email address

[shaun1230_3]

is there a software program that i can use that would tell me where someone is based through their email address?

i have bought something of the net and emailed them because it doesnt work for a returns address and they havent provided me with one, and still dont reply

[Buenchico]

There's no way of tracking a postal address from an e-mail address. I've got lots of e-mail addresses but apart from the one allocated by my primary ISP, nobody who provides any of those addresses has my postal address. (Even if someone contacted my ISP and asked for my mail address, the Data Protection Act prevents the ISP releasing this information with a court order or equivalent legal authority).

You could try a Google search for the e-mail address. It's possible that it appears on a website alongside the mail address.

You haven't indicated how this purchase was made. If it was a private sale via ebay (or any other auction site) you should report the problem to the relevant site. If it was from a UK (or other EU) trader (including traders who use ebay stores) then you should either contact your local Trading Standards department or Consumer Direct. This is because the trader has broken UK & European law by not including a postal address on his website. Please note that Consumer Direct may be the best place to register your complaint. This is because Trading Standards departments only normally deal with complaints relating to traders within their own area, whereas Consumer Direct is the government's new national service.

To contact Consumer Direct use the telephone helpline (as long as you live in one of the areas already covered), see here: http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/call_live.shtml

Alternatively, register your complaint online, here: http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/complaints.shtml

Chris

[shaun1230_3]

cheers chris

you replied to my last post on trading standards on the same purchase.

as of yet i still have had no luck.

AAAAAAAARRGGGHH!!!

[kempie]

Your previous thread mentions that this person has a website. If it is in the form www.(something).co.uk or .com or similar he may well have registered the domain himself, meaning his details are in a database.

Try entering the web address on this page - http://www.zoneedit.com/whois.html

[brachiopod]

To back up kempie, if they have their own domain name, (ie [email protected] where 'ripoffmerchant' is the name of their website / user name / identity), then it's possible you could trace them by a 'who is?' search (conventionally written as 'whois') to find out the domain's registrar. This is not necessarily the same person who ripped you off, merely who registered the domain.

May be worth a try though - just stick 'whois' (one word) into Google and you should get a variety of domain registry checkers.

I managed to stop a load of spam that was being sent to MY domain name (which was very similar to an official company name) by tracking them through 'whois'. The spam address was multi-layered, which meant the first was registered to a second etc. However, I managed to get three premises (all connected) and four names all linked with it.

An official (legal) sounding e-mail, listing each registered address and copying-in each name soon stopped all the spam!!

IMPORTANT NOTE !!! - The spam was carefully orchestrated, but widely circulated, mail was sent to "the managing director" "the sales manager"etc. It was meant for a real company, but they spelt it wrong and got my domain by mistake.

This method is NOT recommended for the general spam you receive (ie"auto-spam" - viagara, pills, software and member enlargement etc.), where replying to this type of spam merely confirms your e-mail is active and will only generate more.