With billions of emails sent and received every day, it’s not that easy to trace every message and know who the sender is at 100%. But if you take the needed steps to find that unknown person behind almost any message, you can easily find the owner of the email address you received. Best of all, that doesn’t matter if it’s from Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, or other service providers.
Who an email address is registered to?
Some of the following techniques work better than others. So, we’ll show you the different options to find who an email address belongs to and see the person behind with name and contact details if that’s visible publicly.
Now, start with the first option, as it’s the fastest way to identify email address owners before starting a discussion or even replying to them. Next, use the other search ways if you get nothing as a result for some reason.
1. Reverse email lookup
When you reverse lookup any email address with TruthFinder you may access the real name, location, and other personal details if available. In addition, you may find the person’s photos, blogs, or even other email accounts registered in his name.
The advantage of using such an advanced search is not only getting the name of that given email address and where they live but also, it can provide up-to-date information like:
- That person’s relatives
- Their associates
- Ownership details
- Other content numbers
- Socie profiles etc…
In other words, users get access to the email address owner details to see who they’re in real life, what they do, and how you can reach them out. That’s crucial, especially when you receive lots of spam emails from unknown persons whom you need to identify and block.
2. Use the name found in the email
Because not every email comes with the real name of the person behind it, it’s not always a working method to identify people. However, if you think that the name linked to the email is the real one, then you have good information to search through and find who is the person behind the Gmail account or other providers.
First, make sure you note the exact name or other names on the email you received. After that, use background-checking tools like the program in the section above. It’s also a helpful way to look up names and find the person behind them.
If you can’t see any name linked to the email, there could be other details like the website or the organization associated with it. So, look for any signature; if that’s not the case, don’t worry, you still have other options to check who is the guy who sent you that email.
3. Google and Social media
If you can’t see who is the man/female behind that email address, it’s time to search Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media sites you know. Some websites allow users to find their friends by email when others do not offer that option. Nevertheless, it’s a method that’s worth a try. So, search by that email address on Facebook first, and probably, there is a person who has created an account there using that. Also, search by his name if it’s clear in the email you got.
Try also Google, and by adding the email address into the search box, there may be interesting search results that tell you with whom you’re talking.
4. Search through a photo
In Google and Gmail, there is an option to add custom profile photos which is the same as the other account the person uses. This means when we search with that picture, there should be a list of sites or pages where that exact photo is used. For now, Google reverse image search is the best way to find who a picture in Gmail belongs to.
To use this tool, visit Google images, and click on the Camera icon inside the search box, which will bring the power of face recognition and other algorithms that the search engine developed years ago and continue to improve.
Now, you have to understand that using the photos used in someone’s email ID is not always good for finding who that person is. That’s because people can copy pictures of others and use them without permission, of course. Thus, always verify the details you see, and by comparing the different accounts that Google lists in the search results, you may get an idea of whether or not the person is the same.
5. See where the message appeared online
This is a clever way to identify someone associated with an email address. But only if he already sent the same message to others or on social profiles, forums, or comments in blogs. This is how to achieve that:
- First, search Google for a “plagiarism checker” tool, then, visit their site; there are many
- Then, copy the full text in the email or at least a paragraph of it
- Now, paste that content into the search box, and click on “Scan for plagiarism”
- Follow the steps, and you’ll see where that email appeared on websites or URLs
We noticed that scammers, especially in dating frauds, used the same email and sent it to thousands of people. Consequently, those who suffered from such spam posted complaints on many websites and showed the email there. Moreover, people may tell you who the person is and what other emails he owns and use for spam.
Other options for finding where a text in an email was posted on the web include Google, just copy the full text and see if there is any result.
6. What about using the IP address?
It’s not that easy to trace emails by the IP address sent from. That’s because people may prefer using public WiFi or VPN. And even if they use their home network, the IP address won’t be the same unless they have a dedicated IP.
No matter what the person used as an IP address when he hides his real identity, if the situation is uncomfortable for you and you still get bad emails that you have to stop, why not contact your ISP and ask them for help? Of course, that won’t be easy. But once you talk to them and explain that you’re in an urgent situation to find out who’s the person who used the email address, they may help you and trace them.
The issue with the IP address is that it changes randomly. As a result, the same IP address may be used by dozens of users in a period of time. So, only governmental agencies can trace and find who is the individual associated with a specific email address at a specific time.
That can be done by working with the Internet service provider who knows what the devices that have been used with any IP over a period of time are.
Of course, these organizations have the Mac address of devices that used the IP. And so, they should know the answer. Unfortunately, that’s not an easy process for anyone.
You can look up any IP found in the original email message and find from where it comes. But what you see is only an approximate location on the map. Sometimes, you’ll get the city and a more precise location, but it won’t be that clear to tell what house uses the IP address and find the person.
Conclusion
These ways can help you find out more about the person who sent you emails. Some tools answer most of your questions, like what’s the person’s name? Where do they live? What he does etc… So, try them and use multiple search options through details that are visible in the email.
