tracing an ip through aim? is it possible?

[JScalfani]

Recently somebody has been messing with some of my friends on instant messenger and was wondering if anybody knew how i might be able to trace the actual aim account to find out who it is or if there is a way to trace the ip address and work from there? If anybody knows how to do this i would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Carp1812]

The simplest way to trace an IP is to transfer a file and run a netstat while the file is downloading. If your friends have files available for download under the "get files" function, this could be a problem. Do your friends have static IP addresses? If not, it is rather unlikely that whoever is "messing" is doing so because he sniffed their IP. Bear in mind that there are a million ways to hack somebody- I just listed the most obvious way that comes to mind......