Falsly accused of having fake email account

Answers

Emails have a HEADER. Following is an example showing some of the lines that it contains:

Microsoft Mail Internet Headers Version 2.0
Received: from SOME_COMPANY ([192.168.1.38]) by svrv with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0);
     Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:20:15 +0200
Received: from OTHER_COMPANY ([10.0.2.4]) by SOME_COMPANY with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0);
     Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:20:21 +0200
Received: from [192.168.207.170] (helo=mail-lb2-f174.google.com)
    by OTHER_COMPANY with esmtps (TLS1.2:RSA_ARCFOUR_SHA1:128)
    (Exim 4.80)
    (envelope-from <someone@company_domain>)
    id 1ZVHhg-0001Q9-6J
    for john_doe@other_company_domain; Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:20:17 +0200
Received: by lbbsx3 with SMTP id sx3so28184282lbb.0

You have to find a line like this:

X-Originating-IP: [WW.XX.YY.ZZ]

The WW.XX.YY.ZZ is the IP address of the sender. Trace it on http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip-lookup and find at least the ISP, country and city from where it was sent.

Depending on the results it can be a proof of innocence.

jcbermu

Posted 2015-08-28T13:30:06.343

Reputation: 15 868

This is unlikely to result in proof of innocence. All it can do is provide some unreliable evidence that the email wasn't sent from your normal IP address. It's quite easy to use a different IP address, even if you could always trust this header. – ChrisInEdmonton – 2015-08-28T14:02:03.763

@ChrisInEdmonton The only way I know to use a different IP address is passing through a VPN. Is there another one? – jcbermu – 2015-08-28T14:08:01.840

http://whatismyipaddress.com/hide-ip – Hannu – 2015-08-28T14:15:09.727

The people that are accusing me are trying to hurt my character. – wildgirl – 2015-08-28T13:30:41.540

Are you asking how someone can prove that you sent emails that you did not send? Normally the burden of proof is on the person making a claim, especially if the claim is in any way controversial. While it doesn't really help you, there is unfortunately a lot of bad stuff on the Internet; try to keep in mind that what defines you is you and your actions, not the actions of someone else. If it gets bad enough, particularly if you know who is involved, consider seeking legal counsel; while you do not state where you live, to try to portray others in a bad light is illegal in many countries. – a CVn – 2015-08-28T13:50:02.203

This seems entirely not on topic here at Superuser. There isn't much you can say, if somebody believes the information they have, that indicates you do have a fake email or did send these emails. – Ramhound – 2015-08-28T13:57:47.613

the FROM field is completely insecure and totally forgable. Whatever evidence the accuser has, it will need to be something other than the FROM field. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_spoofing

– Yorik – 2015-08-28T14:25:12.627