Nowadays “documents” means much more than it did 30 years ago when all your valuable “papers” were behind lock & key in your trusty file cabinet. Emails, PDFs, word docs, JPGs & more have now expanded the world of documents — as well as forgeries, fakes and cut & paste signatures.
How do you know if a PDF is legit? How can you tell if the signature on a holographic will has been “lift cropped”? Dr. Edmond Locard said that “any action… constituting a crime, cannot occur without leaving a trace.” Mike Wakshull will show you how he finds these traces & clues using the tools & techniques of his Forensic Document Examination practice. Case examples discussed: is a JPEG embedded in PDF part of the original document, Divorce Case — Zoom stock split email, altered deed filed with the county recorder, alteration of a mortgage document, PDF authenticity, faked signature on a holographic will, intersection of ink & toner and intersecting lines. Further topics: “Repeatability, Reproducibility & Replicability,” Photoshop tools, using camera metadata, GPS data, the Video Spectral Comparator (VSC), the digital microscope, using blue light & filters and ESDA Imaging.
Michael N. Wakshull is a court-qualified civil & criminal forensic document examiner and has been qualified as an expert witness in California Superior Courts and Federal District Court. His clients are in 27 states and five countries and partners with legal clients to dissect evidence presented in handwritten and computer-generated questioned documents.