If your ex hacked your email and you’re wondering whether you can press charges, the short answer is that you don’t file charges yourself, but you can report the hack and a prosecutor can charge your ex with a federal crime, a state crime, or both. Reading someone else’s email without permission violates at least two federal statutes, and that stays true even if your ex used a password you once shared with them. Your job is to secure the account, preserve the evidence, and get the report in front of the right agency. The charging decision belongs to the government, but without your report and cooperation the case usually never starts.
Yes, What Your Ex Did Is a Federal Crime
Two federal laws cover email hacking directly.
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act makes it a crime to intentionally access a protected computer without authorization and obtain information from it. Email servers run by providers like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo count as protected computers because they operate in interstate commerce.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1030 – Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers Your ex didn’t have to hack a government system for this law to apply. Any major email provider clears the threshold.
The Stored Communications Act is written even more precisely for this situation. It criminalizes intentionally accessing, without authorization, a facility through which an electronic communication service is provided and obtaining stored communications as a result.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2701 – Unlawful Access to Stored Communications Logging into someone else’s inbox and reading their mail is exactly the conduct the statute targets. It doesn’t matter whether your ex used a sophisticated technique or just typed in a password.
Every state also has its own computer crime law covering unauthorized access.3Congress.gov. Cybercrime and the Law – Primer on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Depending on where you live, the charges may be labeled computer trespass, computer tampering, or unauthorized use of a computer. If your ex used what they found to impersonate you or get into financial accounts, identity theft charges can stack on top. Penalties range from misdemeanors with modest fines to felonies carrying multi-year prison terms, especially when there’s financial harm or a pattern of harassment.
“But I Gave Them My Password Once”
This is where most people get stuck, and it’s the question that stops a lot of valid cases before they start. Sharing your password during the relationship did not give your ex permanent permission to use it. Courts have treated unauthorized access as including continued use of credentials after permission is revoked.
You don’t need to have sent any formal notice. Changing your password, ending the relationship, or simply telling your ex they can no longer log in all work to establish that whatever access they once had is gone. The Ninth Circuit applied this principle in Facebook, Inc. v. Power Ventures, Inc., holding that continuing to access a system after permission was withdrawn violated the CFAA.4United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Facebook, Inc. v. Power Ventures, Inc. – Court Opinion And if your ex never had permission in the first place because they guessed the password, installed a keylogger, or exploited an account recovery option, there’s no authorization question to argue about.
Lock the Account Down Before You Do Anything Else
Every hour your ex still has access means more compromised information and a muddier evidence timeline. Do this before you confront them, because tipping them off tends to prompt either a cover-up or escalation.
- Change your password to something your ex could not guess, and change it on any other account where you reused the same one.
- Sign out of all active sessions. Google lets you review every device signed into your account and remove any you don’t recognize. Yahoo offers the same through its account security page.5Google. Secure a Hacked or Compromised Google Account6Yahoo Help. Find and Remove Unusual Activity on Your Yahoo Account
- Turn on two-factor authentication so a password alone isn’t enough to get in.
- Check mail forwarding rules and delegated access. An ex with access may have set your inbox to copy to theirs or added themselves as a delegate who can read messages without logging in.
- Revoke third-party app connections you don’t recognize.
Save the Evidence While It Still Exists
Your word that your ex was in your account isn’t enough on its own. Email providers keep access logs for a limited window, and waiting a few weeks can mean the records are gone.
Most providers log the IP address, timestamp, and approximate location of every login, and some record the browser and operating system too. Download or screenshot those logs now. Logins from places or devices that aren’t yours, especially at times that line up with your ex’s schedule, are strong circumstantial evidence.
Document any changes to the account: new recovery phone numbers or email addresses, forwarding rules you didn’t create, deleted messages, altered filters. Screenshot everything and keep printed copies alongside the digital ones. If your ex used what they read to harass you, send threats, or interfere with your finances, save those communications too.
How to Actually Report It
File a report with your local police department and bring your evidence with you: access logs, screenshots, records of harassment or financial harm. Be specific about dates, what was accessed, and why you believe your ex is responsible. A vague report gets filed and forgotten. A detailed one gives investigators something to work with.
File a second complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. The form asks for information about you, the person you believe is responsible, and the incident itself, including technical details like email headers and IP addresses.7Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). IC3 Complaint Form IC3 passes complaints to federal, state, and local agencies that may investigate.8Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI – Cyber
Be realistic. Law enforcement receives far more cybercrime reports than it can investigate, and a lone domestic hacking case competes with large-scale fraud and data breaches for attention. Clear, organized evidence and documented harm help. If the hacking is part of a larger pattern of stalking or abuse, say so plainly in the report; that context can lift your case’s priority.
What Your Ex Is Facing
Under the CFAA, a first offense for accessing a protected computer and obtaining information carries up to one year in prison plus fines. A second or later offense can bring up to ten years.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1030 – Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers
The Stored Communications Act is tiered. A basic first offense carries up to one year in prison. If the access was for private commercial gain, malicious destruction, or in furtherance of another crime, a first offense can reach five years, and repeat offenses in that aggravated tier can hit ten.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2701 – Unlawful Access to Stored Communications
State charges stack on top. Depending on your state, your ex could face additional counts for computer trespass, identity theft, or harassment, each with its own fines and jail time. Measurable financial harm or a stalking pattern can push the state charges into felony territory.
You Can Also Sue Your Ex Yourself
Criminal prosecution isn’t the only route. A civil suit can run alongside it.
The CFAA lets anyone who suffers damage or loss from a violation sue for compensatory damages and injunctive relief. The deadline is two years from the act or from the date you discovered the damage. If the only qualifying harm is an interruption of service, your recovery is limited to economic damages.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1030 – Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers
The Stored Communications Act is more generous for email hacking victims. You can recover your actual damages plus any profits your ex made from the violation, with a guaranteed minimum of $1,000 even if your provable losses are lower. Willful or intentional violations open the door to punitive damages, and the statute lets you recover reasonable attorney’s fees and litigation costs, which makes bringing the case more realistic financially.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2707 – Civil Action
When It’s More Than Hacking
If your ex didn’t just read your email but used what they found to track you, harass you, or scare you, the case may cross into federal cyberstalking territory. Using an electronic communication service with intent to harass or intimidate, where the conduct causes or would reasonably be expected to cause substantial emotional distress, is a separate federal crime with penalties tied to the federal domestic violence sentencing framework.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2261A – Stalking That is substantially more serious than the baseline computer access charges.
Showing that the hacking was part of a course of conduct meant to control, monitor, or frighten you changes how prosecutors and judges treat the case. It also strengthens a request for a protective or restraining order. Evidence that an ex was secretly reading your email to track your plans is powerful in those proceedings.