id like to know how to do it for future instances, and if this crap continues, i'll be able to turn in the address to the authorities. I hate scammers and people who send u those joke emails
Yeah... just like everyone says its not illegal. All it is is the location on a network, notably the internet (different from physical location). Once you find the location and ID it there are more stuff to be done to exploit.
With your scammer stuff... that really has nothing to do with your IP address. With the joke emails, they just get a collection of email addresses and create a bot to send it out, then forward it out to your contacts and it just grows.
If you want to stop that, check for malware on your computer. And if you do turn in the addresses to the authorities it won't help catch the "bad guys." Like it was stated earlier, they can use a proxy site, or just got to a public location with a laptop, or just dynamically change their IP address. Its pretty easy to cover your tracks. For example....
At my university there is a common area that has a food court, seating area, etc... called "the Idaho Commons." I can bring my laptop there, get on wireless and each time I get on, a different IP is assigned to me. Once I get done with all my dirty work, I simply sign off and leave. The only thing that authorities can see is an IP address that was used when it happened. Who knows, DHCP might have assigned that same address to someone else that got on once I got off.
