Digital Forensics Case Wendell Rush Justin S. Korber CSSS 5230 9/30/2014 Digital Forensics Case Study Report 1. Real Case Detail This is a case of fraud by stealing information of persons about their credit cards then transfer the amount from credit cards to victim’s current/ saving accounts and then further transfer this money to some other county’s bank account and then enjoy the luxury life style. The main guilty person in this story is Mr. Onwuhara lives in Dallas (Taxas) was prison for 70 months. 2 Summary of Event This is a case of fraud by stealing information of persons about their credit cards then transfer the amount from credit cards to victim’s current/ saving accounts and then further transfer this money to some other county’s bank account and then enjoy the luxury life style. This case is taken from the official website of FBI USA. The case is about the person who committed frauds in the line of credit cards and steals near about 38 million dollars and caused losses near about 13 million losses. He is now prison for the period of 70 months. Following is the detail of FBI team members who worked on this case and trace out the guilty person, following ishe detail of the team. 1. Dana J. Boente ( Acting USA Attorney district of eastern Virginia ) 2. Valerie Parlave ( Assistant director and incharge FBI field office) 3. Kathy A. Michalko (Special agent field office USA) 4. Earl L. Cook (Chief Police Officer) 5. Robert Mathieson (USA FBI Marchel officer in Virginia) 6. Claude M. Hilton. (USA district judge) He has been escaped for near about 4 years and during this course of time Onwuhara was the American’s most Wanted person. He was arrested from Australia and then Govt. of Australia handed over him to the Govt. of America. He has been legally announced guilty on 21-06-2013. After the assessment of the evidences and by hearing the victims the district court of USA announced 70 months prison for him and gives the immediate implementation orders (Casey, Eoghan, 2004). As per press release in Texas USA it was published that Mr. Onwuhara was a ring dealer and have a group of people and with the help of those people they successfully committed crime and did not left any kind of proof to be traced out so that the victim is really unable to find out the guilty person or even the victims do not have the idea who is the actual person behind this scene (Warren G. Kruse; Jay G. Heiser, 2002). One of the victims in Washington D.C has logged complaint regarding these fraudulent activities which make the FBI department alert regarding this crime. Than continuous instances were came into front and day by day number of complaints increased. Mr. Onwuhara’s pattern of committing crime is very smart and well planned. First he gathered information by using fee-based database web search and trace out potential victims or you can say account holders who have huge amount of balances in their (HELOC) accounts (Warren G. Kruse; Jay .

1. Digital Forensics Case
Wendell Rush
Justin S. Korber
CSSS 5230
9/30/2014
Digital Forensics Case Study Report
1. Real Case Detail
This is a case of fraud by stealing information of persons
about their credit cards then transfer the amount from credit
cards to victim’s current/ saving accounts and then further
transfer this money to some other county’s bank account and
then enjoy the luxury life style. The main guilty person in this
story is Mr. Onwuhara lives in Dallas (Taxas) was prison for 70
months.
2 Summary of Event
This is a case of fraud by stealing information of persons
about their credit cards then transfer the amount from credit
cards to victim’s current/ saving accounts and then further
transfer this money to some other county’s bank account and
then enjoy the luxury life style. This case is taken from the
official website of FBI USA.
The case is about the person who committed frauds in the line
of credit cards and steals near about 38 million dollars and

2. caused losses near about 13 million losses. He is now prison for
the period of 70 months. Following is the detail of FBI team
members who worked on this case and trace out the guilty
person, following ishe detail of the team.
1. Dana J. Boente ( Acting USA Attorney district of eastern
Virginia )
2. Valerie Parlave ( Assistant director and incharge FBI field
office)
3. Kathy A. Michalko (Special agent field office USA)
4. Earl L. Cook (Chief Police Officer)
5. Robert Mathieson (USA FBI Marchel officer in Virginia)
6. Claude M. Hilton. (USA district judge)
He has been escaped for near about 4 years and during this
course of time Onwuhara was the American’s most Wanted
person. He was arrested from Australia and then Govt. of
Australia handed over him to the Govt. of America. He has been
legally announced guilty on 21-06-2013. After the assessment
of the evidences and by hearing the victims the district court of
USA announced 70 months prison for him and gives the
immediate implementation orders (Casey, Eoghan, 2004).
As per press release in Texas USA it was published that Mr.
Onwuhara was a ring dealer and have a group of people and
with the help of those people they successfully committed crime
and did not left any kind of proof to be traced out so that the
victim is really unable to find out the guilty person or even the
victims do not have the idea who is the actual person behind
this scene (Warren G. Kruse; Jay G. Heiser, 2002). One of the
victims in Washington D.C has logged complaint regarding
these fraudulent activities which make the FBI department alert
regarding this crime. Than continuous instances were came into
front and day by day number of complaints increased.
Mr. Onwuhara’s pattern of committing crime is very smart and
well planned. First he gathered information by using fee-based
database web search and trace out potential victims or you can
say account holders who have huge amount of balances in their
(HELOC) accounts (Warren G. Kruse; Jay G. Heiser, 2002).

3. The information he has searched about is account holder’s
name, their address, their DOB and the SS number (Social
Security). When they successfully gathered this information
than they were able to proceed further and convert their plan
into action. This was not the act of only one person that was a
group of people who did this the whole task very smartly
(Casey, Eoghan, 2004).
Once they select a victim and gathered the relevant information
than now they started gathered victim’s other information by
using online database system to obtain information like mother
name or maiden name and then they use this information in
security questions. The next step was to gathered reports of
credit and balances of accounts for the purpose of verify
personal information. By going through this procedure now they
were equipped of all information about the victim they needed
to be successful in their plan (Gunsch, G 2002).
By implementing the plan and progressed further now those
conspirators have called the financial institutions and behaved
like a genuine account holder and gave instructions to the
victim’s financial institution to transfer the maximum money
from HELCO accounts to victim’s daily used accounts (Current
/ Savings). And then from victim’s daily used accounts they
have transferred money to some domestic or to some overseas
accounts (Gunsch, G 2002).
And from those accounts conspirators withdrawal the whole
amount and escaped from scene (Warren G. Kruse; Jay G.
Heiser, 2002). Those criminals used caller ID and services of
spoofing, mobiles with prepaid connections, wireless PC access
cards and they transferred the landline numbers of the victims
to save themselves from tracing by the Police department. Once
they withdrawal the money and transferred it to the desired
place they distribute it according to decided ratios among all
conspirators. Following are names of criminals who have been
found guilty in this fraudulent activity (Warren G. Kruse; Jay
G. Heiser, 2002).
1. “Obinna” Orji (He is the one who lead the team and yet not

4. founded by the law enforcement departments of district Virginia
(USA) till has been charged in August 2008, then arrested in
DEC 2012 founded guilty and sentenced 72 months prison. Date
was 17 May 2013.
2. “Henry” lived in Florida was punished for 88 months prison
date was 11 Sep 2009.
3.” Abel Nnabue “lived in Dallas was punished for 54 months
on 30 Jan 2009.
4. “Precious Matthews” prison for 51 months on 13 Feb 2009.
5. “Brandy Anderson” lived in Dallas sentenced for 24 months’
probation under supervision and 2 months of confinement under
community on 20 Feb 2009.
6. Ezenwa Onyedebelu also lived in Dallas was punished for 37
months on 27 February 2009.
7.” Ezenwa Onyedebelu” lived in Nigeria was punishes for 42
months date was 6 March 2009.
8. Paula Gipson lived in Dallas was Punished for 15 months
date was 4 September 2009.
This case was investigated by FBI’s situated at US Secret
Service Field Office Washington and the Department of Police
Alexandria. US Marshals Service also provide assistance. That
was really a team effort and continuous focused on target and to
approach conspirators all the team members put their efforts day
by night. This could be possible by the genuine efforts and
coordination of all mentioned above departments.
Contribution of Federal Police department Australia is also
appreciable because they have traced out the conspirator’s
locations who hided in Sydney and helped in evidence recovery.
A copy of this case and relevant details are also available at
http:www.justice.gov/usao/ and you can read the case from
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories3. How was it detected??
After receiving so many complaints from the poor victims
the FBI has been alerted and started to research the case with
the coordination of different law enforcement departments. First
they check the calls record that have been made by the
conspirators to the victims financial institutions by tracing

5. those calls they came to know that all the techniques used by
the conspirators are well planned because they did not leave any
kind of proof. They take the IP addresses of the system from
which amounts have been transferred from victim’s account to
conspirator’s accounts (Leigland, R, 2004).
By tracing location of wireless PC connection FBI was
able to access all the record and information used in their
system. Those conspirators also used mobile phones with
prepaid connection. FBI special digital Forensic labs have
successfully recovered all the numbers where phone calls have
been made by these conspirators. Then they recover the data of
their wireless PCs and review mobile calls history. With the
help of this FBI department understand the techniques of their
fraud that how they plan, trap and make a fraud (Gunsch, G
2002).
Forensic digital lab helps the team in tracing out those
accounts where conspirators transfer the money for the purpose
of distribution among them. By tracing the particular bank they
have also traced out all the relevant details of conspirators. This
detail included their names, physical appearance, from where
they were actually belonging and onward detail of their families
(Leigland, R, 2004).
With the help of this detail now police was able to trace
them out more effectively. Now next action was to catch them
and for this they deputed a full team. Some of those have been
caught early and some of those ran away promptly from the
country. One of the members named onwuhara was run away
from USA and ran away to Sydney (Australia) but he also have
been caught with the help of Australian Police department. They
have traced him out and handed over to the USA authorities and
further he sentenced to prison.4. Key pieces of digital evidences
Digital evidences include all those evidences which are
being used by the criminals while committing crimes. Court of
law also accepting those evidences basis on the sensitivity and
intensity of their use. For example Emails, telephonic calls, face
book, any other social media have been used for this,

6. telecommunications and all such things which have been
observed for the purpose of investigation. From last few years
use of digital evidences has been increased due to excessive use
of them by the criminals. Court of law accepts these evidences
if those are authenticated by the digital forensic lab (Warren G.
Kruse; Jay G. Heiser, 2002).
In the above mentioned case the digital evidences that are
being used are prepaid connection mobile phones, wireless
internet connections and personal wireless PCs of conspirators
(Casey, Eoghan, 2004). And with the help of these digital
evidences FBI came to know all the details about criminals and
caught them accordingly. First they collect raw data from these
digital evidences just like their systems IP’s addresses, their
mobile calls history and all the information available in their
PCs. And with the help of this information they have traced out
their bank accounts and so forth all their relevant details. Those
digital evidences also work as a source of proof against them
because all fraudulent banking transactions details and all fake
calls made by them have been restored by the forensic digital
lab of FBI (Warren G. Kruse; Jay G. Heiser, 2002).5. Volume
Of digital evidences
Crimes relevant to digital forensic are basically its self-
evident for all because retrieve data and collect the relevant
information is too much easy for forensic labs. In this case
volume of digital evidences is vast because multiple sources
have been used. If we particularly talking about the above case
then criminals used multiple digital devices to commit the crime
just like landline numbers, prepaid connection mobile phones,
PCs with wireless connections, fee based websites and online
bank accounts transactions.
Those criminals had taken all the precautions when
planning and implementing this but digital devices are very easy
to traced and easy to recover even deleted data from these
devices. So this could be considered advantage of the day that
now if crimes are increasing by using the modern technology
then the other aspect is that it has also the solution for the every

7. existing problem.6. Attribution
This Cybercrime is particularly relevant to individuals who
have been victimized and their money have been stolen by
fraudulently gathering their information and then use this
information to transfer their money from HOSL accounts to the
victims checking accounts and then further transfer those funds
into the desired accounts from where it was drawled near about
36 million dollars have been transferred by conspirators
fraudulently and their victims spread over the state (Leigland,
R, 2004).
Although Govt. have played recognized role in tracing them out
and put them behind the bars with the coordination of different
law enforcement departments in the district of Virginia. 7.
Main concepts of the case
By doing detail analysis of this case it is now very easy for me
to discuss its core elements and elaborate it more appropriately.
I have gone through many sites and articles to develop level
best understanding regarding Cybercrimes and role of digital
forensic labs.
In that real case the digital crime was fraudulently
transferred money from the victim’s account in to conspirator’s
account. And to commit this crime the group of all criminals
used digital devices such as PC’s, landline, mobile phones
online banking system etc.
The main target area were those people who has sufficient funds
in their accounts and those who are using loan facility with
HOSL accounts, first they identified those people by using fee
based site and collect information about those people who have
millions of deposit in their account . And have started to collect
information regarding their statement of accounts and credit
card statements (Michael G. Noblett; Mark M. Pollitt; Lawrence
A. Presley, 2000). First they collect raw data from these digital
evidences just like their systems IP’s addresses, their mobile
calls history and all the information available in their PCs. Then
target a particular person and stole all the money that he/she has
in account (Michael G. Noblett; Mark M. Pollitt; Lawrence A.

8. Presley, 2000). So this could be considered advantage of the
day that now if crimes are increasing by using the modern
technology then the other aspect is that it has also the solution
for the every existing problem.
When victims started to complaint than FBI department have
alert. They firstly take the details from their accounts and
investigate from relevant financial organization. By checking
the details FBI came to know that it’s a cybercrime and certain
group of people doing this from past few years. FDL (Forensic
Digital Lab) play an important role in identifying the ways of
fraud activity and also trace out the conspirators. And have
started to collect information regarding their statement of
accounts and credit card statements. Then target a particular
person and stole all the money that he/she has in account. If we
particularly talking about the above case then criminals used
multiple digital devices to commit the crime just like landline
numbers, prepaid connection mobile phones, PCs with wireless
connections, fee based websites and online bank accounts
transactions (Gunsch, G 2002).
Role of digital evidences never been ignored because those were
the main source of tracing the guilty people. By using the data
that were used by those criminals FBI was able to catch them,
by tracing the mobile calls FBI realized that there were a group
of people involved in that case who successfully made victims
fool, stole their money and ran away. Suppose if no digital
evidences were available than that’s nearly impossible for the
Police department to catch them and put all of them behind the
bars. And with the help of these digital evidences FBI came to
know all the details about criminals and caught them
accordingly (Michael G. Noblett; Mark M. Pollitt; Lawrence A.
Presley, 2000).
Forensic analysis was conducted to collect proper evidences
that can be helpful and useful in the investigation of this event.
USA Forensic lab is equipped with all modern technology that
is demanded now days. So with the help of other law

9. enforcement departments first they structured the case made
line of action and then implemented all the techniques that have
been required to sole this matter. This group was created trouble
for almost all the state, different complaints have been logged
on weekly basis but nobody knows who is actually involved
behind this illegal activity (Warren G. Kruse; Jay G. Heiser,
2002).
By analyzing digital data FBI have found success and all the
criminals sentenced to prison, in district court of law all digital
evidences were presented on the basis of those evidences court
make decision about their crucial crime. So in this case’s
importance of digital evidences are self-evident nobody can
ignore their importance in the modern era (Warren G. Kruse;
Jay G. Heiser, 2002). So we can say that fast
telecommunication, internet, social sites and cell phones make
easier for criminals to influence the people life badly but on the
other side of picture it’s also a very helping tool to trace the
garbage of society and put them all at their place.
References
· Michael G. Noblett; Mark M. Pollitt; Lawrence A. Presley,
(2000). "Recovering and examining computer forensic
evidence". Retrieved September 17, 2014
· Leigland, R, (2004). "A Formalization of Digital Forensics".
· A Yasinsac; RF Erbacher, DG Marks, MM Pollitt (2003).
"Computer forensics education". IEEE Security & Privacy.
CiteSeerX: 10.1.1.1.9510.
· Warren G. Kruse; Jay G. Heiser, (2002). Computer forensics:
incident response essentials. Addison-Wesley. p. 392. ISBN0-
201-70719-5. Retrieved September 17, 2014
· Gunsch, G (2002). "An Examination of Digital Forensic
Models".
· Adams, R. (2012). "'The Advanced Data Acquisition Model
(ADAM): A process model for digital forensic practice".

10. · Casey, Eoghan, (2004). Digital Evidence and Computer Crime,
Second Edition. Elsevier. ISBN0-12-163104-4.