How anonymous are email addresses?

bgscotty

Hello,

I would be grateful for some advice, please.

Is it possible for a recipient of an email from an address (such as x@yahoo.com) to work out the location (the pc or geographical area) from which the message was sent?

I'm trying to track down from where an email I was sent might have come from.

Thank you in advance.

BG

Ximian

It's possible to track the source address but if the sender used a proxy to send the email you won't have much luck tracking the true source of the email.
You need to look at the email headers, depending on what email client you use it's fairly straighforward, once you have the headers copy and paste them here: http://www.ip-adress.com/trace_email/

fiddiwebb

That will only give you the address/location of the isp that you are using, won't it?

My isp is located 100s of miles away from where I live.

busenbust

Is it possible for a recipient of an email from an address (such as [EMAIL="x@yahoo.com"]x@yahoo.com[/EMAIL]) to work out the location (the pc or geographical area) from which the message was sent?

Yes, with quite a bit of investigative work; and probably best not to disclose on a public forum :cool:.

Ximian

fiddiwebb wrote: »

That will only give you the address/location of the isp that you are using, won't it?

My isp is located 100s of miles away from where I live.

Correct, the source address won't reveal the exact location of the sender.
The ISP of the sender can provide the details of the sender but without a valid reason and/or proof of a crime I doubt the OP will have much luck with the ISP. The email could have also be sent from an internet cafe, free WiFi service or even a hijacked WiFi connection - making it even harder to track down the sender.