Scam emails

[OMGVape]

Is it possible to find the source of a (scam) email ? Even down to which country would be good to know. If a friend forwarded it to me could I trace the origin country?

 

[TargetICT]

You can’ get the sending server and co but most times they just compromise legitimate accounts.

You could reply with an email containing a tracking cookie that would capture location, isp and device information whenever the email is opened.

 

[KM-Tiger]

You need to see the full original headers which forwarding will not give you. You *might* be able to determine the source from the original headers, but that could be a compromised system or a bot.

It's generally more fruitful to have systems that block nasty stuff rather than worrying about exactly where it came from.

 

[OMGVape]

Thanks for the replies, I like the idea of a tracking cookie but wouldn’t know where to start.

 

[WESH.UK]

If a friend forwarded it to me could I trace the origin country?

Sadly not, you would need the original, otherwise all you are going to see is the info in the headers of your friend emailing you.

If you can get the original sent to you as an attachment instead of forwarded, then yes, you can see where it was sent from and at the very least, report them for spamming which may likely result in their server being blacklisted.

 

[TargetICT]

It’s simple, as long as you have a Hosting server with statistics enabled
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/set-email-tracking-pixel-49332.html

Thanks for the replies, I like the idea of a tracking cookie but wouldn’t know where to start.

 

[OMGVape]

If you can get the original sent to you as an attachment instead of forwarded, then yes, you can see where it was sent from and at the very least, report them for spamming which may likely result in their server being blacklisted.

P
That’s possible, when I get it as an attachment where do I get the origin info?

 

[WESH.UK]

> I like the idea of a tracking cookie but wouldn’t know where to start.

You would need to be the sender of the email and a "Tracking pixel" is extremely unreliable to say the least. At best, all it will show you is where in the world your email was opened by people with poor email security.

when I get it as an attachment where do I get the origin info?

If for example you open that email within MS Outlook, you can view the message headers very easily. Just depends which version of outlook you are using.

With Outlook 365 for example, at the top of the email there is now a "Tags" arrow, its tiny and easy to miss, whereas in previous versions you could actually select "Message options" and the mail headers were then viewable.

With out mail clients, you will want to read the manual so to speak on how to view message headers.

Once you get the email header, copy and paste it into something like this:
https://mailheader.org/

That will make more sense for the average man about town

 

[OMGVape]

That’s a great help, thank you.

And thanks to everyone else.

 

[TargetICT]

a "Tracking pixel" is extremely unreliable to say the least. At best, all it will show you is where in the world your email was opened by people with poor email security.

An alternative solution to tracing the whereabouts of the scammer would be more than welcome.

 

[TargetICT]

That’s a great help, thank you.

And thanks to everyone else.

You're welcome.

 

[Mr D]

An alternative solution to tracing the whereabouts of the scammer would be more than welcome.

Pay a specialist tracing company a fortune and they may be able to track backwards and narrow it down. To the country that sent the message, which may be half the world away from the person.
Depends how much the scammer tries to hide their location - hiding isn't that hard from what others tell me.
If you want the actual address of someone who knows how to cover themselves you are probably not going to get it.
Or the person could end up giving you your address....

 

[Ian J]

An alternative solution to tracing the whereabouts of the scammer would be more than welcome.

Try pasting the header details into https://www.spamcop.net and that should discard all the fake gubbins and give you the real stuff

 

[cjd]

It's impossible for an individual to track back to the original sender. The majority of spam comes from rented bot nets; the mailheader and IP address is that of the hi-jacked PC.

Others come from illegally rented virtual servers in Germany and France and other countries with lax security/regulation.

 

[Violin]

Is it possible to find the source of a (scam) email ? Even down to which country would be good to know. If a friend forwarded it to me could I trace the origin country?

Better it would be to not waste your time. Ignore them and move on.