How can I find out where an email really came from?

Question

How can I know where an email really originated from? Is there any way to find it out?

I have heard about email headers, but I don't know where can I see email headers, for example in Gmail. Any help?

Answer 1

See below for an example of a scam that was sent to me, pretending to be from my friend, claiming she has been robbed and asking me for financial aid. I have changed the names — I am "Bill," and the scammer has sent an email to [e-mail], pretending to be [e-mail]. Note that Bill forwards his email to [e-mail].

First, in Gmail, click show original:

The full email and its headers will open:

Delivered-To: [e-mail]
Received: by 10.64.21.33 with SMTP id s1csp177937iee;
        Mon, 8 Jul 2013 04:11:00 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 10.14.47.73 with SMTP id s49mr24756966eeb.71.1373281860071;
        Mon, 08 Jul 2013 04:11:00 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <SRS0=Znlt=QW=yahoo.com=[e-mail]>
Received: from maxipes.logix.cz (maxipes.logix.cz. [2a01:348:0:6:5d59:50c3:0:b0b1])
        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id j47si6975462eeg.108.2013.07.08.04.10.59
        for <[e-mail]>
        (version=TLSv1 cipher=RC4-SHA bits=128/128);
        Mon, 08 Jul 2013 04:11:00 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 2a01:348:0:6:5d59:50c3:0:b0b1 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of SRS0=Znlt=QW=yahoo.com=[e-mail]) client-ip=2a01:348:0:6:5d59:50c3:0:b0b1;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
       spf=neutral (google.com: 2a01:348:0:6:5d59:50c3:0:b0b1 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of SRS0=Znlt=QW=yahoo.com=[e-mail]) smtp.mail=SRS0=Znlt=QW=yahoo.com=[e-mail]
Received: by maxipes.logix.cz (Postfix, from userid 604)
    id C923E5D3A45; Mon,  8 Jul 2013 23:10:50 +1200 (NZST)
X-Original-To: [e-mail]
X-Greylist: delayed 00:06:34 by SQLgrey-1.8.0-rc1
Received: from elasmtp-curtail.atl.sa.earthlink.net (elasmtp-curtail.atl.sa.earthlink.net [209.86.89.64])
    by maxipes.logix.cz (Postfix) with ESMTP id B43175D3A44
    for <[e-mail]>; Mon,  8 Jul 2013 23:10:48 +1200 (NZST)
Received: from [168.62.170.129] (helo=laurence39)
    by elasmtp-curtail.atl.sa.earthlink.net with esmtpa (Exim 4.67)
    (envelope-from <[e-mail]>)
    id 1Uw98w-0006KI-6y
    for [e-mail]; Mon, 08 Jul 2013 06:58:06 -0400
From: "Alice" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Terrible Travel Issue.....Kindly reply ASAP
To: [e-mail]
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="jtkoS2PA6LIOS7nZ3bDeIHwhuXF=_9jxn70"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 10:58:06 +0000
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
X-ELNK-Trace: 52111ec6c5e88d9189cb21dbd10cbf767e972de0d01da940e632614284761929eac30959a519613a350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c
X-Originating-IP: 168.62.170.129

[... I have cut the email body ...]

The headers are to be read chronologically from bottom to top — oldest are at the bottom. Every new server on the way adds its own message — starting with Received. For example:

Received: from maxipes.logix.cz (maxipes.logix.cz. [2a01:348:0:6:5d59:50c3:0:b0b1])
        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id j47si6975462eeg.108.2013.07.08.04.10.59
        for <[e-mail]>
        (version=TLSv1 cipher=RC4-SHA bits=128/128);
        Mon, 08 Jul 2013 04:11:00 -0700 (PDT)

This says that mx.google.com has received the mail from maxipes.logix.cz at Mon, 08 Jul 2013 04:11:00 -0700 (PDT).

Now, to find the real sender of your email, you must find the earliest trusted gateway — last when reading the headers from top. Let's start by finding Bill's mail server. For this, query MX record for the domain. You can use online tools like Mx Toolbox, or on Linux you can query it on command line (note the real domain name was changed to domain.com):

~$ host -t MX domain.com
domain.com               MX      10 broucek.logix.cz
domain.com               MX      5 maxipes.logix.cz

And you'll see the mail server for domain.com is maxipes.logix.cz or broucek.logix.cz. Hence, the last (first chronologically) trusted "hop" — or last trusted "Received record" or whatever you call it — is this one:

Received: from elasmtp-curtail.atl.sa.earthlink.net (elasmtp-curtail.atl.sa.earthlink.net [209.86.89.64])
    by maxipes.logix.cz (Postfix) with ESMTP id B43175D3A44
    for <[e-mail]>; Mon,  8 Jul 2013 23:10:48 +1200 (NZST)

You can trust this because it was recorded by Bill's mail server for domain.com. This server got it from 209.86.89.64. This could be, and very often is, the real sender of the email — in this case the scammer! You can check this IP on a blacklist. — See, he is listed in 3 blacklists! There is yet another record below it:

Received: from [168.62.170.129] (helo=laurence39)
    by elasmtp-curtail.atl.sa.earthlink.net with esmtpa (Exim 4.67)
    (envelope-from <[e-mail]>)
    id 1Uw98w-0006KI-6y
    for [e-mail]; Mon, 08 Jul 2013 06:58:06 -0400

But be careful trusting that this is the real source of the email. The blacklist complaint could just be added by the scammer to wipe out his traces and/or lay a false trail. There is still the possibility that the server 209.86.89.64 is innocent and just a relay for the real attacker at 168.62.170.129. In this case, 168.62.170.129 is clean so we can be nearly certain the attack was done from 209.86.89.64.

Another point to keep in mind is that Alice uses Yahoo! ([e-mail]) and elasmtp-curtail.atl.sa.earthlink.net isn't on the Yahoo! network (you may want to re-check its IP Whois information). Therefore we may safely conclude that this email is not from Alice, and we should not send her money to the Philippines.

Answer 2

To find the IP address:

Click on the inverted triangle beside Reply. Select Show Original.

Look for Received: from followed by the IP address between square brackets [ ]. (example: Received: from [69.138.30.1] by web31804.mail.mud.yahoo.com)

If you find more than one Received: from patterns, select the last one.

(Source)

After that, you can use pythonclub site, iplocation.net or ip lookup to find out the location.

Answer 3

How you get to the headers varies between email clients. Many clients will let you see the original format of the message easily. Others (MicroSoft Outlook) make it more difficult.

To determine who really sent the message, the return-path is helpful. However, it can be spoofed. A Return-path address which does not match the From address is cause for suspicion. There are legitimate reasons for them to be different, such as messages forwarded from mailing lists, or links sent from web sites. (It would be better if the web-site used the Reply-to address to identify the person forwarding the link.)

To determine the origin of the message read from the top down through the received headers. There may be several. Most will have the IP address of the server they received the message form. Some issues you will encounter:

• Some sites use external program to scan messages that resend the message after scanning. These may introduce localhost or other strange addresses.
• Some servers obfuscate the addresses by omitting content.
• Some SPAM will include fake received headers intended to mislead you.
• Private (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, and 192.168.0.0/16) IP address may appears, but only make sense on the network they came from.

You should always be able to determine which server on the Internet sent the message to you. Tracing further back depends on the configuration of the sending servers.

Answer 4

I use http://whatismyipaddress.com/trace-email. If you use Gmail, click Show original (on More, next to the Reply button, copy the headers, paste them onto this website and click Get source. You'll get the Geo-location information and map in return

Answer 5

also there are some tools for analyzing email headers and extract email data for you,
for example :

1. eMailTrackerPro

   that can Trace an e-mail back to its geographical location including spam filter

2. MSGTAG

3. PoliteMail

4. Super Email Marketing Software

5. Zendio