1) Talk to the police
2) Talk to the police
3) In gmail you can click on the arrow on the right hand side and click "show original" which will have IP information from the sender. I just confirmed this myself, an email from my buddy sent via hotmail clears back to his Telus IP address.
4) Talk to the police.
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The easy answer is not really without a huge amount of technical skill and breaking many laws, even an IP address doesn't always give you what you need. Police is probably your best bet.
As an exercise in thought though, you might be able to use some basic investigation and social engineering tricks to find out:
Maybe use the information in the email to narrow down the list of people it could be. Find out if the person has used the email address for anything else that could help you narrow it down. Once you have some ideas about who it is, to become more certain you would essentially need to trick themselves into revealing who they are. For example make a fake email address for someone they know and send them a quick note.
For example, they know a Larry Smith whose email address is larrysmith@shaw.ca. You make a shaw email 1arrysmith@shaw.ca and send them an email that they might expect given the relationship, like "Did you see the game last night?" or "Do you want to hit up a movie this weekend?"
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1) Talk to the police
2) Talk to the police
3) In gmail you can click on the arrow on the right hand side and click "show original" which will have IP information from the sender. I just confirmed this myself, an email from my buddy sent via hotmail clears back to his Telus IP address.
4) Talk to the police.
I'm using a hotmail account, not a gmail one...
I can, "view message source" and I get
x-store-info:sbevkl2QZR7OXo7WID5ZcdV2tiiWGqTn0TIr2BNdOs1Zo UcBgbzzQU/KKfN8pdgLcHus6Q153p2qxinrxqtZG8QoaVbcGgeRU2KSmoE7C BDExbqftyJO3A==
Authentication-Results: hotmail.com; sender-id=pass (sender IP is 209.85.210.169) header.from=black.desert.cobra@gmail.com; dkim=neutral header.d=gmail.com; x-hmca=pass
X-Message-Status: n:0:n
Now, that IP address is just a generic Google address...
Is there anything I can do to figure out who this person is?
Not without Google's help, if they're using the web interface instead of SMTP/POP I don't think it logs the person's computer IP in the email headers.
If he wasn't on gmail you might be able to trick him by setting up a web server hosting a 1x1 transparent gif image and having that embedded in the email, then when the image is requested by his browser his IP will show up in the logs.
But Gmail by default doesn't show images in emails.
Or I guess you could send an email with a big image, something you would normally email to someone sending abusive emails (something disturbing) and do the same kind of thing.
Any reason not to just setup a filter to automatically delete all emails from that address?
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Not without Google's help, if they're using the web interface instead of SMTP/POP I don't think it logs the person's computer IP in the email headers.
If he wasn't on gmail you might be able to trick him by setting up a web server hosting a 1x1 transparent gif image and having that embedded in the email, then when the image is requested by his browser his IP will show up in the logs.
But Gmail by default doesn't show images in emails.
Or I guess you could send an email with a big image, something you would normally email to someone sending abusive emails (something disturbing) and do the same kind of thing.
Any reason not to just setup a filter to automatically delete all emails from that address?
The reason why i'm not deleting the emails are because, they're trying to intimidate me.
It's a long story, but I was witness to something pretty crappy. They are offering me stuff to keep my mouth shut.. Obviously, they are close to the situation as well.. I just really want to find out who it is... Because, some of the stuff that they know about me (personal stuff) is really scary..
Any tech guys out there that want to help out a fellow CP'er?
Because even if what I suggested worked, all that would give you is an IP address which best case scenario could be geolocated to Calgary, worst case would be an IP for a phone which would show up as registered in Edmonton or Vancouver or Ontario somewhere. Only the ISP could line up the IP address with an actual person.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Yeah, if you were a witness to something, and someone else is trying to intimidate you as a result, go to the cops. They can get warrants to get the info you are looking for, since your comment implies that someone is trying to interfere with an active police case?
My girlfriend was wrongly dismissed from her job, they accused her of stealing and I happened to witness her putting the item on her account. They deleted her transaction and fired her on the spot.
We are now in the process of setting the wheels in motion to get some financial retribution.
The day after she got fired, the emails started.
I have a good idea over who's doing it, but, I'm honestly not sure.
I really don't want to go to the cops unless every other option has been searched.
Technically the options won't get you want you want, getting their IP address wont' give you an identity, at best it will get you which ISP they are on.
So other than the police the only thing would be social engineering type stuff like Rathji suggested
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Technically the options won't get you want you want, getting their IP address wont' give you an identity, at best it will get you which ISP they are on.
So other than the police the only thing would be social engineering type stuff like Rathji suggested
That would be breaking the law (to get personal information from an IP), I don't think we should host discussions on specifics of how to do that here, so lets keep it more towards finding an IP legally.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Personally I would meet up with them and see who shows up from a distance. Or if I felt less adventurous I would just reply saying I have contacted the Calgary Police and any further email will be forwarded to them. Whether you do or not they won't know as I'm sure the police would do very little anyways.
Well given that you know where your friend was fired from it's a pretty open & shut case. "I believe someone from *COMPANY X* is sending these emails".
Once again, stop looking for IT help and speak to the police. Stop posting specifics online, and speak to the police.
Or if you refuse to go that route then simply keep all the emails incase you need them later. Your CSI "Let's traceroute that IP & get a picture of their house from above" fantasy isn't going to pan out, that's just not the way IP's work.
Are we getting the full story here? What could someone at your g/f's company possibly have to threaten you with? Do they have some kind of dirt on you?
If someone from my g/'f's ex employer started emailing me after she was canned, they would all be printed off into a neat little stack and brought to the police along with my theory as to whom it is.
I wouldn't tolerate that crap for a second.
Last edited by GoinAllTheWay; 01-25-2012 at 10:00 AM.
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Harassing Emails
