follow the/(one's) paper trail

To examine the physical or digital documentation of a person's, group's, company's, etc., activities. An anonymous source provided thousands of emails to the investigators, who followed the paper trail to discover the company's involvement in the scandal. Police are following the paper trail of a con artist who has been writing fraudulent checks all over the state. Ugh! The organization knew we would follow the paper trail, so they did all their transactions in cash.

To track the series of physical or digital documentation created and left behind by one's activities. The con artist wrote fraudulent checks all over the state, so all the police had to do was follow his paper trail. The owners of the company were able to follow Tom's digital paper trail, proving that he had used the company computer to conduct illegal activities. An anonymous source provided thousands of emails to the investigators, who followed the paper trail to discover the company's involvement in the scandal.