How do I figure out the source of an email that was sent to me?

Question

How do I track the email back to the sender? Someone sent me an email under a Yahoo email address that they created just for the purpose of hiding behind when they send me nasty emails. Is there a way for me to track the email back to the sender's computer or phone number? Please, I need detailed instructions to follow to do this.

Answer 1

In your Yahoo mail browser, go to the upper right corner where there is a link for "Options." Click it.

A page will open that gives you many mail management choices. Click on "General Preferences."

In the page that opens, scroll down to about the middle. There you will see a heading, "Messages." There is a little "radio button" you click to choose "show all headers" under the title of "Headers."

Go to the bottom of the page and click on "Save."

When you return to your Inbox (or whatever folder the annoying mail is stored in), open one of those emails. AFter it is displayed, look at the upper right of the email. There is a link named "Printable View." Choose that, and then print the email. This way you have the information saved.

What you must do NEXT is use a "tracing" program or service to identify and locate the computer. That is done using the "IP" (Internet Protocol) address in the header.

Ther are many ways to do this - there are free services and ones you pay for.

If you visit this web site, you can trace this one address using the "trial" version for free:



You will get good directions about how to enter the information from the header and see where the mail originates. You can also send a complaint to Yahoo customer service. Include a copy of that email with the "full header."

THEN you could add this person to the "blocked" list for Yahoo mail so that you don't get any more annoying mail from that identity. After that, you probably want to go back to your email "options" and re-set your message display. Full headers take up lots of space and usually are not necessary.

Answer 2

Hi
Yes there is a way to track emails back to their source.
But only if your an ISP, since you need to look at system logs
to determine IP address that they used to send messages to you.
If they use DSL ,
Dial or Cable the ISP may or may not have the
connection info depending on whether they were passed from
another ISP.

If the email was just nasty or lewd you can report it to Yahoo and see if they will take any action to block the abuser. If the
email is of a threatening nature then you need to report it to
the authorities and have a court order sent to the ISP requesting
all the info and logs that they have on the user and let the authorities handle it from there...

Hope this helps
Windfreak

Answer 3

If the sender is using an actual Yahoo! account you can report the harassment to the customer care group at : http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_abuse

There is also a quick reference to learn more about headers...which will show more in depth information in regards to the sender and the path(s) the message took to get to you.

To configure this option for a single message:
Open the message you would like to view the headers for.
Click on the "Full Headers" link located on the bottom right-hand side of the message window
Your message will then appear with full headers.



To configure this option for all messages:
Click on the "Mail Options" link located near the top right-hand side of the page.
Click the "General Preferences" link.
Locate the Show Headers heading and select either "Brief" or "All."
Click the "Save" button to put your new settings into effect.


If after you find that the message was sent from another network other than Yahoo! then you can email the administrator of that network and inform them of the harassment by one of their users....usually this contact would be something like [e-mail] Be sure to include the message with all headers (using the method above, and cut and paste into the email)


Also you can choose to block the sender in your mail options, here's how:

To manually add an address to the list of blocked addresses:
Click "Mail Options" on the top-right navigation bar of your Yahoo! Mail page.
Click the "Block Addresses" link located in the first column on the left.
Enter the new address in the "Enter email address to block" field, and click "Block Address."
The address will then appear on your list of blocked addresses

Answer 4

You won't be able to track it back to them if they are using a public mail system like Yahoo. You can report them to Yahoo abuse. This will allow Yahoo to resolve the issue.

In the mean time, it might be a good idea to just delete the messages. Don't reply to them. The more you reply the more messages you'll probably get. Lastly, you can add the sender to your junk mail or blocked sender list so you won't even get the message in the first place.

Answer 5

It's probably beyond your skill to do so on your own. The best solution is to use e-mail tracing software, which does all the effort for you.
Run a google search for "email tracing software". There are scores of them, many of which offer free trials... here's one:
http://www.visualware.com/resources/tutorials/email.html

Answer 6

It is not as easy as many of us think. Your best shot will get the real IP (Internet protocol) address. You get this address and complain to the ISP (in your case Yahoo!). The link bellow explain the details.
Good luck.

Answer 7

http://www.webyield.net/domainquery.html