When someone you’re not familiar with sends you an email, it is normal to want to know who the person is, even if the email is not spammy or suspicious. By knowing a sender's identity can help you decide whether or not you want to reply to the email. Many messages contain the name of the person who sent it, and some email programs will tell you the name the email account is registered under and also include the information in the same line as the email address. If it’s not available,  you can learn more by viewing the email address itself.

An email such as thecrazybarber@emailprovider.com may include a proper name, the domain name (the words between the @ and the .com part) can give you a clue. Large  email providers such as Lycos and Yahoo Mail won't tell you a whole lot, but if the domain is odd like 'rocknrolldog.com' or 'yourbusinessname.com', you can perform a quick Google search for the domain name. When you do this you can narrow down the results by quite a bit. When someone sends you email messages from a business email account, you can simply contact the company and get information from them. Some people that try and contact you may just not know the proper email mantra.  

Now spam mail can be difficult to trace. Most people including myself choose to delete these emails or check them as spam so you don’t have to waste time and energy with having to delete them anymore. On the other side of the fence, strange or harassing emails require more focus and  attention and can be quite a problem to track down.

If a person has used a fake or false name to register and email account it can be almost impossible to figure out. If someone chooses a fake name and false address to register for an email account with a reputable provider, you have little power to find the information as a civilian. In a case, where someone is bother you and you want to put an end to it, it is a good idea  to enlist the help of a reputable company to find out who the culprit is and take the appropriate action against them.

Within the industry there are a few companies on the internet that will allow you to do a reverse email search to find out who the account is registered to. They generally charge a small fee for the search queries, or you can register for a membership and conduct as many searches as you like. If and when you are able to find out who is sending the emails in a harassing or uncomfortable manner then don’t handle it yourself.

Go and report the person to the police and keep any harassing emails to use as evidence. The more information you have the better. Some companies that conduct these searches can sometimes help you with the legalities required to put a stop to unwanted web antics.