Can the sender of anonymous emails be traced?

[Lucan Unlordly]

Events run by some of our customers are being undermined by emails sent anonymously to venues, councils, the Police, suggesting that crowd trouble is likely in the hope that the event is cancelled. With no obvious reference to determine who may be doing this, is it possible, without involving the Police, to determine who the sender is?

 

[Ian J]

I get a lot of emails purporting to come from gmail addresses telling me that they are UK SEO experts. I report them to https://www.spamcop.net/ who analyse the emails which shows where they have really come from (mainly India).

It might be worth a try especially as it's free

 

[Ozzy]

If you have access to the original email sent then you can view the source/headers of the emails and via the sending IP address. This can then tell you the location the emails were sent from (as SpamCop appears to do) and then if you have any emails from the person you suspect to have sent them, compare the headers of those emails and see if the IP addresses (or ISP at least) match.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

determine who the sender is?

In simpler terms: No, it's best to refrain until you're prepared to engage legally and invest significantly in the process.

With the available resources, direct identification of the sender is improbable. Usually, the most obtained information is the IP address from the email provider, often leading back to large providers like Google and Microsoft. On Mobile networks sending this will be a nightmare due to CGNAT in place with most providers.

If the sender uses a disposable email, it's virtually fruitless. The only chance of progress comes when the sender manages their own email server and exposes a static IP. However, this would necessitate obtaining a court order for disclosure.