What payment evidence may exist on a computer?¶

A computer may contain payment evidence across applications, browsers, documents, communications and locally stored account data.

Avoid the dangerous assumption¶

The dangerous assumption is that the absence of a banking application means the computer was not used for payment activity.

Relevant evidence may include browser history, saved bookmarks, cookies, sessions, downloaded statements, invoices, receipts and transaction exports.

Email and messaging applications may contain payment instructions, account details, gift-card codes, cryptocurrency addresses and discussions about transfers.

Password managers, authentication tools and saved credentials may link the computer to bank, wallet, exchange or merchant accounts.

Cryptocurrency evidence may include wallet software, browser extensions, seed-phrase photographs, wallet files, transaction hashes and hardware-wallet connections.

Spreadsheets or documents may map accounts, beneficiaries, losses, commissions or fund movement.

Remote-access software may show that another person could operate the computer or payment account.

A file or application found on the computer does not automatically prove current use or personal control.

Artefacts may be old, synchronised, copied, shared or created by another user profile.

Preserve user accounts, timestamps, browser profiles, installed applications, downloads and relevant external devices.

Avoid opening live wallets, updating applications or logging into payment services without considering evidential change.

Compare computer evidence with provider access records, transaction times, IP addresses and device identifiers.

When reporting, distinguish presence of evidence, account access and proven participation in the transaction.

Operational takeaway¶

Examine computers for browser, document, communication, credential and wallet evidence, then corroborate any payment attribution through provider records and user-specific activity.