does Tor hide my IP and send another device's IP?

Question

I have looked at multiple resources to understand a high-level overview on how Tor network works.

When I make an HTTP or HTTPS request to a website, ideally devices connect using IPs. So in Tor, what is the source IP that the website is going to see? Is it my own IP? or another Tor relay IP?

If another Tor relay IP, how Tor volunteers protect themselves if a criminal used their IP to make some illegitimate operation over the Internet?

Answer 1

The website will see an IP of an exit node, a last node in a connection chain.

"Protection" of exit node owners is a question of technical skills of law enforcement officials and their willing to admit that the owner is not a criminal just because it provide the exit node service. In other words, technically the exit node owner is not protected in any way.

As an example of an unpleasant scenario, you could read a story of Dmitry Bogatov who was an operator of a Tor node in Russia.