How to Find Owner of Email Address: 12 Methods

You may want to check the email address to verify the legitimacy of an email or find out a job candidate’s or recruiter’s contact information. Individuals may also want to discover the email owner’s name if they keep receiving spam emails, as this raises privacy and safety concerns.

By finding who is behind those annoying emails, you can also protect yourself from spam and malicious senders. However, finding the email address owner can be quite a task, therefore, I have listed the 12 best methods I tried first-hand. Let us now go through the methods one by one.

 

Method 1: How to Find Out Who Owns an Email Address Using Reverse Lookup Services

Reverse lookup services can find details about email addresses, such as the owner’s name, aliases, contact details, and more. I often use these platforms’ reverse email address lookup services, which help me instantly identify the email sender.

1) Spokeo

Spokeo is a reverse lookup tool that helps you find your long-lost friends, colleagues, and relatives. It can find a person’s email address, social media accounts, full name behind a phone number/email, and more.

I received a very informative report that helped me find people and email address owners. The report includes contact details, location history, personal details, wealth data, etc.

Features:

• Large database: It includes 120+ social networks, 600 million court records, 6 billion consumer records, 3.9 billion historical records, and more. I found its report easy to read and provides results within a few seconds.
• Completely anonymous: You don’t have to worry about alerting the person you are looking for using Spokeo, as it is completely anonymous.

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Basic Search Results are Free

Here is a step-by-step of how to use Spokeo to lookup email address owner:

Step 1) Go to the Spokeo website, type in the email address, and hit Search Now.

Step 2) It will look for the email address details within a few seconds and uncover the owner’s name. Now click Unlock Full Results, which will take you to its one-time report payment page.

Step 3) If you are not satisfied with the name alone, you can pay $0.95 and get your full report here.

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Basic Search Results are Free

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2) Social Catfish

Social Catfish is a powerful reverse lookup service that can prevent you from getting catfished by people online. It identifies people using their name, image, username, phone number, email, and address.

I can use the Social Catfish email lookup service without worrying if the person ever finds out, as it is completely anonymous. It usually gives me accurate results, as its database has over 200 billion records.

Features:

• Detailed reports: I receive detailed reports such as their name, social media accounts, phone numbers, and job roles. Social Catfish reports also include information about their company, criminal offenses, and much more.
• Associate information: One of Social Catfish’s features that surprised me was finding details about the target individual’s relatives and family members. I was unable to get a response from the individual when I tried to contact them; hence, I could reach out to one of their family members.

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3-Day Trial for $5.73

Here are the steps on how to use Social Catfish to check the email address owner:

Step 1) First, visit the Social Catfish website and select email address as your search parameter.

Step 2) Enter the email address in its search bar and click on Search to let it find the owner’s name.

Step 3) Once you receive the result, provide your email as prompted. Then, go through the results to find out which one is the person you are looking for. Now click on See Complete Results to let it generate a detailed report.

Step 4) Finally, submit your email address and pay $5.73 for the report.

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3-Day Trial for $5.73

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3) Intelius

Intelius helps you find an individual’s name, phone number, and address. Its name and phone number lookup also allows you to find a person’s email address. One small issue with Intelius is that if you want to find the email address owner, you will need to have some details. It could be either their name or contact information.

I received an email that provided a mobile phone number so I could contact them. Before doing so, I wanted to find out if they were legitimate. Hence, I used Intelius for a quick lookup since Intelius is US-centered and has narrowed-down results.

Features:

• Report: Intelius report includes full name, email address, aliases, age, date of birth, relatives, criminal records, and more.
• People Directory: It includes a complete people directory with first and last names from A to Z. In this directory, I was able to find my ex-colleague’s name and get their details, such as their current address.

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5-Day Trial for $0.95

Here is how you can find the owner of an email address using Intelius:

Step 1) In this case, I shall demonstrate the steps using a phone number. Hence, go to Intelius and select Phone from its search parameters option.

Step 2) Type the number in the search bar and tap Search. To use Intelius, you must confirm that you are 18 or older.

Step 3) Once the results are ready, click on View results; here, provide your name and email address. Next, do all that is prompted to view the results.

Step 4) Finally, pay $0.95 to get the complete details. This report includes their name, email address, and other personal details.

Visit Intelius >>

5-Day Trial for $0.95

These are not the only tools that can help you find the owner of an email address. I have also tried tools like BeenVerified, PeopleFinder, PeopleLooker, etc.

BeenVerified and PeopleLooker offer direct email reverse lookup services. You can use them by copy-pasting the email address into their search field. On the other hand, PeopleFinder is similar to Intelius. It requires you to enter details such as a phone number to find email information or its owner’s name.

Method 2: How to Check Email Address Owner Using Google Search

One of the simplest and basic methods to check the email address owner is to do a Google Search. I have often received emails from businesses that didn’t leave a name or email signature, so I had to use this trick to find the owner’s name. For example, recently, I received an email from chez.constant.74@gmail.com. It didn’t sound like someone’s name, and I had never heard of this restaurant before.

Let me take you through the steps on how I found out more details about chez.constant.74@gmail.com:

Step 1) Go to Google Search, copy and paste the email address, and hit Enter or click on the magnifying glass.

Step 2) Now go through the results and see which business it belongs to or if it is linked with any social media, etc.

You can also try other search engines, such as DuckDuckGo and Bing, for this method.

Method 3: Use email verification services

Email verification services proved the authenticity of email addresses and provided me with details. This helped me identify if they were sent by a real person or business, a bot, or a scammer.

Some of the best email verification services that I have come across are:

• Hunter.io: Using Hunter.io, I could verify an email address by simply entering it into the tool’s search bar and clicking Verify. It shows the company’s name, format, server status, and email status, along with the type of email.
• Clearbit: I connected Clearbit’s Gmail extension and used it directly from my Gmail. Once I clicked on the Clearbit button I could add my chosen domain. This brought up the right email address owner from the list, their job role, industry, location, and more.
• Snov.io: In Snov.io, you can simply enter any domain and search for the email address. With Snov.io, you can find quality contacts as it identifies whether the email addresses are valid.

The other tools that I would recommend you use to verify an email address are:

• Finder Expert not only verifies emails but also helps find contacts using First and Last names.
• Pipl lets you decode any digital identity and is also useful for fraud and crime investigations.
• FindThatLead and eMail-Prospect Pro allows you to find leads for your business and help verify your prospect emails.

Method 4: Using Browser extensions

I tried several browser extensions to verify email addresses; however, the following two extensions were the most helpful.

• FullContact can identify prospects and provide complete information about a contact. It includes their job title, company, social media links, and more. Once you add it as an extension, you can type the name you want to find and hit Enter to get the details.
• Swordfish AI extension can help find contact data for anyone on the internet and extract emails from all popular platforms. I have used it with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Github, and more for finding prospects.

Method 5: Use CRM tools

Customer relationship management tools provide customer information and keep their data updated. These CRM tools collect data from publicly available platforms like company websites and social media accounts.

Some of the best CRM tools for checking email address owners are Zoho CRM, Salesforce, and Freshsales. Even though tools like Zoho CRM are used for customer relationship management, they helped me enter email addresses and get complete details about them.

For example, I received a random email from info@bodyfwrd.com, and I was unsure what this organization was. However, when I entered it into Zoho CRM, I could see it was a health and fitness company founded by wellness expert Kenzie Burke.

In the case of Freshsales I could connect it with my email inbox, which linked the emails with the right contacts. Therefore, it helped me determine easily who an email address belonged to. With Salesforce, I could find the email address owners by entering their email usernames.

Method 6: Social Media Search

When I conducted social media searches, I realized it was also helpful for checking email address owners. Here’s how I could find the email address owner’s name on the three most popular social media sites:

• Facebook: In Facebook, you can go to the person’s profile, navigate to the About option, and then scroll to Contact and Basic info.

• Instagram: It is much easier to locate the email on Instagram. You can go to their profile and check on their bio; if it is not directly provided in the bio section, go to the Contact option below the bio. Here, you will either find their email address or contact number.

• Twitter/X: Usually, you may find an individual’s email address on their bio on X. I use its search filters, such as People and Location; here, you may overlook the email address as people tend to hide them from bots. In this case, look for addresses that spell out dot and at the rate. For example, you may find emails written in this format: Emma Teresa Fifty Five at Gmail dot com.

Method 7: Use Domain Name

I checked out platforms like Who.is, which helped me verify domain names with just a few clicks. This platform is specifically useful when you are trying to look for a business owner, domain name, or IP address. It is a publicly available platform where you can look up these details without registering.

I visited the website and populated the search bar with the domain name. This allowed me to view the complete information of the website along with contact details that included their email address.

Method 8: Check the email header and Calendar

When you check the sender’s email header, you will find their information, such as their email and IP address. I usually click on “details” and “more” and then go to “show original” which displays information as shown below.

The other trick you can use to find the owner of an email address is using Gmail Calendar. It is possible that they used their real name while setting up their Google account, which can lead us to them. Go to your Google calendar and navigate to “Search for people”, then type their email address, which may display their real name.

Method 9: Check Company websites

I often check companies’ Contact Us and About Us Pages to find their email addresses’ owners. Usually, these pages will provide not only support or career emails but also include decision makers’ personal work emails. Such as example.com@contact-me, security@example.com, CEO@example.com, example.com@team, etc.

You will also find About Us pages with pictures or email IDs of every team head. When I tried this trick, it became quite easy for me to find out which team member might have contacted me, thus proving that the email I received was authentic.

Method 10: Reach Out or Take a Guess

You can reach out to individuals or companies through email, social media, a contact form, etc. I would also suggest you subscribe to their newsletter. This will reveal who the sender is, as they might be sending these newsletters via personal emails.

I reached out to Good Weird (a skincare line), assuming someone was scamming me, as I kept receiving a lot of emails regarding an offer on products that were not shown on their website. They replied within a day, stating that it was indeed their official email and that it was a personalized reward.

The other efficient method is to take a smart guess. If you know the person’s first and last name, you can use the URL of their website and the company’s name as the domain. For example: ashley@companyname.com, ashleytaylor@companyname.com, taylorashley@companyname.com, and others.

Note: Kindly do not spam the companies, as they may tag you as spam, thus making it harder for you to reach them. Additionally, according to the CAN-SPAM Act, in violation of commercial email laws, an individual can be fined up to $11,000.

Method 11: Export LinkedIn connections

Here is a simple and final method for checking the owner of an email address. You can simply export the connections from LinkedIn to find their email address.

Here is a step-by-step demonstration of how to export your connections from LinkedIn:

Step 1) First, click on your profile picture at the top of your LinkedIn homepage and select “Settings and Privacy” from the drop-down menu.

Step 2) Now, come to the Data Privacy option and click on it. Next, navigate to “Getting a copy of your data” and click on the arrow next to it.

Step 3) Now tick mark the box that says “Connections”, then click on “Request archive”. Make sure the second option, “Want something in Particular?…” is selected for this method.

After about 10 minutes, you will receive a sheet with all the email addresses of your connections.

Note: You must use this data wisely and ethically, as it is illegal to use someone’s personal data, such as email, without their consent.

Common mistakes people make while looking for email address owner

Here are some of the common mistakes that you may make while looking for an email address owner:

• Not using all variations: It can be exhausting to try out all options and combinations while guessing someone’s email address. However, you must spend a good amount of time trying all the possibilities that can yield you the desired result.
• Overlooking typos: This happened to me several times; it is very easy to make a typo in email addresses. Therefore, check the email address you typed properly before giving up.
• Using the same format for all: Not all email addresses use the same format, most people use the format- username@domain.com. However, this is not true for everyone; therefore, find other formats used and try those combinations. Examples like tim_price.apac@sales.adp.co.au
• Third-party apps may not be 100%: You must cross-check the information as email finder sites may not always have accurate results. I have also come across some wrong and outdated email information while using third-party apps.

What are the issues you may face while looking for an email address owner?

Here are the issues that I came across while looking for an email address owner:

• Limited information: At times the third-party apps could not find the email address or any details of a particular individual due to their limited database. There were also times when I couldn’t find the email address on social media, as the owner kept all the accounts and information private.
• Multiple email addresses: At times, I encountered multiple email addresses, and I was not sure which one was personal and authentic.
• Inaccurate info: I found an email address linked to someone and assumed it was them who had been emailing me. Unfortunately, the data was inaccurate, so sometimes I ended up with inactive and outdated emails.
• Unreachable Spammers: I was unable to find some of the spam email owners, maybe because they were bots. Some of these emails looked like they were sent from a genuine person. However, it was because the spammers had programmed them to look like these individuals were spamming my inbox.

Consequences of improperly accessing or disclosing the owner’s email address

You must be aware that improperly accessing or disclosing someone’s email address can lead to several issues for the owner.

• Identity theft: You must never disclose other people’s email addresses unless they ask you to share them with someone they trust. This can lead to identity theft for the person whose email you are disclosing.
• Spam and phishing: When you disclose someone’s email address publicly, you make their email addresses vulnerable to spam and phishing.
• Business impact: Companies that depend on email marketing and communication can suffer losses due to improper disclosure of their email addresses. This can lead to people unsubscribing from their emails due to privacy concerns.

Legal and ethical considerations for checking email address owner

When you access someone’s email address or try to find out who the owner is, you must understand the legal and ethical considerations.

• Privacy violation: Do not access someone’s email address without permission, as it breaches their privacy.
• Data protection and security: There are several different acts for email in the US, depending on the state. You must also check if your location has any protection laws that regulate the access and use of personal info.
• Consent: You can directly request the individuals’ email addresses or provide a form where they can willingly provide their details.
• Intent of use: You can mention the intent of use verbally or digitally through any channel.

Checking the email address owner is usually legal if you are doing it for a lawful purpose. However, if you use these excuses and violate rules by sending spam messages, phishing links, etc., you can be fined or put behind bars.

Conclusion

You can use all the methods above to look for an email address owner. Trying different methods is the key to finding an accurate result, but do not misuse or expose the email addresses to any third parties unless the owner asks you to share them.

There are also numerous tools that can help you directly find email addresses if you want a mailing list or would like to extract email information. I also recommend you pay attention to legal and ethical considerations and the issues and mistakes while looking for email addresses.