Ross Compton. The crime, in this case, was with regards to aggravated arson and insurance fraud. The insurance fraud was done by Compton by submitting fake medical certificates in which he showed that he was suffering from heart ailments. Compton also allegedly set fire to his Court Donegal house and this caused $400,000 in damages.

The method that was used to determine was to analyze the data from Compton’s pacemaker. This data was presented to the court as evidence. The data that was collected and analyzed were Compton’s heart rate, pacer demand, and heart rhythms. This data directly pointed to arson and insurance fraud. Thus in this case digital data evidence was used to uncover a hidden insurance fraud scam. The technique that was used is called cyber forensic investigations.

Reference: https://www.insurancefraud.org/IFNS-detail.htm?key=28821