Need help with email originating from AOL and IP info in the header...

[BuckNaked]

I and several others were recently scammed by a guy on another forum.

The guy has an AOL account, and I have received several emails from him, with differing IP addresses...

I have recently received an email from a third party, claiming to have been ripped off by the same guy, even though he never posted in the thread. I was a little suspicious of this guy, as he has very few posts, and joined the forum in the same loose time frame as the guy who ripped me off... he also has an AOL account. I started comparing IP addresses, and the originating IP address of this person was VERY close to one of the IP addresses from the scammer. Something to the tune of 64.12.137.x vs 64.12.137.x, with the 'x' representing a single digit.

I am wondering if the IP address in an email from AOL shows the IP address of the mail server it was sent from, which could explain the nearly identical IP address, or if my suspicion was correct, and the IP address is from the originating computer, and these two guys are actually one and the same...

Anyone able to answer this for me?

Thanks!
Dave

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

An email header won't give you the IP address of the guy's computer. The farthest back you can trace an email is to one of the relaying servers. You don't need that anyway. If you've been scammed by him, all you need to do is talk with the authorities. They'll start an investigation, go to his IP with his email address that you gave them, demand the guy's contact information, and go from there.

 

[BuckNaked]

Nik,
Thanks for the info... I was always under the impression that the originating IP was the senders computer, thanks for correcting my mistake.

I have already been in contact with both local PD and the agency in the area this guy lives in... I was actually referred to the FBI as well as ic3.gov for reporting internet fraud. I was trying to figure out who this other guy was/is and if there was any relationship between the two.

Thanks for the help!
Dave

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

No problem, Dave. As a citizen, there's not much information that you have rights to. However, involved in an investigation with authorities, you have the right to loads of it. Let the authorities gather it. They're much better at twisting arms and breaking knees to get it. Just wait... the cops/feds will track him down.