Can You Still Trace An Email If The Account Is Closed?

Do you need to trace an email address to locate or identify the sender? You can still accomplish this even if the email account is now closed and no longer active. It may be a bit more difficult but it is still possible to identify the person behind that email address. In this article we will attempt to deal with the additional problems an investigator faces when he is trying to investigate an old or state email address that has been deactivated.

First this we need to do is find out if the email address we are attempting to investigate is still active or has been closed. If the email address we are investigating was opened for the sole purpose of contacting our client and then closed immediately after sending an email then it's going to be difficult to trace. But if the account has been used for years but only recently deleted after sending the offending communication it may be a very simple investigation. In fact the email address may be found in an instant data base service.

In order to determine if the email is active you need to test it out using one of the many online services that will tell you if the email is active. You can also email the account from a fake email account and see if it bounces. Of course there are many more technical methods you can use but in this article we are dealing with the basics.
If we have determined the email is inactive this cuts our investigation techniques in half. Because we can only analyze incoming data from the email. In an ideal investigation we will be investigating the senders computer by analyzing information we can capture when they open a pretext email we sent to them.

So we will have to analyze the incoming headers and extract the IP address, use geo tracking, IP Address locating and good old Whois to identify the ISP of the sender. We can also investigate the IP address to see if it is associated with any other online activity. But besides the IP information we may be able to tell the senders email program such as outlook express.
We can submit the email to a data base search to see if it has been used online in the past. We can search the deep web, member ship sites, online billing and payment services to se if the email address had ever been used in a financial transaction. Social networks also have an email search feature to find or add friends.

There are also pay searches such as Online Infidelity Investigations and Online Gambling Investigation searches that can trace an email to an online Gaming site or a secret online personal ad on a dating site. This kind of email investigation can actually return a picture of the person behind the email address.

So as you can see that it is possible to trace an email and locate or identify the sender even if the email address has been deactivated or deleted.

Copyright (c) 2011 Opperman Investigations Inc
Ed Opperman invites you to visit his cyber investigation website for all of your email search needs. He offers cyber stalking investigations, internet infidelity investigations, reverse email search and much more. To learn more about reverse email lookup and other useful information please click here now:===> http://www.emailrevealer.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ed_Opperman

 

Can You Trace An Email If You Don't Have The Headers?

Do you have an email address and need to locate or identify that person? If so you may be thinking that the only way to locate or identify someone from an email address is to examine the headers and trace the IP address back to the ISP (Internet Service Provider). Then you would have to get a subpoena or court order for the ISP to turn over account holder information. If this is what you're thinking you're wrong. It is possible too trace an email address right back to the sender even if you do not have the headers. In most cases you won't need a court order or search warrant, just an experienced private investigator that knows what he's doing.

There's a great deal of misinformation all over the Internet about this subject. If you Google "how To Trace an Email" you'll get hundreds of hits from well meaning people on how to examine a header, obtain the Internet Protocol Address (IP). But that's not the information you are looking for. What you want is a name address and phone number for the person using that email address.
While examining the headers for identifying information is an important step it s not by any means the most important step.

The bottom line is that if you want to locate or identify someone hire an investigator. Private investigators have years of experience in tracking people down with very little identifying information. Long before email or the Internet was in popular use PIs have been locating bail jumpers and run away teenagers and tracing people down who use pay phones and fake Ids. This is not unfamiliar ground for private investigators.

Usually when a person wants to trace an email they will turn to their IT dept. Now the IT dept may be great at installing a network, removing a virus or upgrading Windows but stop and think. How many people have they ever tried to locate before embarking on their first email trace investigation? Zero!
The examination of the header and IP address is one step in an email trace investigation but it is only one step among many steps. So even if you do not have the headers the PI can usually trace the email successfully anyway. many times the PI can obtain the headers for you. But even without headers there are still many steps in an email trace investigation that will still result in obtaining the name and address and phone number behind an anonymous email account.

In fact in most cases an investigator can obtain the information behind an email not by examining the incoming header but by sending an emaail to the stalker and obtaining information when that person opens an email.

Far more information is obtained that way than is obtained by examining incoming headers.
Copyright (c) 2011 Opperman Investigations Inc

Ed Opperman is president of Opperman investigations. If you need a reverse email search to locate a con man, bail jumper, runaway or parental kidnapper please visit www.emailrevealer.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ed_Opperman


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6249547

Does Every Yahoo Email Header Trace To Sunnyvale California?

Many times a potential client will approach me with a question about tracing a Yahoo.com email address back to the sender. It's usually about identifying the person behind an email in a cyber stalking investigation. What usually happens is they took the header from a Yahoo email address and then submitted to some software program or automatic form that is supposed to trace the email back to the sender. If only life were simple.

Unfortunately there is simply no automatic or automated way to analyze an email header and trace it back to the senders. As in the case with the attempted Yahoo email trace this automated method mistakenly traced the email back to Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale California. This information is not at all helpful in locating or identifying a cyber stalker in any way shape or form. In order to actually trace an email you need to have a professional investigator with both training and experience in examining headers to correctly determine which IP address in the header is from the sender.

About fifty percent of the times I have a client tell me they attempted to trace a header or analyze a header I will ultimately find that they traced their own IP address. The recipients of the email in stead of the sender. This is also a very common rookie mistake. When a client tells me they have obtained an IP on their stalker I take it with a grain of salt and leave that information to the side until I can confirm it myself.

But tracing an email with a reverse email search is a very hot topic on the Internet. Everyday millions people are searching the web to find out simple steps to locate and identify a person through a reverse email search. So unscrupulous get rich quick artists have taken advantage of that interest by steering the searchers away from professional investigators that are trained and experienced in email tracing. Instead they lure these desperate victims into web sites that offer instant data base searches and automated header tracing services that provide inaccurate results.

So if you found this article because you tried to trace a Yahoo email header and you wound up in Sunnyvale California it's best that you consult with an actual email tracing expert that knows what he's doing. A professional will not just examine the headers but there are many steps to actually trace an email back to the sender. It's far more that a simple header trace. A professional will also be able to document his findings in AA report that can be submitted as an exhibit in court and an actual expert can testify under oath to his findings.

Copyright (c) 2011 Opperman Investigations Inc

Ed Opperman is president of Opperman investigations. If you need a reverse email search to locate a con man, bail jumper, runaway or parental kidnapper please visit www.emailrevealer.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ed_Opperman

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6174709

The Need For More Aggressive Investigation and Prosecution of Cyber Stalkers

If you have never been the victim of a cyber stalker you probably just assume that if a crazed cyber bully ever targets you all you need to do is make a simple police report and the crime will be investigated and prosecuted. Nothing could be further from the truth and no one knows this better than victims of cyber stalkers and the private investigators they hire to locate and identify the stalkers.

Unfortunately the victims of these kinds of crimes know all too well that after making a police report the sad fact is that nothing ever comes of it. The patrolman that show up to take the initial report do not see it as a serious threat. They will suggest the victim turn off their computer, ignore the stalking, delete the emails unread. These officers are accustomed to visiting homes on domestic violence calls and burglaries and they just don't understand the impact cyber stalking and bullying has on the victims.

It's a double edged sword. Large urban police departments will have computer crime units. They have trained personal, they have the software, the tools and the training. However they are overloaded with cases and can only expend time on serious threats and large money crimes. many times much of their efforts will be in support of murder investigation or large drug cases or organized crime prosecutions.

While small town police departs will not have the necessary training, software or equipment to do even the most basic of computer crime investigations. They routinely send out their computer crimes to out side venders and will not spend that kind of recourses on what they may consider an insignificant only harassment investigation..

This is why the majority of cyber stalking victims will retain the services of private investigators to do all initial leg work to locate and identify the stalker. Then reduce that investigation to a report that can be turned over to local law enforcement. In some cases the private investigator will be called to testify but many times the local police can duplicate the steps of the investigation and the PI will not be required in court.

The real solution to this problem would be to reclassify all computer crimes as Federal crimes, then all these investigations could be handled routinely in one central location. victims would not be subject to the whims or budget restrictions of local law enforcement agencies.
Copyright (c) 2011 Opperman Investigations Inc

Ed Opperman is President of Opperman Investigations Inc. If you need help with a cyber stalking investigation visit http://www.emailrevealer.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ed_Opperma

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6417974

Department Of Justice Describes Cyber Dangers, Legal Weaknesses

At the Senate hearings on mobile privacy, the Department of Justice took the opportunity to speak on the current dangers of cybercrime, cyberstalking and the need for increased data retention in a world where more and more consumers carry devices that serve as portals to their personal information, location, and activities.

"We can bank, shop, conduct business, and socialize remotely with our friends and loved ones instantly, almost anywhere. These devices drive new waves of innovation, personal convenience, and professional resources," said Jason Weinsten, the deputy assistant attorney general for the criminal division of the Department of Justice. "They also present increasingly tempting targets for identity thieves, cyberstalkers and other criminals."

Emphasizing that 64 percent of American cell phone users now have smartphones, Weinstein underlined the dangers inherent in the vast amount of information such gadgets can store, and the heightened capabilities of cybercriminals to use digital means to access and steal information from business and consumer networks.

All of these dangers led Weinstein to call for the ability for law enforcement officials to collect the electronic evidence they need to pursue such cases. Currently, inconsistent laws regarding data retention can stymie investigations when Internet Service Providers do not hold onto digital information for long enough.

He described "one heart-wrenching example," where an undercover investigation found a movie online showing the rape of a two-year-old child. The ISP transmitting the video had not kept information about the transmitter. Officials could not rescue the child, or apprehend the criminals involved.

"When a criminal uses a computer to commit crimes, law enforcement may be able, through lawful legal process, to identify the computer or subscriber account based on its IP address," Weinstein said. "This information is essential to identifying offenders, locating fugitives, thwarting cyber intrusions, protecting children from sexual exploitation and neutralizing terrorist threats – but only if the data is still in existence by the time law enforcement gets there."

Weinstein also discussed the rise of "botnets," a code used to infect and remotely control computers, as well as to capture keystrokes and mouseclicks, giving criminals knowledge of passwords, credit card numbers and more. On cell phones, cases like the "Droid Dream" malware attacks saw malicious apps install code designed to steal information from the handsets. Between 2008 and 2010, the U.S. Attorneys' Offices saw about 4,000 identity fraud cases.

But, Weinstein noted, "under current law, communications providers may voluntarily disclose or sell any noncontent data – such as information about a user’s location – for any reason without restriction to anyone other than state, local, and federal government agencies." The Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which regulates how companies can share data, was written at a time when "there was great concern over ensuring the flexible development of the then-nascent Internet industry." But times have changed, and the privacy landscape today is vastly different from the early days of the Internet.

Weinstein also highlighted another major issue regarding smartphone use: cyberstalking.

"One important consequence of the proliferation of mobile devices and services that collect location and other personal information about their users is the risk that stalkers, abusive spouses, and others intent on victimizing the user could use information from their mobile device to determine their whereabouts and activities," he said.

Current cyberstalking laws allow for the prosecution of those cyberstalkers that are in a different state from their victims, even though cyberstalking could take place with both parties on the same street.

"If an abusive spouse uses his spouse’s phone to determine when she visits law enforcement for assistance, or to find where she is when she takes refuge with a friend, this may not violate [the law] as currently drafted because the two live in the same state," Weinstein said.

While the Department of Justice has increased the attention its given to cybercrime, Weinstein's testimony made it clear that the legislation regarding prosecution of cyber-criminals is currently insufficient.