Help locating a possible identity theft

[chewie8008]

I'm trying to find a location for a specific IP address. How would I go about if I had the IP address to a PC finding the location of it? We were recently signed up for some charges on our phone bill that we didn't have anything to do with, and it was done using all of my girlfriends information. The shady thing about it was, it's an off the wall charge that was signed up for at 3:28am in the morning. My girlfriend has an ex-boyfriend that is real shady and hates the fact that i'm dating her now, so we are thinking it might be him. He has already wrote and mailed her a very vulgar sexually explicit note. So i'm trying to figure out the location of this computer that has been messing with us.

Can anyone help? Thanks!

[edDV]

http://www.whois.net/
Will get you to the owner of the IP.

If they are an isp, contact the sysop.

[aedipuss]

you can't get closer than maybe the city without a court order to the isp. this will get you about as close as anything. type in the ip on the page, click start and then either look on the map or in the table to see where it leads.

http://visualroute.visualware.com/

[redwudz]

You can run a 'WHOIS'. This site has it available. http://tools.whois.net/whoisbyip/ But that may just tell you who the internet provider is.

And unless they have a fixed internet address, you may not get much anyway.

From there you may need a court order to find the source computer. Turn it over to law enforcement and let them do it.

EDIT: It looks like the others were faster.

[DB83]

The problem with IP look-ups is that the address they give is that of the back-bone ISP and not the addr of the source.

Probably a good reason for that (privacy etc).

So you will get the name of the ISP and the location of the ISP but little else.

[poisondeathray]

Can I ask how you determined this IP address?

99.9% of the time, the "abuser" usually goes through a proxy, or remote connection.

How does this IP address relate to your telephone bill? is it VOIP or one of it's derivatives?

It might be a good idea to get your girlfriend to change her information, passwords, etc...

Good luck

[edDV]

The IP is separate from the account in most cases. Most ISP's dynamically assign IP addresses but maintain a record of who was using the IP at any given time. This guy may have been hacking an IP from somebody else.

You almost need an internet private investigator to work this.

[Nelson37]

I would E - Frigging - Mediately change ALL (and I mean ALL, as in sit down for a minute and think about it)passwords, place passwords on ALL utility bills, accounts anywhere of anykind, and if feasible change phone numbers, move, get a different car and computer. Consider closing the checking account and get a new one. Change E-mail address, if feasible also Internet provider. There's more.

Any idiot can cause serious problems on unprotected accounts with just a little info. If he is at all PC savvy, and malicious, and had access to her PC at any time, at a minimum format the HD.

Is the schmuck into on-line gaming? Gamer forums are often good sources of some seriously devious back-door programs and attack methods, he may not be that smart but could very well be in contact with someone who is.

Doesn't take long or much effort to protect yourself. The amount of hassle and expense you could possibly avoid will make your current problem look like a blissful vacation. Start Right Now.

If the address at least tracks to the region where you expect him to be, depending on where you live, if the woman feels she is actively threatened by this individual, you should be able to get some legal action.

[budz]

I'm trying to find a location for a specific IP address. How would I go about if I had the IP address to a PC finding the location of it? We were recently signed up for some charges on our phone bill that we didn't have anything to do with, and it was done using all of my girlfriends information. The shady thing about it was, it's an off the wall charge that was signed up for at 3:28am in the morning. My girlfriend has an ex-boyfriend that is real shady and hates the fact that i'm dating her now, so we are thinking it might be him. He has already wrote and mailed her a very vulgar sexually explicit note. So i'm trying to figure out the location of this computer that has been messing with us.

Can anyone help? Thanks!

If you think it's possible ID theft then contact the police at this point. Don't be doing your own private eye work. Have your gf put a fraud alert on her credit with any of the 3 credit bureaus. Someone also mentioned changing passwords on all accts. as well which is a good idea.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

...t's an off the wall charge that was signed up for at 3:28am in the morning...

This could indicate that is actually somebody overseas who somehow got all her personal information -- there are "brokers" who will sell this information BTW.
3:28AM for you could have been 1:28PM for them...

[jman98]

When you consider that the RIAA and MPAA with all of their money and expensive lawyers are not always able to identify exact people by IP addresses, you have an idea of how tough this can be.

The idea that the police might help is not without merit, but then again I'm not sure I'd put my faith in that either. If they help, great, but if not, I'm not surprised. Nelson37's suggestions have a lot of merit.

[Snakebyte1]

Definitely alert the authorities now so as to get it on record. People often wait too long to officially report things and by then things can be really bad.

[chewie8008]

...t's an off the wall charge that was signed up for at 3:28am in the morning...

This could indicate that is actually somebody overseas who somehow got all her personal information -- there are "brokers" who will sell this information BTW.
3:28AM for you could have been 1:28PM for them...

I'm now thinking it was more of something like this. The company Orbit something was the crap she was signed up for and when I called them they said that "she" signed up for this crap on a site called smileymedia.org which is a sales lead site. So it seems that maybe it's an unrelated spyware problem?

I'll try these sites mentioned and see if I can come up with a general location of that IP. I thought DSL users have a static IP address?...maybe not? This guy is not good with computers at all, but he is into online gaming so it's definetly possible he's getting someone else to help him.

[Dv8ted2]

IP numbers are really not a good method for identifying people. Most people are on DHCP which means that the address shifts after awhile. Using this misguided approach the RIAA has identified dead people. Usually the only time you have a static IP is when you have a server, so that the server can be found.

[edDV]

The ISP has records of who had use of an IP at a specific time and date. You need to work through them or get a court order for the document.

But it is easy to hijack someones IP though spyware or just jumping on someone's wireless access point.

[Supreme2k]

I know that this is too late to do any good this time, but next time...

Make sure that your surfing habits are safe (or at least safer. Use Firefox with popup and script blockers. Don't answer unauthorized email. Make sure that your information sensitive sites are secure (https). Read up on spoofing and phishing.

And most of all, make sure that you have a reputable, updated virus scanner/blocker/adware detector.

[lordsmurf]

Don't let other people use your computer. That's the best protection, period.