Horsham, PA asked in Civil Rights for Pennsylvania

Q: Can I sue someone who hacked my email, google apps, erased all of my mail and impersonated me on social media?

This person used a third party access site through her place of employment to hack my accounts and google apps. She erased all of my email and installed an app that automatically erased new incoming mail. She created an account in Google Hangouts using my name, email and phone number. I'm not sure what else she's done with my information, and I was just looking for advice on how to go about handling this. I would like to press charges.

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1 Lawyer Answer
Cary B. Hall
Cary B. Hall
Answered
  • Criminal Law Lawyer
  • Norristown, PA
  • Licensed in Pennsylvania

A: Suing someone and "pressing charges" are two completely different things. The first involves civil litigation, usually with counsel; the second involves contacting the police and asking them to institute criminal charges (and some criminal laws have certainly been broken here if the situation you describe is true).

In a civil suit, you must allege -- and prove -- that you have suffered compensable damages. If you can't, and from the outset, you will summarily lose. You should sit down for a consultation with a civil litigation attorney to discuss the merits and viability of a civil lawsuit under your circumstances.

At the same time, you can contact your local police department and see if they're interested in pressing criminal charges. Maybe they will be, and maybe they won't be, but you'll never know unless you try.

Best of luck to you.

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