Please help!!! Can anyone help me trace an IP address?? I have just been scammed out of £800 & ca

I was hoping someone here might help me! I have just been scammed out of £800, that was for a deposit on a rental flat in london.

The thing is that the police say they cannot do anything for the next 7 days, and i am just worried that any means of tracing this person might vanish before then.

Details I do have:
Supposed name
2 phone numbers (mobile) so they could be "Pay as you go" sim cards
and an Yahoo email adress. (I can currently see this person is online)

Another question I'd like to ask, can one get an address or general vicinity where this person is operating from? As they are online at 21:30 at night I'd like to assume they are on a computer at their home address.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, seeing as the police dont want to look into this matter for another 7 days.

PS. Dont get me wrong, I wont even think of taking matters (The law) into my own hands. Just need as much info as I can gather to ensure that once the police start looking into the matter, can succesfully trace the person that has just scammed me.

the police/government can certainly trace anyone's IP - it's just a matter of how lazy they are, and how much they think you're worth to them...

the government only takes action if it benefits THEMSELVES

www.geobytes.com...
might start you off, IP's are limited in what they'll tell you though.

how did they scam you and what's a "ca"?

[edit on 19/12/08 by pieman]

reply to post by corvin77


Phone numbers may or may not be traceable to actual people you want...

Yahoo will only give a yahoo server address for an IP to us, you would need Yahoo to race it and that still offers no guarantees...

Sorry if you got took, it's a bad time for the world economically right now and losing anything near th holidays has to hurt..

Better Days to ya!

My heading title was to long and it was cut off midway.. The "ca" would have stood for "can see the perpertrator online.

Well I have been searching for a cheaper flat in London, and came accross an add on gumtree.

i contacted this person by phone and had a a few chats. They said that they live far outside london, and needed me to pay the deposit before they'll come down and hand me the keys.

So i had to send them the money via "moneygram".

After the money was received on their end they said that the rent that they are asking is too low, and wouldn't do anything until I deposit more cash!! When I asked for the money back they refused!

I dont know what to do as I am really broke at the moment and cannot afford to lose that amount of money right now!



[edit on 12/19/2008 by corvin77]

reply to post by theindependentjournal


Many thanks for your comments

I sure was stupid and should have done more to prevent this situation. I just thought that moneygram would be effective as the person on the other side needed to hand over ID before collecting the funds. But it never crossed my mind that they could have used a fake ID! Just goes to show how naive I am!

You wouldn't know how to ask yahoo to trace an Ip address would you?

reply to post by corvin77


hang on......if moneygram gave out money to a person it was not supposed to, as in a person with a fake ID, they would be liable. chase moneygram for your cash!! if not they have a collection form with details of this persons address.

You did what? Sorry, but gee... Sounds like you learned an expensive lesson. I don't know how the law works over there, but in the states here this sounds like a civil matter, and pursuing it would cost double in attorney fees over what you've already lost, and even a judgment in your favor will not get ones money back if the defendant refuses to pay up. And, if they've already spent it and are broke, nothing much can be done about that. Anyhow, you said you sent them a moneygram. Didn't you need a name and address for that? Or an account number or something like that?

Originally posted by corvin77
and an Yahoo email adress. (I can currently see this person is online)

You could have a bash at hacking that - they did Sarah Palins hotmail via the forgotten password user selected question... But I believe there are other ways

You could easily get his ip address if you could chat with him using Yahoo messenger and send him a file or get him to send you a file


But the problem with that is he may not be trusting enough to make an exchange, you'd have to be persuasive and seem trusty and good intentioned. A good story would need to be thought up.

windows has a neat little program that gives you some info..
not sure how useful it will be, but worth a shot..

a option to try is...


If you are running xp go to "start"
"Program Files"
"accessories"
there should be a Dos prompt there..
black box with C:\ in it and "command Prompt"
Click on that...
black window will open...
once optn type in
" tracert "
and the IP
for more options type in
"tracert/?"

This will give you a idea of where the person is..
it will go through all the ip's and routers to get to the one you enter.

[edit on 19-12-2008 by severdsoul]

Originally posted by pieman
reply to post by corvin77

 

hang on......if moneygram gave out money to a person it was not supposed to, as in a person with a fake ID, they would be liable. chase moneygram for your cash!! if not they have a collection form with details of this persons address.

Thats what I thought of doing but it seems their small print covers them in this event.

Thing is, I did receive a scanned copy of this persons passport, and the surname on the passport was "Goetschmann" when infact the moneygram was send to a "Goet". Which means that they gave the money to the someone that wasn't specified in the moneygram instruction I completed. Which makes me think I could have a case against moneygram, even though they claim they cannot be held liable.

Once you get his IP address... then what are you planning to do with the info?

Surely your not planning to go knock on his door and demand the money?

THAT would be a really BAD IDEA

they'll always claim that, it's crap. they are responsible for establishing the identity of the person collecting the cash.

why do you think the passport is fake?

if the name, especially the surname, on the passport was different from the name you specified on the form, i really can't see any valid argument on the transfer companies part.

what did they say in the small print.

How do we know you're not someone trying to stalk a person you met online?

Second question.....How could you, if you are telling the truth, be so naive to send money to someone you have never met for something you never saw?

Sounds a bit fishy to me.

No disrespect intended I just don't trust anyone.

For some reason ATS logs me out, as soon as I try and reply to this thread.

Anyhow...I have learnt that there are quite a group of people that were cought by this same person and scam.

So I think what I'll do is join the group and make it a joint effort in opening a case.

The police will have to ask yahoo to release the Ip address as I am sure this would be the only way of pinpointing their location.

As for me stalking someone.... If I was that intent on stalking someone, I would make more of an effort to learn how to trace Ip addresses as anyone could do it.

Besides, I woulnt leave a papertrail in black and white like i did here on a profile with my details on ats!

To everyone that answered, thanks for your comments!! :-) much appreciated!

Originally posted by corvin77
reply to post by theindependentjournal

 

......

You wouldn't know how to ask yahoo to trace an Ip address would you?

The problem is that this person could be going through a proxy or a remote computer or something like that making them almost impossible to trace.

Once you have done that then what are you going to go and do? And how are you going to go and get his location from the IP? I dont think that his ISP are going to go and give you his location easily - Im just saying this stuff cos you need to think about all this stuff when you are going on about tracing IPs and such.

Had a quick look at Moneygram's website. Did you pay with a credit or debit card?

In the U.K, if you've used VISA or a credit card to make an online/offline payment then you'll be able to get the credit/debit company to arrange recollection of the money.

Using a credit card effectively means that the credit company has bought the goods. You take ownership after a set amount of the total product cost has been paid by you. Some debit cards (those with VISA logo's (maybe some others too) are also covered for fraud etc...). The effect of this is that the card company is responsible for ensuring either the deal is upheld else they are reimbursed (the debt for you is cancelled). This has monetary limits though.

Do you have insurance? This type of theft is called fraud so you might be covered.

If you paid with any card, speak with the issuer, they should be able to help even if by only offering advice.

Lastly, speak with Gumtree (download a copy of the original advert first), they will likely have dealt with this type of fraud before and thus should be able to offer you assistance.

As a disclaimer: if you're telling fibs as a means of getting the people on this forum to help you track someone who has (of his or her own knowledge) done you no personal injustice or hindrance then I curse you to receive the same inflictions you would subject the person (or persons) you're tracking before you track that person (or persons).

[edit on 20/12/08 by Rapacity]

Try this:
tools.whois.net...

Type in the IP and see what hits you get.