Computers and Peripherals - email question
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robj
01-17-06, 11:28 AM
If someone sent a email to me that was somewhat profane in manner can I trace that person to see who sent it. How would I go about doing this. There is no name on it of course. I do have an email account. Anything else I can do. Thank you.
John Whorfin
01-17-06, 11:47 AM
it really depends on how smart they were and what they did when the sent it. It can be easily traced, impossible or somewhere in between. Not the answer you are looking for but those are the facts.
It is very easy to make bogus untrackable email, hence all the spam.
Off the top of my head I do not know any of the web sites that show what to look for. But if you google mail tracing or mail tracking it should point you in the right direction.
It is very easy to make bogus untrackable email, hence all the spam.
Off the top of my head I do not know any of the web sites that show what to look for. But if you google mail tracing or mail tracking it should point you in the right direction.
rhynes
01-17-06, 12:05 PM
lemme give you a scenario...
I took on a new client about 6 months ago, had a microsoft exchange mail server. He called me complaining that his server and network was sooooo slow.
On inspection, the server had a virus, was hacked and set to what's called "open-relay". Anybody can send email thru the server at this point. Hacked servers are typically listed for any/all spammers to use.
To add insult to injury, the email domain is generally reported and blacklisted by sites like ordb.org, you can have any email server scanned at this site.
This particular client had 1.5 million emails sitting in the message queue waiting to be sent out, it had already sent out 750,000 spam messages and there were a couple of hundred thousand messages in the 'badmail' folder that couldn't be sent...
Is it traceable? Not really worth it unless you are looking to inform the server owner... You can obtain the originating IP address within outlook by right clicking on the email and clicking options but it really won't do you any good.
Best thing to do is ignore it and delete it. Never respond to spam messages and never request to "be removed from the list". If you do then you've just confirmed your email is valid and will start getting alot more spam.
I took on a new client about 6 months ago, had a microsoft exchange mail server. He called me complaining that his server and network was sooooo slow.
On inspection, the server had a virus, was hacked and set to what's called "open-relay". Anybody can send email thru the server at this point. Hacked servers are typically listed for any/all spammers to use.
To add insult to injury, the email domain is generally reported and blacklisted by sites like ordb.org, you can have any email server scanned at this site.
This particular client had 1.5 million emails sitting in the message queue waiting to be sent out, it had already sent out 750,000 spam messages and there were a couple of hundred thousand messages in the 'badmail' folder that couldn't be sent...
Is it traceable? Not really worth it unless you are looking to inform the server owner... You can obtain the originating IP address within outlook by right clicking on the email and clicking options but it really won't do you any good.
Best thing to do is ignore it and delete it. Never respond to spam messages and never request to "be removed from the list". If you do then you've just confirmed your email is valid and will start getting alot more spam.
robj
01-17-06, 02:36 PM
Well I think it was from someone I know because it was somewhat personal in manner. Alright, I did that and got the ip address by right clicking. KNOW what? I have a email account and a ip address know. What can I do from here? Thank you :(
rhynes
01-17-06, 02:42 PM
I really don't know what you're looking to do, and I really don't want to post the answers I "think" you're looking for. This is a friendly forum and I don't think any kind of posting on IP tracing and hacking is going to be allowed here...
joed
01-17-06, 03:37 PM
Here is an IP address trace link. Just type inthe IP and it will tell who owns it. It won't be the email sender but will be the service thaty are using like AOL for example.
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jhtml
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jhtml
frhrwa
01-17-06, 04:16 PM
once you have the ISP's name, you can forward the email to them with a complaint regarding the nature of the email.. or call them regarding this email.. they are the ones that can do something about it depending on the nature of this email... also if its some sort of porn spam or something, forward it along with the "full address header" information to uce@ftc.gov The Federal Trade Commission is investigating SPAM and its perpetrators...
brentwoodpmg
01-17-06, 04:53 PM
robj,
i don't know how computer literate you are, but i get a lot of people
who hand me over their computers as doorstops to fix because
they have opened an e-mail that they did'nt know who the sender
was, and they did'nt spend the few extra bux a year to keep their
anti-virus software up to date, or even downloaded some of the free spyware,
adware programs. once i get them up and running, i advise them to only
open anything from those that they know and are reliable sites.
this is just a sub note to the question that you asked just wanted anybody
that is kinda new to this internet thing, to be very careful of what you open up.
barry
i don't know how computer literate you are, but i get a lot of people
who hand me over their computers as doorstops to fix because
they have opened an e-mail that they did'nt know who the sender
was, and they did'nt spend the few extra bux a year to keep their
anti-virus software up to date, or even downloaded some of the free spyware,
adware programs. once i get them up and running, i advise them to only
open anything from those that they know and are reliable sites.
this is just a sub note to the question that you asked just wanted anybody
that is kinda new to this internet thing, to be very careful of what you open up.
barry
BobF
01-17-06, 05:32 PM
Was it really "personal" - things that only you would know? Or was it like horoscopes - you can read all kinds of "personal" stuff into them. Spammers are very good at making you think they are talking to you personally - its called social engineering.
robj
01-17-06, 05:46 PM
Thank you for your replies. Rhynes, I figured that this was a common thing and people usually retaliate in this way. brentwoodpmg, I will do as you suggested with regarding protection and yes it was personal. What is a address header and what is in it that can help my situation (i.e. ip address etc.) Thank you. :cool: .