Send An Anonymous Email

Sending an email without using your real name is useful when you want to protect your identity, in instances like providing information about a crime, sending a secret admirer note, or expressing your opinion without drawing attention to yourself. Here are three safe options on how to send an anonymous email.

Steps

Create an Anonymous Account

  1. Find a free e-mail service. Google's Gmail is the most popular, and it's also known for its high-level security and user-friendliness, but there are other strong options, like Outlook, Yahoo!, and GMX. [1]
    • Some services, like Lycos, allow you to create aliases within your email account. Others, like Gmail, do not.
    • Zoho accounts are ad-free.
    • AOL and Mail.com allow you to choose your own domain name for your email address.
    • Hide My Ass has a disposable email account option that allows you to set an expiration date, and your personal information isn't required to sign up. [2]
  2. Click on the "sign up" option. Most email services will have a "sign up" or "create a new account" option on their mail page. If you're on the site's homepage, like Yahoo.com or Google.com, click on the "Mail" tab.
  3. Create a screen-name that has no connection to you. Create one that can't possibly be linked back to you.
    • Think about your defining characteristics: your occupation, where you live, your hometown, your hobbies. Avoid using any words that can be linked to those characteristics.
    • Think about numbers that are associated with you: your birth-date, your address, your zip code or area code. Avoid using those number combinations.
    • If you're having trouble creating a screen-name, check out the user name generator spinxo.com. Enter random words and numbers instead of ones associated with you.
  4. Use an alias instead of your real name. Don't use your real name when you're completing the sign-up form. Think of a fake name to use.
    • Don't use your middle name or your mother's maiden name or any name that can easily be linked back to you.
    • Look around at objects in the room for inspiration.
    • Mix and match first and last names of book or movie characters.
    • Use a random name generator like fakenamegenerator.com or fake.name-generator.co.
  5. Complete the sign-up process. Sign any terms and policies agreements. Remember not to provide any personal information like your address or phone number.
  6. Type and send your email. Double-check to make sure you're not including any clues as to your true identity, like accidentally signing your real name.
    • Write a concise subject line; this will lessen the risk of the recipient sending it to the trash without reading it. [3]
    • Make sure you are sending it to the correct email address.

Use a Free Website Service

  1. Research services that allow you to anonymous send e-mail. There are web-based services that allow you to send emails anonymously without creating an email account. Some are more secure than others. [4]
    • AnonEmail at Anonymouse.org distances your message from the source by relaying it several times before it reaches its destination. However, it doesn't allow you to include attachments. [5]
    • 10 Minute Mail creates a disposable email account for you: From the moment you arrive on the site, you have ten minutes to send your anonymous email before the account is erased. [6]
    • Silent Sender allows you to send anonymous messages and check the delivery status of your message. [7]
    • Make sure the site you choose has a privacy policy or an assurance that it does not keep a log of its users' activities.
  2. Add another layer of protection by using Tor. The Tor Browser Bundle is a downloadable service that encrypts your Internet connection and randomizes the sites you visit, making it harder to track your path. [8]
  3. Read the rules carefully. Most of these anonymous email services will have a Terms of Use or FAQ page that you should read before sending your email.
    • Services will usually include a reminder that they do not accept any liability for your emails.
    • Keep in mind that despite claims of anonymity, your IP address will still be attached to your email.
  4. Provide the essential information requested. This will generally just be the recipient's email, a subject, and a message.
  5. Type and send your message. Remember again not to drop any clues about your identity.

Use a Remailer

  1. A remailer is a service that receives emails with instructions on where to send them and then forwards them anonymously. There are several types of remailers.
    • A pseudonymous remailer, also known as a nym (short for "pseudonym") server, replaces the real email address with a fake, untraceable one and then sends it on to the recipient. The recipient can then respond to the remailer. [9]
    • A cypherpunk remailer allows you to encrypt a message, send it to the remailer, who will then decrypt it and send it on to the recipient. This method protects your message from any monitoring of your outbox.
    • A Mixmaster remailer encrypts your messages before sending them and protects them from traffic analysis.
    • A Mixminion remailer also encrypts your messages and allows replies from recipients, unlike Mixmaster, which is one-way.
  2. Understand the difference between traceable remailers and untraceable remailers. There are benefits and downsides to both options.
    • Traceable remailers keep an internal log of its clients and their real email addresses so that they can forward on responses from message recipients.
    • Untraceable remailers do not keep a list of actual users, so message replies are not possible.
  3. Send your message to the remailer service you choose. The service you choose will include instructions, which will generally include the following steps. [10]
    • Address your email to the remailer and write a subject.
    • On the first line of the body of your email, type two colons ("::").
    • On the second line, type “Anon-To:" followed by the recipient's email address.
    • Leave one blank line and then type your message.
    • Send the email to the remailer.

Warnings

  • Finding out the IP address of an anonymous email is relatively easy. The IP address indicates which service provider the sender is on, and in most cases can be traced back to the neighbourhood the email was sent from. Almost all email providers attach your IP address in the X-Message-Info field of the email. This cannot be changed. If you don't want your IP address known, you might want to use a public computer, or send the email behind a VPN service.
  • Your intentions may vary in sending anonymous emails. But if your intention is to conduct illegal activity, be aware that local authorities such as the FBI or NSA have the ability to trace any and all emails, no matter how anonymous you try to make them. No email is truly untraceable, and with proper warrants in place (or even without in some cases), these agencies have the ability to learn the identity of a lawbreaker.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. Jump up ↑ http://free-email-services-review.toptenreviews.com/
  2. Jump up ↑ http://www.hidemyass.com/anonymous-email/
  3. Jump up ↑ http://sendanonymousemail.net/blog/email-etiquette-guidelines.html
  4. Jump up ↑ http://www.technewsdaily.com/15493-anonymous-email-how-to.html
  5. Jump up ↑ http://anonymouse.org/anonemail.html
  6. Jump up ↑ http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html
  7. Jump up ↑ https://www.silentsender.com/
  8. Jump up ↑ http://www.extremetech.com/computing/101633-how-to-use-tor-and-is-it-actually-safe-and-anonymous
  9. Jump up ↑ http://www.techopedia.com/definition/1696/nym-server
  10. Jump up ↑ http://www.anonymous.to/tutorials/anonymous-remailers/
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