Think I'm being stalked...

[TXB562]

Hello,
Completely new to Webslueths. I joined in all honesty because I had heard on a podcast that individuals on this site were able to track an IP address and use this information as well as other information posted to help catch a killer. While not nearly as interesting, I have had various accounts hacked over the past few months, and I have an IP address. The police told me after I filed my complaint that because its so frequent of a crime, they don't bother to do anything about it because it would take up too much of their resources. Without being able to pinpoint the owner of the IP, I can't know one way or the other regarding who is carrying out these hacks. Any help or information that could be provided would be amazing. I'm really at a loss here of what else to do.

 

[Grouse]

Hello,
Completely new to Webslueths. I joined in all honesty because I had heard on a podcast that individuals on this site were able to track an IP address and use this information as well as other information posted to help catch a killer. While not nearly as interesting, I have had various accounts hacked over the past few months, and I have an IP address. The police told me after I filed my complaint that because its so frequent of a crime, they don't bother to do anything about it because it would take up too much of their resources. Without being able to pinpoint the owner of the IP, I can't know one way or the other regarding who is carrying out these hacks. Any help or information that could be provided would be amazing. I'm really at a loss here of what else to do.

Hi, sorry to hear about the problems you've had.

You could try this link Comprehensive IP address data, IP geolocation API and database - IPInfo.io . Initially it will display information about your own IP address. If you then enter the IP address you wish to check out it should display information about that. Please note it's not going to be exact with respect to the city etc, and also a lot of cyber criminals do use technology to fake/hide their true IP addresses completely, but it might give you something to go on.

Good luck.

 

[BriarRose7]

How were you able to obtain an IP address?

 

[PingTheRouter]

I have an IP address.

i am sorry you are having these issues, change your passwords frequently and use unique passwords for each site you use, also use something like a password manager to keep track of it all and enable 2 factor authentication with a cell phone as your back up device

now on to the nuts and bolts

the biggest misunderstanding with IP addresses is that if you have one of someone you are interested in tracking that this is sure fire way of identifying the person behind it

unfortunately this isn't true, an IP address is just a set of numbers issued to a device to be able to connect to the internet ( its actual a set of numbers given to a device to talk to each other / connect with each other, in its basic form )

there are also different types of IP addresses, different blocks of IP addresses, some have different uses and some are for special things ( like certain ISPs will have a block range of ip addresses), some are internal and some are external facing

the other issue you have with IP Addresses is that if someone is going to the effort of hacking you, most likely they are not in your country ( most attacks come from places like Pakistan or Russia ) and possibly using a VPN or secured network to obscure their actual IP address

as you can see with just a few sentences iv written showing you how hard it is to narrow down just 1 IP address to someone's identity, you can try using reverse IP lookups and things like that but they don't always tell the whole story and you might end up angry or reporting the wrong person

 

[Gibbo214]

i am sorry you are having these issues, change your passwords frequently and use unique passwords for each site you use, also use something like a password manager to keep track of it all and enable 2 factor authentication with a cell phone as your back up device

now on to the nuts and bolts

the biggest misunderstanding with IP addresses is that if you have one of someone you are interested in tracking that this is sure fire way of identifying the person behind it

unfortunately this isn't true, an IP address is just a set of numbers issued to a device to be able to connect to the internet

there are also different types of IP addresses, different blocks of IP addresses, some have different uses and some are for special things ( like certain ISPs will have a block range of ip addresses), some are internal and some are external facing

the other issue you have with IP Addresses is that if someone is going to the effort of hacking you, most likely they are not in your country ( most attacks come from places like Pakistan or Russia ) and possibly using a VPN or secured network to obscure their actual IP address

as you can see with just a few sentences iv written showing you how hard it is to narrow down just 1 IP address to someone's identity, you can try using reverse IP lookups and things like that but they don't always tell the whole story

My hacker who also had my phone number was from Egypt. I dropped the ISP that I was using and went with a new one. I dont know if that was what worked, but it stopped.

 

[PingTheRouter]

My hacker who also had my phone number was from Egypt. I dropped the ISP that I was using and went with a new one. I dont know if that was what worked, but it stopped.

it sounds like most likely a site you had signed up for has had a data breech and this is where the information has come from

changing ISP probably does help a little but you could have asked your ISP for a new static IP or asked for dynamic IP ( changes each time you log on )

my advice would still be the same, change everything.. go through every site you are a member of and change the password, download a password manager ( they have apps for phones as well) and enable 2 factor authentication if the sites allow it and tie it to your cell phone number, this way if you are hacked you will get an sms and you'll be able to recover the account quickly, have a second gmail account set up and use it as your recovery email for your primary email account ( this way if your email is compromised you have a second way to recover the account besides 2 factor authentication )

always always always use a different password for your primary email and facebook this way if a hacker gets in to one of your accounts they can't get to your email and use the password reset form to take over your accounts

 

[Grouse]

changing ISP probably does help a little but you could have asked your ISP for a new static IP or asked for dynamic IP ( changes each time you log on )

How does that help, getting a new IP address? Are you talking about hacking online accounts or hacking a home network?

 

[Eloise]

Hello,
Completely new to Webslueths. I joined in all honesty because I had heard on a podcast that individuals on this site were able to track an IP address and use this information as well as other information posted to help catch a killer. While not nearly as interesting, I have had various accounts hacked over the past few months, and I have an IP address. The police told me after I filed my complaint that because its so frequent of a crime, they don't bother to do anything about it because it would take up too much of their resources. Without being able to pinpoint the owner of the IP, I can't know one way or the other regarding who is carrying out these hacks. Any help or information that could be provided would be amazing. I'm really at a loss here of what else to do.

I think you need to check haveibeenpwned.com (yes it sounds silly but it's a very legit site) - have a look and see if there's been a data breach and your data might be floating around on the internet. If you use Firefox, its password manager can also tell you which of your logins have been breached in a known data breach.
It's a very common thing. It's happened to me and many people I know. All you need to do is change passwords and maybe even the email you use to log in to places.

 

[PingTheRouter]

How does that help, getting a new IP address? Are you talking about hacking online accounts or hacking a home network?

if somehow the hacker was able to monitor her IP and her usage ( probably not possible the tracing would have stopped at a ISP data center and not on her device or home router)

if the OP changed IP it may have gone dark

but not really a tactic used a lot, sounds more like details were compromised in a data breech and now the information is out there hackers are trying to get in to a variety of the OP's accounts

 

[Grouse]

if somehow the hacker was able to monitor her IP and her usage ( probably not possible the tracing would have stopped at a ISP data center and not on her device or home router)

if the OP changed IP it may have gone dark

but not really a tactic used a lot, sounds more like details were compromised in a data breech and now the information is out there hackers are trying to get in to a variety of the OP's accounts

Yeah sounded more like an online data breech to me. Was interested in what you were thinking regarding changing the local IP address though. So someone monitoring her traffic on the net as opposed to trying to hack her home network I think you mean?

 

[PingTheRouter]

Yeah sounded more like an online data breech to me. Was interested in what you were thinking regarding changing the local IP address though. So someone monitoring her traffic on the net as opposed to trying to hack her home network I think you mean?

Right because when you go through an ISP most of the time without allowing the connection somehow ( malware, virus etc ) it would be difficult just to make an IP you've found and gain access, you are going to hit the ISPs data centre before you got to the actual home network

 

[TXB562]

Thanks for reaching out! My main concern is that I'm currently involved in civil litigation, and I think that the data accessed was from someone on the other side. Like I mentioned, I have their IP address, but Idk how to find out who owns it or anything and the police just .. don't care..

 

[TXB562]

How were you able to obtain an IP address?

When the breach occurred, one of the accounts recorded the IP that was used.

 

[TXB562]

i am sorry you are having these issues, change your passwords frequently and use unique passwords for each site you use, also use something like a password manager to keep track of it all and enable 2 factor authentication with a cell phone as your back up device

now on to the nuts and bolts

the biggest misunderstanding with IP addresses is that if you have one of someone you are interested in tracking that this is sure fire way of identifying the person behind it

unfortunately this isn't true, an IP address is just a set of numbers issued to a device to be able to connect to the internet ( its actual a set of numbers given to a device to talk to each other / connect with each other, in its basic form )

there are also different types of IP addresses, different blocks of IP addresses, some have different uses and some are for special things ( like certain ISPs will have a block range of ip addresses), some are internal and some are external facing

the other issue you have with IP Addresses is that if someone is going to the effort of hacking you, most likely they are not in your country ( most attacks come from places like Pakistan or Russia ) and possibly using a VPN or secured network to obscure their actual IP address

as you can see with just a few sentences iv written showing you how hard it is to narrow down just 1 IP address to someone's identity, you can try using reverse IP lookups and things like that but they don't always tell the whole story and you might end up angry or reporting the wrong person

That definitely complicates things.. I'm concerned because I honestly believe that the people who hacked me were involved in this lawsuit I'm currently involved in.

 

[Grouse]

Thanks for reaching out! My main concern is that I'm currently involved in civil litigation, and I think that the data accessed was from someone on the other side. Like I mentioned, I have their IP address, but Idk how to find out who owns it or anything and the police just .. don't care..

Ok well as well as the link I posted above try entering the address here and you might get more information eg if it belongs to a corporate body Network-Tools.com: Ping, Traceroute, WHOIS & More

 

[borndem]

Welcome to Websleuths,
BriarRose7
and
TXB562 !!​

 

[Laughing]

That definitely complicates things.. I'm concerned because I honestly believe that the people who hacked me were involved in this lawsuit I'm currently involved in.

Have you passed the information on to your legal team?

jmhoy ymmv lrr

 

[JaneEyre]

My hacker who also had my phone number was from Egypt. I dropped the ISP that I was using and went with a new one. I dont know if that was what worked, but it stopped.

We got a new router and everything.

 

[TXB562]

Have you passed the information on to your legal team?

jmhoy ymmv lrr

Yeah, but they're at a stand still at this time. They can try to pressure the police, but the police aren't going to do anything because 'it happens all the time', and they don't have the resources.

 

[TXB562]

Ok well as well as the link I posted above try entering the address here and you might get more information eg if it belongs to a corporate body Network-Tools.com: Ping, Traceroute, WHOIS & More

Hey, so I tried it out, but i'm not sure what to do with the info or if i'm at the end of the rope in terms of going through those links and getting as much info as I can