How to find info on an email addy

[LoverBoyJ]

I want to do some transaction (buy) from a posting in craigslist.com, I only know his email addy, how can I find additional info regarding him?

 

[Kenny]

I thought people usually meet face to face at a local McDonalds or something to to do transactions on that site, since everyone is usually local.

You can't really find much info from just an e-mail address though. The only thing you could really do is pull up a search on google.

 

[Nitemare]

you can google the email addy, occasionally you will get lucky

 

[mugs]

Like Kenny said, not much you can do with just an e-mail address. You can put the e-mail address itself into google and see what it gives you, or if you can figure out the guy's real name from his e-mail address you could put that into Google. Or you could see if he has a web page on his ISP's webserver (something like www.ispdomain.com/~e-mailaddress/)

 

[Ness]

Where is the email from? as in "@whatishere?.com"

If it is something a little less ordinary (such as mine being @renegadeonline.net) You can usually go to that site and find it is their website.

 

[LoverBoyJ]

thats what I thought.
we exchanged emails for the item info, when I asked where we will meet, he said it will be mailed to my address. When I inquired how to send funds and how do i get a guarantee if I will get the item, he suggested thru Western Union and "i will protect you". Thats when the firebells rang with a smell of fish! :shocked:
I told him I don't trust western union, he still says "i will protect you" :shocked:
Responded to him again that I want to be sure to get the item and i'm willing to purchase additional items and drive anywhere close to his place (close to 2-3 hrs estimate) just to get the item on my hand....
now.... theres no response :|:frown:

 

[LoverBoyJ]

Originally posted by: Nitemare
you can google the email addy, occasionally you will get lucky

did that, nothing came up.
email is on yahoo.com, so very questionable.

BUT note on craigslist.com has it that "you can contact this seller", not sure if its a guarantee

 

[mugs]

Sounds like a scam. Also sounds like English is not his native language.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: LoverBoyJ

Originally posted by: Nitemare
you can google the email addy, occasionally you will get lucky

did that, nothing came up.
email is on yahoo.com, so very questionable.

BUT note on craigslist.com has it that "you can contact this seller", not sure if its a guarantee

When in doubt he ships first. If it is something pricy you can set up a third party escrow service.

 

[mallik]

I was wondering the same thing as the original poster. Can't you trace his IP from his email header or something like that? Or can you get the email provider to trace it or anything like that?

 

[Kenny]

Originally posted by: LoverBoyJ

Originally posted by: Nitemare
you can google the email addy, occasionally you will get lucky

did that, nothing came up.
email is on yahoo.com, so very questionable.

BUT note on craigslist.com has it that "you can contact this seller", not sure if its a guarantee

It's a scam. They even state it all over craigslist. It says:

distant seller requests payment via Western Union or MoneyGram:
seller often claims that an MTCN or confirmation code is needed before he can withdraw your money - this is FALSE, once you've wired money, it is GONE.
common items currently: laptops, plasma TVs, cell phones, tickets - but could be almost anything
common countries currently include: Nigeria, Romania, Ukraine, Spain, UK, Italy, Netherlands - but could be anywhere
deal often seems too good to be true

 

[LoverBoyJ]

oh well, it was tooo good to be true!! Still haven't heard anything, usually he answers my email right away.

item (brand new) was priced 3X lower than that can be found on ebay or regular priced in store