How To Find Out Who Is Behind A Facebook Account

How exercise I detect out who owns a Hotmail account?

The reasons it'due south hard, and the steps yous can accept.

I keep getting "strange" emails from someone using a Hotmail account. How do I find out who they really are?

Hotmail (at present Outlook.com) is i of the most used (and abused) postal service systems on the planet. Ane of the reasons why is because it's nigh impossible to tell who actually owns a Hotmail business relationship.

At that place are situations where I believe it'southward possible to notice the owner of a Hotmail account, only information technology's hard and you lot won't similar what it takes.

Try it yourself

Commencement, let'due south expect at why it's so hard to decide the owner of a Hotmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo, GMail … or any complimentary email account for that matter.

Sign upwards for a new Outlook.com business relationship and as y'all're doing and so, lie. Lie about everything. I mean make upwards every last bit of data that it asks for when you create the account. Make sure it's all completely bogus. When yous're washed, yous'll have a working Hotmail account that has no piece of cake-to-notice information that would relate to y'all in any style. None.

And so if someone creates a Hotmail account this way, at that place's no way to tell who they really are from the account information, because like you just did, they could have merely made it all upwards.

The IP accost

At that place's one, small, thin thread of information that might give a inkling, however: the IP address from which the account was created. And it may not help at all. Why? An IP address does non specify a proper noun or a location, only a computer. The IP address could change, information technology could be a router or proxy server for thousands of users or the estimator could be a public computer, such as those at a library.

And, of class, y'all'd need the folks out at Microsoft to tell you what IP accost had been used. Which they won't.

The upshot is that an IP address is not a fashion for folks like you and me to identify anyone. And every bit such an IP address is useless to you and me to identify a Hotmail account owner.

If, and it's a large if, an IP accost could be traced to a specific user or location, information technology requires the cooperation of Microsoft, the ISPs, and perhaps others involved. Due to privacy laws, ISPs volition not divulge this data to anyone without a good reason. And "a expert reason" usually ways that:

The account was used for something illegal.
Yous involve law enforcement.
Law enforcement is able to get a courtroom order to have the ISP or other entities release the information — if the data is fifty-fifty bachelor.

Recollect also that many spammers and viruses masquerade as email coming from Hotmail accounts. Fifty-fifty if yous could track down the owner of the account, they might not fifty-fifty accept been involved.

Practicality

The practical reply is no, yous cannot tell who owns a Hotmail business relationship.

Then what practise you practise?

If you're receiving harassing, threatening, or otherwise potentially illegal email, and then by all means, involve the appropriate authorities.

Otherwise, mark spam or junk every bit spam or junk. Remember also that the Delete key is your friend.

My arroyo would exist to delete the postal service immediately and ignore information technology completely. If your email program supports it, I'd even create a rule to automatically delete the post from that account as it arrives or blacklist it on my spam filter.

This article originally appeared on Ask Leo! where you'll always find updates also every bit the near vibrant discussion. For the latest, subscribe now to The Ask Leo! Newsletter and get a copy of The Ask Leo! Guide to Staying Safe on the Net — Costless Edition . This ebook will help yous identify the about important steps y'all tin take to proceed your computer, and yourself, safe every bit you navigate today'due south digital landscape.