Gmail Possibly Tracked (Nope!)

n8zzz · #1 07-30-2013

Just wanted to let everyone know that emails can be traced coming from gmail. The location/IP is accessible. This used to not be the case, hence why so many scammers loved gmail. Gmail was great in regards to keeping that info completely private ... but sadly, this is no more.

I know some people use gmail to email back their customers.. you may want to rethink that. I no longer use gmail in part for this exact reason.

For the people wondering about emailing a BUNCH of customers all at once.. you would need to use your mail client to do so. So you can no longer do this either if you are concerned about gmail (or any mail client for that matter) causing possible linking.

TonyAlmeida · #2 07-30-2013

Where did you get this information?

sax4 · #3 07-30-2013

Where did you hear that from?

If you no longer use Gmail, then what do you use?

Furious George · #4 07-30-2013

Possible tracked in regards to stealth..... ?

If a scammer thinks he can't be tracked through gmail, that's just silly. Google stores records of EVERYTHING.

A moment ago I just tried to get the ip of the sender of an email, who uses gmail. It showed a google server.

For the purposes of this forum, please be more specific.

Dmshark25 · #5 07-30-2013

As long as links are not opened and images turned off, I use gmail through my iPhone to view a message and that's it so no links can be made

n8zzz · #6 07-31-2013

I was talking to an old work friend about this a few days ago. He is the techie that informed me about this. I'll get back in touch with him and try to get the exact details of his findings. Was hoping someone else on here might be able to confirm the info before I was able to.

PS Viewing messages in gmail is just fine and it is recommended to turn off images in gmail as usual.

studio · #7 07-31-2013

sent myself an email from a gmail to check this and could only find Google server details in the mail header. More info would be great

GreenBean · #8 07-31-2013

Please be inaccurate

GoteBay · #9 07-31-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by n8zzz

Just wanted to let everyone know that emails can be traced coming from gmail. The location/IP is accessible. This used to not be the case, hence why so many scammers loved gmail. Gmail was great in regards to keeping that info completely private ... but sadly, this is no more.

I know some people use gmail to email back their customers.. you may want to rethink that. I no longer use gmail in part for this exact reason.

For the people wondering about emailing a BUNCH of customers all at once.. you would need to use your mail client to do so. So you can no longer do this either if you are concerned about gmail (or any mail client for that matter) causing possible linking.

Regardless of which client you use, every email has a header that can be used for tracing the origin. The reason we do not cross reply using stealth accounts is to keep the header info separate.

GoteBay · #10 07-31-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by studio

sent myself an email from a gmail to check this and could only find Google server details in the mail header. More info would be great

You did not check in the appropriate place. Each gmail goes out with full header info attached but it is hidden by default.

TonyAlmeida · #11 07-31-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoteBay

You did not check in the appropriate place. Each gmail goes out with full header info attached but it is hidden by default.

Could you point it out how can we/amazon view that hidden information.

Thank you

studio · #12 07-31-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoteBay

You did not check in the appropriate place. Each gmail goes out with full header info attached but it is hidden by default.

this was from gmail website not a local mail program

JamesNorth101 · #13 07-31-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyAlmeida

Could you point it out how can we/amazon view that hidden information.

Thank you

Open any email in gmail, click the little arrow pointing down on the right of the email, click 'show original' gives full HTML code of email, including hidden header data.

TonyAlmeida · #14 07-31-2013

We here all know that. The question is about the sender IP. I did look at the header many time and couldn't find my IP

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesNorth101

Open any email in gmail, click the little arrow pointing down on the right of the email, click 'show original' gives full HTML code of email, including hidden header data.

JamesNorth101 · #15 07-31-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyAlmeida

We here all know that. The question is about the sender IP. I did look at the header many time and couldn't find my IP

I am not sure everyone knows that to be honest.

Regardless, if you received an email from say PP, it wont have your IP in it, it will only have the server IP from which the email was sent, the route that the email takes and the gmail server IP that the email has been received and stored on.

If you send an email to someone else via Gmail, then as far as I know gmail does not share your personal IP address with the receiver, only the gmail server from which the email was sent.

studio · #16 07-31-2013

just tested again.

100% if you send emails from Gmail website your local IP does not get forwarded with the email.

This obviously, is not the same as sending from a local mail program like outlook or thunderbird.

GoteBay · #17 07-31-2013

The IP address send through gmail are those of gmail and not yours. But yahoo is different, it does send your IP address.

TonyAlmeida · #18 07-31-2013

Case closed

Gmail doesn't forward you IP information to the receiver. The OP hear this info from a friend and we don't know where that friend hear it from.

TonyAlmeida · #19 07-31-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesNorth101

If you send an email to someone else via Gmail, then as far as I know gmail does not share your personal IP address with the receiver, only the gmail server from which the email was sent.

This is all we want to hear

Thank you

studio · #20 07-31-2013

I cannot confirm whether local IP will be forwarded or not if you send Gmail from a local mail client.

I would guess it probably will but it would only be a guess.

n8zzz · #21 07-31-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by studio

I cannot confirm whether local IP will be forwarded or not if you send Gmail from a local mail client.

I would guess it probably will but it would only be a guess.

This may have been the case as he does use Outlook 2007. I'll try to confirm if this is the case. Either way, it seems like everyone has confirmed that gmail is okay and Outlook or other mail clients may not be even when using POP/SMTP via gmail. Thanks for everyone's input so far.

**aspkin** · #22 07-31-2013

Right, this is why we don't say something as fact before testing.

Gmail is fine, the IP address it sends in it's headers are from Google's servers.

If you use a 3rd party email send such as Outlook, depending on how it's setup, your IP address can be the IP address in headers.

This is why we use Gmail or other similar large email services. This is why images are disabled by default to prevent additional 3rd party tracking.