How to Find Out What Computer Sent an Email

You can never be too careful when it comes to computing matters. Discovering the potential sender of an email can help you to avoid falling for cybercrime setups, keeping your personal and financial data safe from theft. Locating the computer that sent an email is not an exact process, but you can derive a general location of the machine by tracing the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the computer.

Instructions

1. Open up your email client of choice and open the email in question.

2. Select the option to display all sending information. Gmail users, click on the arrow next to the "Reply" button and select the "Show Original" option. Yahoo! Mail users, click on the "Standard Header" option and select "Full Header" instead. Consult the documentation for your particular email client if you are unsure of how this is accomplished.

3. Locate the "Received From" line in the email header. This will contain a number separated by decimal points (e.g., 24.128.54.333). That is the IP Address of the sending computer.

4. Input the IP address into the ARIN website linked below. This will provide you with information about the sending computing, including its general whereabouts.

References

• Online Tech Tips: Tracking Email Sender

Resources

• ARIN: WHOIS Database