How to find out who really sent the message you received?

The message you receive doesn’t always come from the sender whose details appear in the default message view. If you receive an e-mail that you find dubious – check who the actual sender is. This is made possible by headers. The location of headers depends on the e-mail service you use. Below is an example of a fake message header:

In the general preview, Allegro.pl is shown as the sender. However, if you take a look at the headers, you’ll notice that it isn’t the real sender.

1. The Received: from field contains a completely different address, and this is the actual address of the sender of the message.
2. The Received: by field doesn’t contain the addresses of Allegro.pl mail servers. Instead, it contains other servers’ data.
3. In addition, the Reply-To field contains another email address. In this field you will see to whom the replies to this message will go. If fields 1 and 2 don’t match, you’re most likely dealing with phishing or spam. If you receive a suspicious message from a bogus Allegro employee, forward it to us using the option [forward as an attachment] or [forward] to phishing@allegro.pl – we will deal with the matter immediately!

Where to find e-mail headers

Gmail

Open the message in the Received folder. There are three dots at the top right of the message. Click on it and select [Show original]. A separate tab or window will open to preview the headers and source of the page.

Outlook

In the desktop version (installed on your computer), double-click on the message to open it in a new window. Then select [File] and [Properties] in the top menu. The header information will appear in the Web Headers field.

In the browser version, click the 3 dots above the message and then select [View message source].

Mozilla Thunderbird

Click on the message. Expand the [More] menu above the message, and then [View source].

Yahoo Mail

In the toolbar above the message, click on the drop-down button for additional options, then select [View raw message].

iCloud/Apple Mail

In the mobile app select a message, click the left arrow and then click [Show All Headers].

In the desktop app click [View] on the toolbar, then click [Message] and [All Headers].

AOL

Open the message you want to view headers for. Then in [Action] menu select [View Message Source].

Yandex

Click on the three dots above the message and then select [Message headers].