Investigating Cyber Crime Cases

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- With the evolution of technology and the increasing popularity of social media, investigators said they’re seeing an rise in cyber crime cases.

Working these types of cases can sometimes create a challenge for investigators.

In fact, they usually call on help from outside agencies like the FBI to assist them.

When it comes to making threats on social media, whether it’s meant to be a prank or not, it’s something law enforcement officers don’t take lightly.

“There’s been several arrests made here lately, and in these situations you have to take them all serious,” said Tony Cooper, an investigator with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department.

Cooper is currently working on a case where a student at New Hope allegedly made a threat saying he was going to shoot up the school.

“In this case an arrest has been made,” said Cooper. “It was a juvenile who’s been turned over to the Lowndes County Youth Court and they will handle the proceedings from there as far as a trial and any punishment that may be dealt.”

Cooper said the first thing investigators look for in these cases is the internet provider’s address for the user.

Next, a subpoena is issued to the app or company, which has the site to request the records and IP address of the user.

“I was sending in a subpoena or search warrant, by the time I would send in the second one they had already received 10 or 12 others in between mine,” Cooper expressed. “There’s one company that’s covering the whole United States plus whatever else so, it can take a little bit of time to get us the records.”

Once the records finally come in it allows investigators to zero-in on the device and helps them find a suspect.

“With the way things are nowadays one set of records for three days was 14 hundred something pages, Cooper explained, “Somebody has to sit down and read each of those pages and find the information that you are looking for.”

According to Cooper, most companies in the Unite States such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Google usually cooperate with investigators during these types of investigations.

“Overtime you do enough of these investigations that you pretty much know what to ask for, but when you are dealing with companies in other countries, they can be a little more difficult,” said Cooper. “They don’t have to follow the subpoena from the United States, so just because I’m sending a subpoena does not mean they are going to reply with the records I need.”

Within the past month, WCBI has reported on two different schools who’ve received threats over social media.

An arrest has been made in both of those cases and they’re now being handled in youth court.