Is It Possible To Send An Email That Is Completely Untraceable?

by: Ed Opperman

Sometimes a person needs to send an anonymous email and they have to remain anonymous. They want the sent email to be completely untraceable so that they can never be identified. People hear about international hackers and Internet crimes so they assume that it is possible but is it really? The answer is both yes and no. Make no mistake about it, with enough time and money any email can be traced right back to the sender. Any online communication can be traced , the author identified and located. The best you can hope for is to make the trace more difficult for investigators.

The first thing most people will try to send an untraceable email is to create a fake email account. They will use fictitious information to fill out the application. While this may thwart most of the instant reverse email search data bases it will do nothing for you to conceal your identify. It will be a very simple matter for an investigator to trace the email right back to your computer. It could be as simple as just a quick header examination.

The next step a person might take would be to use a proxy server to mask their IP address. It's a quick and simple process to set up a proxy IP address into your email program and this will alter your email headers to look as if the email was sent from a different location. This will slow down the average investigator who is starting with the incoming email header as the initial focus of his investigation. But again the experienced investigator will not be distracted by a proxy IP or a forged header.

Another tactic the sender may use is an anonymous remailer program. Now this is where 90% of email investigators will just give up. But again the experienced email tracer has seen it all and has successfully identified people even if they are using an anonymous email re mailing service. In fact many times the person who will use a remailer may be easier to identify because they think they're technically savvy and untouchable. They get overconfident, stupid and sloppy and will fall right into the traps set by the email investigator.

Lastly the would be anonymous emailer may think they can use a public computer in a library or perhaps a college to send their anonymous email. They think this will completely cover their tracks. But again this is simply wishful thinking. The incoming email will easily be traced right back to the public work station and these facilities will have records of the users. In fact these types of public places are very eager to cooperate with investigators that need to identify the sender of an email.

So in closing we can see that it really is impossible to send an untraceable anonymous email. Any information sent or received over the Internet can be traced to locate or identify the person or persons at the other end. While there are steps you can take to slow down the investigation or fool an instant data base search thorough reverse email search investigation will always return at least some identifying information about that other person at the end of the Internet communications.

Copyright (c) 2011 Opperman Investigations Inc