I’m hoping that someone can help me out here. One of my friends suspects that her boyfriend might be talking to his ex. She discovered a suspicious screen name in his buddy list when she logged on as him. Is there a way I can trace a screen name back to an actual name? Just knowing the last name would be a huge help. All I know is the screen name. Can anyone help me, or direct me to a website that can do this?
Where is this “buddy list”? Is it on an instant messenger such as AIM, ICQ or MSN? If it is these types of programs tend to have a “view profile” option where you can view information about the buddy, if they have chosen to fill it in at the time of signing up.
I did not see the buddy list, but she told it was a AIM member name.
Most likely, no. I don’t think AIM even requires a real name to set up a screenname.
As mittu said, your best bet is to check out the person’s profile and perhaps google the screenname.
No. If a person is trying to be anon. There will be nothing in the profile.
Tell your friend she needs to be more secure in her relationship.
That or work harder at it.
See, I just typed in the screen name and it says AOL member, not AIM.
AOL will (as far as I know) have a real name associated with the “master screenname” listed on that account (they’ve got to bill someone), but I highly doubt there is any legal way to get your hands on it.
That’s what I thought too. I guess she’ll never know then. Thanks anyway for the help.
Is the screen name that you have an e-mail address or just a name like Dio or mittu? IIRC you can always get the e-mail address of the contact in your list so here is my idea.
Get the e-mail address of this person and send them an e-mail from an account not connected to you (you can create one at Hotmail if you like). Word the e-mail in such a way as to prompt a response from the contact, maybe wording it something like “Hey Sarah, is that you? I lost your e-mail address but think this is it!! Can you please let me know if this is you!! P.S. If this isn’t Sarah can you reply anyway so I know not to send to this address again, thanks!!”
Hopefully, they will reply to say that it isn’t Sarah, you have the wrong address and you should then see in their name in the “From” box. A long way to go about it perhaps but it is the only way I can think of to find out the name 
It’s just a name. I thought about doing exactly what you just said, but I’m not sure if the email address is the same as the screen name.
If you right click on the screen name in the buddy list there should be some sort “Properties” or “Profile” option to select from the menu that will tell you the e-mail address associated with the name.
I know that MSN messenger, at least, has a logging option (that is, all conversations are stored in a file automatically.)
If you feel up to some privacy invasion, check if the software has such an option, turn it on, wait a week, and then check through it to see what all he’s been saying.
Dunno that I would vote this as something cool to do, but at the same time I’m not sure that I would vote it as something bad to do either.
I of course almost am not sure of the legality of this. Might want to make sure of that first as well.
Google the email, if you can find it. Googling emails can give some pretty surprising results! You never really know just how much web presence you have…
Can you think of a reason to get a T-III warrant? Sorry, this just seems like an invasion to me. Logging into someone’s email is like opening someone’s snail mail - it can’t/shouldn’t be done without legitimate cause. Although I’m sure that you had/have some, bear in mind that email conversations, like telephonic conversations and snailmail conversations, contain passages dealing with “inside” information (i.e. what sounds incriminating may not be). If you don’t trust your spouse/partner/whatever, why not talk to him/her? You’ll be able to, if nothing else, establish a basis for your investigation.