Computer Crimes, Hacking Became paranoid a guy who threatened me last year online...

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...hacked me and may have planted something illegal on my computer. Threw it out and worried he gave police a tip and they searched dumpster and found it.


I'm an extremely paranoid person, so perhaps I'm overreacting, but as the title says: Last year, a guy I encountered online doxxed me and then started sending me cryptic threats (which I did report to my local police, as well as the FBI...none of whom seemed to care). I also came to suspect he had hacked me, as the password for a VPN I was using had been changed.

I didn't want to spend money on a new computer then, and just kept using it for over a year.

Then last week I was watching some videos on prison and it triggered thoughts of how he could have planted something illegal on there, and I decided it was safest to get rid of it. Which I'm starting to think was a mistake.

I checked the dumpsters at my apartment two days after I put it in a tied garbage bag (I guess that's not how you're supposed to dispose of computers) and it was gone, but I don't think the garbage pickup trucks come on either of those two days of the week after I put it in.

My paranoia is again taking over, and the scenario I am now worried about is this guy saw that I was searching for a new computer on the internet (I ordered it online) and then tipped off the cops about whatever illegal stuff he planted, and the police responded by searching the dumpsters (which I read they don't need a search warrant to do).

It all seems very far-fetched in my mind that this would happen. but I have always had bad luck in my life. It would figure they would ignore a guy making death threats to me and hacking me, but take some anonymous tip he made against me (after framing me for something) seriously.

If he did put something illegal on there and the police did take it, am I fucked? The sense I get about computer forensics is they're only looking to prove guilt, rather than looking for someone being framed by a malicious attacker. I did try running antivirus scans on there after the threats and suspected hacking (which came up clear), but if he's really skilled, I'm not sure exactly what he's capable of hiding.
 
If you are prone to paranoia then the answer sense obvious.... You are most likely imagining a problem that doesn't exist.
Your computer was likely taken by someone rummaging for recyclables.
Your time will be better spent worrying about the chemicals in your drinking water or brain cancer caused by exposure to cell phones.
 
OP, I do not mean this unkindly, I really don't.

Get some therapy.

You are building a huge, totally irrational delusion and allowing it to rule your life. That's not healthy, my friend. The odds of ANY of what you're worrying about, let alone all of it, are so small that I don't think they've yet built the machine that is capable of calculating them.

Get some help. I mean that in the kindest possible way.
 
I checked the dumpsters at my apartment two days after I put it in a tied garbage bag (I guess that's not how you're supposed to dispose of computers) and it was gone, but I don't think the garbage pickup trucks come on either of those two days of the week after I put it in.


I seem to recall that a well known public figure ran for president back in '16 and was supposed to be concerned about "compromising" material on some electronic devices.

The person and the person's team acquired a product known as "Bleach Bit" Clean Your System and Free Disk Space | BleachBit used it on the devices, then took a large hammer to the devices shattering same into "smithereens" no trace of anything anywhere, just pieces of dreams.

If this ever occurs in the future, the information on everything that was allegedly done is out there for you to collect.

By the way, the person was exonerated by a former director of the FBI during a live television broadcast.
 
OP, I do not mean this unkindly, I really don't.

Get some therapy.

You are building a huge, totally irrational delusion and allowing it to rule your life. That's not healthy, my friend. The odds of ANY of what you're worrying about, let alone all of it, are so small that I don't think they've yet built the machine that is capable of calculating them.

Get some help. I mean that in the kindest possible way.

The odds of the guy having hacked me are basically 100%. It even freaked out the friend of mine who gave me the VPN (he was using it too). His reaction was something like, "if he really DID hack you, I want nothing to do with this." This guy grew up building computers and knows a shitload about them, and he was baffled about the password having changed. He had to reset it himself.

Considering the threats he made, everything else only logically follows.

Best case scenario is he's a malicious hacker. Worst case scenario is he is a rogue FBI agent. Because unless a link he sent me to what seemed like a Youtube video of the Reservoir Dogs torture scene was somehow a spoof website that put some kind of trojan or something on my computer, I have absolutely no idea how he could have gotten in. All he knew was my name and IP address. That points to rogue agent, does it not?
 
Even if he did hack your computer (and I don't know how you could be so certain), it does NOT logically follow that he placed anything illegal on it, or that when you threw it out the computer it was then picked up by the cops. That is a leap so far that an Olympic track and field athlete couldn't make it.
 
Even if he did hack your computer (and I don't know how you could be so certain), it does NOT logically follow that he placed anything illegal on it, or that when you threw it out the computer it was then picked up by the cops. That is a leap so far that an Olympic track and field athlete couldn't make it.

When he told me to "drop $20,000 off at an undisclosed location and he won't ruin my life," it's not hard to figure out what he might be up to. Like I said, I reported this to both the police and the FBI, and they did not care. The local cop told me it's not extortion unless I actually pay it...which I'm pretty sure is wrong, but what can I do?

And I don't know the garbage collection schedule here, but it doesn't seem to align with it being gone when I checked for the bag with the computer in it a couple days after putting it in the dumpster. If it wasn't picked up, there's not really any other explanation. It's a gated community...nobody's dumpster diving around here.
 
Alrighty then.

Since there's really nothing a message board can tell you that you want to hear, how about you just find a minute to let us know when the FBI comes to arrest you, okay?
 
Alrighty then.

Since there's really nothing a message board can tell you that you want to hear, how about you just find a minute to let us know when the FBI comes to arrest you, okay?
OP will now come back and accuse you of working with the "rogue agent".


ETA: Thanks Zig....;)
 
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Alrighty then.

Since there's really nothing a message board can tell you that you want to hear, how about you just find a minute to let us know when the FBI comes to arrest you, okay?

Unfortunately, if I get arrested, I'll be raped to death in a matter of minutes.
 
And yet you refuse to believe me when I tell you that you have nothing to worry about; no law enforcement agency has your computer.
 
I really don't know what further to tell you. Since you're not inclined to believe anything we tell you, may I ask why you posted in the first place? What did you want us to tell you?
 
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