# Identify Someone From IM?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-someone-from-im/710033>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 17, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-someone-from-im/710033 "2015-01-17T00:56:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-someone-from-im/710033/1 "2015-01-17T00:56:17Z")

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I have a Yahoo Instant Messenger contact that claims to come from Japan. Is there a way to trace his Yahoo IM or Yahoo email to a certain country?

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**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-someone-from-im/710033/2 "2015-01-17T02:22:37Z")

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Is his email at yahoo.jp? That would be one way.

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**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-someone-from-im/710033/3 "2015-01-17T03:36:02Z")

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So simple…and the answer is no. It’s [yahoo.com](http://yahoo.com). Why do people have to be deceitful. Thanks for the help.

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**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-someone-from-im/710033/4 "2015-01-17T04:40:03Z")

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Well, that is no guarantee…I can sign up for a Yahoo.jp address from the US, and I can sign up for a [Yahoo.com](http://Yahoo.com) address from Japan.

If you can figure out a way to obtain his IP address, then you can check that pretty easily, though that isn’t a sure thing either.

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-someone-from-im/710033/5 "2015-01-17T05:12:25Z")

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> [@Ruby](#):
>
> So simple…and the answer is no. It’s [yahoo.com](http://yahoo.com). Why do people have to be deceitful. Thanks for the help.

A little social engineering can produce an IP address for you. [Here’s how](http://yahoo-exploit.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-find-yahoo-messenger-ip-address.html): basically, you open up a command window and then send a file.

Once you have the IP address, you can then [find the country of origin](http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip-lookup). IP addresses can be spoofed though, as alluded to above.