1

Could someone be able to find my IP address and where my ISP is located from an anonymous DM on Instagram? (I am planning to instantly deactivate the account after sending the message if that matters.)

If I use a VPN, would they be able to figure that information out and track my general location? (State/city)

I hope someone can answer this because I can't find info on this anywhere...

Also, it would be a not malicious DM, just a DM to provide info to someone to not escalate a situation in person.

schroeder
  • 123,438
  • 55
  • 284
  • 319
user268571
  • 11
  • 1
  • 2

3 Answers3

4

No, people will get the IP address of Instagram servers, not your device.

But... if the recipient sends you a message with a link, and you click the link, you can be tracked because it's your device that will access the link.

If you use a VPN, the IP on the logs are the IP of the VPN servers, not yours. So even clicking the link would not easily reveal your IP.

ThoriumBR
  • 50,648
  • 13
  • 127
  • 142
0

Hiding your IP should be your minor concern. First an IP address for a client device like a smartphone is generally not a fix IP. But if you use the application that is installed on your smartphone, your ISP should know at what time exactly you have sent the message. If you only want to be hidden from your little cousin, that should be enough, but if for any reason a legal action was started, your ISP could have to give to the authorities the list of the phones that sent Instagram DM in the requested minute. Then never forget that the police can use data from several sources to reduce their investigation field.

What I mean is not that you will be immediately tracked. I just mean that if the police of your country has serious reasons to find the author of a message, they will use many other elements than the IP address. In fact IP is mostly something that is easy to use in police series, but in real world I would never try to use an IP address to find somebody, because it is really too easy to mask it. Language, wording, times, version of the application and the OS are far better markers! They cannot be used alone if you have no suspect, but if you have a reduced number of suspects it will be easy to find which one is guilty.

Serge Ballesta
  • 25,636
  • 4
  • 42
  • 84
-2

Absolute, no. Posts from blogs that say how to get IP address of another user on platform like Instagram or Discord... they are all trash.

Instagram is not an P2P messaging platform, when you send a message to anyone it will go through a server before reaching him/her, not going directly to their machine.

But if they send you a link of an IP tracker (like grabify) and you click, they can get your IP address.

If you use VPN/proxies and click the link, it will be harder to track your IP address. So remember don't click on suspicious link, and always check the link before click.

Someone1611
  • 1
  • 2
    You've basically copied the other answer ... – schroeder Dec 24 '21 at 12:21
  • If you want I can edit my answer for a more-detail. But remember I never ever copied the other answers – Someone1611 Dec 27 '21 at 11:28
  • Your last 3 paragraphs are the same 3 paragraphs of the highest voted answer. 1. IP of the server not the client 2. links can capture IPs, 3. VPNs. Whether you intended to or not, they are the same. If you had a unique perspective to provide, you can do that, but don't just post the same answer. Upvote the answer, don't copy it. – schroeder Dec 27 '21 at 17:16