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Question About An IP Address

by Cindi Dawson
13 replies
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This is a rather odd question to post here but I'll go for it anyway.

I love this forum. I know that there are tons of very smart, and even brilliant people lurking about here so I thought I'd put out a plea to harness all that brain power to solve a mystery.

I have a good friend who is receiving unwanted and even harassing texts on her cell phone from an AOL email address. (She does not give out her cell phone number to people she does not know so she's sure it's someone who knows her.) She has been able to capture the IP address of the email address but it only points us to AOL.

So my question for you is this: Since the IP is pointing only to AOL, is there any way we can track down the city where this email is coming from?

I've helped her as much as I can and have suggested letting the police handle it but she wants to see if she can narrow down the city first to at least have an idea of who it might be before she goes to the police.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated, even if just to point me in the right direction for where to look.

Thanks again,
Cindi
#reverse ip address #reverse ip lookup
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    AOL could do it, but they probably won't.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author gfsocial
    you can see if this pulls up the city...

    IP2Location.com - Lookup IP address to Country, State, City, Netblock, Longitude and Latitude

    NOt sure if it will work on AOL or not..
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by gfsocial View Post

      you can see if this pulls up the city...

      IP2Location.com - Lookup IP address to Country, State, City, Netblock, Longitude and Latitude

      NOt sure if it will work on AOL or not..
      AOL has numbers allocated to regions so, without the user and AOLs help, you probably can't reliably tie it to a city.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author Cindi Dawson
        Thank you all for your input. I appreciate your help so much.

        As many geeky things as we all know how to do, I'm afraid this will have to be handed to the police. At least with their help, she can trace the actual email address to the culprit.

        Thanks again. You're GREAT!
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        Cindi Dawson
        The Multimedia Strategist

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  • Profile picture of the author JayVance
    You will need an e-mail client that can open up the header of the e-mail message. Then you can sometimes pull additional information out of it. I had a mystery e-mail coming to people at my work with some negative details about the workplace. But I was able to determine what their computer name was in windows because it is listed in that header file.

    So when looking at it, it literally said COMPUTER NAME: [Person's Last Name]

    So if they were using webmail you probably won't be able to figure it out but if they sent the e-mail through a client like outlook then you might be able to find this information.
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    • Profile picture of the author youthsoccer
      Originally Posted by JayVance View Post

      You will need an e-mail client that can open up the header of the e-mail message. Then you can sometimes pull additional information out of it. I had a mystery e-mail coming to people at my work with some negative details about the workplace. But I was able to determine what their computer name was in windows because it is listed in that header file.

      So when looking at it, it literally said COMPUTER NAME: [Person's Last Name]

      So if they were using webmail you probably won't be able to figure it out but if they sent the e-mail through a client like outlook then you might be able to find this information.
      Certainly you can do this way but some time such platforms can't do all the best for you and the information you are looking for is missing. I would like to recommend you to consult with you ISP (internet service provider) and they will easily do it for you.

      Router of ISP providers contains the source information and to stop hacking routers of ISP changes the IP with an their already set IP and the source IP is stored back with router.

      So the best solution can be the one that you should consult with your service provider and ask them for the information and don't forget to take your cell phone with you.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by JayVance View Post

      You will need an e-mail client that can open up the header of the e-mail message. Then you can sometimes pull additional information out of it. I had a mystery e-mail coming to people at my work with some negative details about the workplace. But I was able to determine what their computer name was in windows because it is listed in that header file.

      So when looking at it, it literally said COMPUTER NAME: [Person's Last Name]

      So if they were using webmail you probably won't be able to figure it out but if they sent the e-mail through a client like outlook then you might be able to find this information.
      There is only ONE standard computer name EVER assigned to a person's CONNECTION. It is rather meaningless, and could refer to anyone on the planet. The computer name YOU are speaking of is probably the one assigned in windows which isn't unique or registered. So if you tracked the connection to a home or business, it could help you find the computer used, MAYBE, but otherwise is worthless. ALSO, the Email standard doesn't even allow for a persons last name. That is one reason why companies may have fi-lastname or firstname-lastname or firstname.mi.lastname, etc as an email address. Even then, they have names like support, and outlook may last the owner by title, like support department.

      Yeah, there is only one, semireliable way to track email. Look at the headers, and find the IP trail. Sometimes it is pretty complete, and sometimes not, but it really should have original and destination IP. Have your ISP check their logs, to validate the source IP there, and contact THEM to do the same. eventually, the trail will end, and they can use the logged in user to find who sent the email. If it is a free service, or secretive, or inept, ******GOOD LUCK******. After ALL this, they could STILL say it was a virus, a rootkit, etc...

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author messere
    Be carfeull, you can obtain wrong cities.
    ISPs use to make an IP reallocation in overloaded zones if needed
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  • Profile picture of the author prabu86
    you can get your IP Address details, through this site IP-Details.com : IP Address Search
    It has the best result about internet service provider,location, country and and also provides the IP details at free cost itself.......
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  • Profile picture of the author harshini
    Good.. Thanks..
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  • Profile picture of the author Nscnikhil
    There many website..out there who can done this for you...simply go to google and find one...
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  • Profile picture of the author dougb
    Let the police handle it. They have the resources to do everything needed. Or if this friend doesn't give out her phone number then maybe have the phone number changed.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    BTW, I forgot to mention. I never mentioned the email address. That seems like such an OBVIOUS place to look! By convention, it shows SYSTEMUSERNAME@INITIALSYSTEM

    SIMPLE, HUH? Well, that is one of the easiest parts to forge. A 2YO could do it. Have a 2YO setup your email and he or she probably WILL use the wrong email address.

    Yeah, it is bad, but the only way to reliably track it is to do the same thing ancient indian trackers did hundreds of years ago. Follow the tracks(erm.... LOGS). Unless you can see a pattern, etc.... there are still ways they can claim innocence, but at least you can track it to THEM. But even those indians ran into trouble if they hit a fence, border, or some enemy. Likewise, a single ISP saying NO can stop your search.

    Steve
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