IP Check

LegacyUser

I suppose a lot of what I need here is techie help. Someone from my past just rang accusing me of sending them an email that I know I didn't send. They said they were able to check the IP address and it came from my house. Now if it was sent from my house then I need to confront my housemates about it but I really don't think they would and this person has a history of crazy. Is it even possible for someone to trace ie address from an ip address or is this person just messing with my head? He does have techie friends. Thanks a mill.

tenchi-fan

Sounds like bs.
Unless they had a legit email from you, followed by the email supposedly from you, they would not be able to confirm IP addresses. Your IP address isnt static either so both emails would need to have been sent within the one day.

Why are you wasting time with this person anyway? Don't humour them. They are getting a reaction from you when you should just tell them you didn't send them the email, you don't know who did, and you don't care.

Cheap Thrills!

Depends on what kind of internet access you have. As far as I understand each session on the internet you could get a randomly allocated IP, unless you paid for a static IP ?

Depends on the set up.

I too think it sounds like Bullsh!t....if they have a history of crazy just call their bluff, ask them to verify the IP address and forward a copy of the email they are claiming was sent then have a look at the headers.....in all liklihood they wont be able to....

Otherwise, tell them in no uncertain terms where to get off.

elbee

I just asked my OH, who is a professional network engineer, and he said 'no way' before I even finished reading your post.

He told me that the most information you can get from an IP address is what internet service provider it comes from. There are web tools that let you enter an IP address and it will give you a general location, but they're generally pretty crap and unreliable (he just tried our current IP address in one of them and it said we're in Cork. . . we're in Dublin. Even accurate ones will only give you an area, not a house). Most net connections have a dynamic IP, which changes all the time, so my IP was possibly used in Cork a while back and that's why that tool seems to think it lives there.

But even if you have a static IP, which you probably don't, the most it will tell anyone is the ISP.

This person is talking rubbish. I suggest that if they get in touch again, try sounding very bored and say 'That isn't even possible. Don't contact me again.' If they've put a lot of energy into coming up with this story, I think the best response you can give them is total boredom with their behaviour.

LegacyUser

Thanks guys, that means a lot. I was starting to look at my housemates a bit funny cos he seemed so sure... I had thought that you always had the same IP address and he'd have used my Internet months and months ago so he might have known it or that it would give a rough area of where you were and to be honest we probably are the only people around here we know.

You're putting my mind slightly at ease cos I was freaked out when he seemed like he had so much proof.

daithimac

not to put a dampner on this but there is the possibility of a friend spoofing your email and sending her mail. there is a app for jailbroken Iphones that does this so its not very hard to do.

I would think that the story about the ip address if total bs though.

LegacyUser

To be honest, I'm really not sure. I honestly don't think my housemate would have done it, but at the same time, he just seems so sure and I don't want to go and eat him out of it if he's right. I think maybe he's just calling my bluff to see if she admits it? Then again if I know for sure that he can't tell a general location from an IP address then I want to be able to tell him that he's a nutter and to stay out of my life.

LegacyUser

would be just as simple to get them to hit reply on email and see do you get it or ask them to sed you a copy of email ie most of time their is a time it was sent on it

Be interested to see contents of email

kjl

OK, yes it is technically possible that she can get an ip address from your email. However, you would have to have sent it from an email client such as outlook express or what not. If you have a gmail/hotmail/yahoo address and use the web interface then its not possible as the IP address with be from the them.

And even if he/she did have your IP address they would have no way of figuring out that it was you that sent it, there is no IP address look up table anywhere. The only way to find out would be to get a warrant and then ask your broadband provider for the info.

I am 100% sure about these facts so don't worry, I'm sure the person is just making an idol threat.

kjl

daithimac wrote: »

not to put a dampner on this but there is the possibility of a friend spoofing your email and sending her mail. there is a app for jailbroken Iphones that does this so its not very hard to do.

I would think that the story about the ip address if total bs though.

You dont need an iphone app to do it, you can do it in dos.