How to Perform a Reverse Email Search

If you ever receive an email from an unknown person and want to know about who’s behind this email then you can easily do that through a reverse email search.

A reverse email search allows you to know all the information about the sender that he/ she ever made public anywhere on the internet. And to help you with your reverse email lookup, I’ll show you different methods to track who is behind an email address.

1. Do a Google Search

A simple yet effective method. If the sender has mentioned their email address on any website or forum, then Google Search should be able to point to it. Simply enter the exact email address in Google Search and you should see some results.

Check both page titles and descriptions to see if you could get a clue. To further narrow down the search you can add quotes ("") at the start and the end of the email address, like this: "example@gmail.com". This will only show you pages that contain the email address as is.

You can also check our guide to using Google Search effectively to get more ideas to narrow down your search to pinpoint to the email address.

2. Search social networks

Social networking sites have a huge user base and offer reliable information about the users. If the sender has used their email for signing up to a social networking site, then you should be able to gain information about them.

Every social website has a search option where you can enter the email address to look for any users with that email address. If you want to manually do this, then check out this list of over 60 popular social networking websites and search the email address there.

Although if you want to automate the process, then Lullar is a good option. Just enter the email address in Lullar search bar and it will automatically search for it in over 30 popular social networking sites. You can then click on the websites with names highlighted in blue to see more information.

If you manage to find the email address on any social websites, then there is a good chance you can find who they are and where they live. Even if they have restricted their profile, you should still be able to get their real name and maybe a picture as well.

3. Use Email lookup services

There are many email lookup services out there that will scorch through social networks, web results, and even the deep web to find any clues related to the email address provided. If the email address is publicly visible anywhere, then these tools should be able to find them.

It will show you the website where the email is registered and may be more information if available. If you manage to get the exact name of the person behind the email address, then you can also search the name in Pipl to get even more information.

While we are talking about more information, you can also enter the name of the email holder at Peekyou website to get extensive details about them.

4. Look for clues

If the email is available publically, then the above methods should be able to find it. However, if you are still out of luck, then you should try to look for clues to get more information.

The clues you can find still depend on what you are dealing with, so I can’t give you a one-fit-all solution. However, to give you some pointers, you can look at the domain name of the email address to get an idea.

For example: In theguy@scamaster.com, the scamaster.com might be a personal domain of the email holder. You can search online for the domain to see if you can get more information.

Similarly, the content of the email may give up some clues as well. If they are offering you something, then you can search online for such information. Separately searching the email ID and email domain name in Google Search may also help get more information.

Still, can’t find it?

If you still can’t find the person behind the email address, then there is a good chance that either the email address hasn’t been used anywhere else or it was sent via an anonymous email website.

In case it was sent via an anonymous email website, then you can visit that website to opt out of their list. And if the matter is very serious (and illegal) then you can also ask the website to give up their location or IP address (most can do it). If nothing works, then blocking them will always set you free.

Some ending words

The simple question of "Who is it?" is usually the best way to deal with anonymous emails. I will not recommend you to become a detective if you can simply ask the sender instead. The email lookup process is extensive and may reveal extra information about the person that you are not supposed to know.

However, note that spying on someone’s online life for no legit reason is unethical and you should refrain from it.