Tracking Someone Down Who's Harassing You Over IM?

[steftastic]

Hey Guys.

I really need some help here. I have this person who added me on msn messenger and claims he goes to my school and that he likes me. He knows a lot about me and some stuff about my friends too. He was nice to me at first but then he started saying he wouldn't tell me who he was unless I flashed him and such and all this stuff and eventually he put a topless picture of some girl (NOT me!) on a website and said it was me and put my username and phone number, causing me to get a lot of pervs calling and im-ing me.

Is there ANY way I can figure out who this is? I'm only 16 and I don't want to get my parents involved.

If any of you guys can help me, I'd appreciate it so much.

[TVB]

I would start by calling the service provider of the IM service, be it AOL or MSN and telling them. Perhaps they'll ban him.

Go to whois.sc and put in the name of the website and find out where it is hosted, then contact the host and ask them to remove it (and possibly him!)

If all else fails, maybe bite the bullet and get your parents involved by calling the police. It could be a pedophile and not a school mate at all.

Oh, and change your IM screenname and just tell your friends the new one. You can make yourself unable to be added without your permission, but you probably know that.

Betsy

[steftastic]

Well I had the website removed already, and I deleted and blocked him from my list.

but I'm sort of curious to find out who it is in case it IS one of my "friends"

[Kevin]

You probably aren't going to like to hear this but I think it is time to get the parents involved...

At first you just had some jerk sending you IMs. He probably does go to your school and he probably thought he was being funny/cute. However, now it has gone beyond that. With that picture and phone number out there someone much worse could see it and use the phone number to track you down in the real world.

The first technical step would be to get the picture taken down. Find out who is hosting it and contact them. Most web hosts don't allow nudity at all and they will really get nervous if there is a minor involved. If you can't track them from the web site then go for the IP and username that the IMs came from.

[steftastic]

But how do I get the IP? Like I know his hotmail e-mail. But I don't know if there's any way to use that to get his information and find out his name or something.

[Andilinks]

The IP from the IM and his identity are not available unless a crime is being prosecuted. AOL and the others just won't give them up out of privacy concerns. For all they know you may be the stalker pretending to be a victim.

If he continues to harrass you you should pursue it with the authorities, but to get his identity from Hotmail just to satisfy your curiosity is not possible (legally).

Andi

[DogAndPony]

...and gather evidence. Log all of your IM sessions, and keep the logs that include the perp. Download complete copies of web pages -- inlcuding images -- and save them (most browsers allow you to save a "complete web page").

Best of luck!

[Syneryder]

Sometimes you can get an IP address via AIM/ICQ if you're using that network. There's an option in the profiles to see their IP address, but it's often blocked if they've chosen that option.

If they've sent you emails, you might be able to find out an IP address by tracing the email headers. You can use a tool like SpamCop to trace it but be careful!!! You should only use SpamCop if you're used to it, because you *don't* want to submit the emails as spam. You only want the results that give you the IP address and ISP providers to complain to. In fact I maybe shouldn't have mentioned it. Just check the email headers instead.

If you're lucky enough to get an IP address, there are tools that can help you track down the geographic location of the person, just by their IP address. It won't give you their street address, but it should at least give a nearby city. If you do decide to get police involved, that kind of information will be helpful to them. Be prepared to explain how you got the info, as not all police are tech-savvy (but if you can explain it, they'll be impressed and more inclined to help).

However, all of this assumes that you're getting a *valid* IP address. It depends how "smart" this bozo is. A smart hacker will know how to cover their tracks, and may be chatting / sending emails to you through someone's else's computer or a computer they've broken into. If they're doing that, then none of this info is going to help. You'd just be tracking down some poor innocent person.

The only other advice I can think of is what others have said - log everything, including dates & times etc. Some of their throwaway comments may help track down their identity. Don't just save the webpages, make printouts of them as well and date them.

And lastly, Kevin's probably right. I think you will have to get your parents involved... sorry :( Unless you don't feel comfortable talking to them and you feel more comfortable talking to the police. But even then, your parents will want to know.

Wish I could offer better advice :(

[BCK9900]

so what ever happened?

[Snarpy]

steftastic has only three posts, and they are all in this thread. I don't know if she'll drop in and let us know or not. :dunno:

Snarpy