How To Send An Anonymous Email (5 Simple Methods) – Forbes Advisor INDIA

What Defines an Anonymous Email?

Standard email is designed to be a two-way, identifiable communication system where both sender and receiver know with whom they are in correspondence, but standard email reveals more information than you might think.

Your IP address can be easily obtained from metadata listed in the email header. Additionally, standard email services usually require users to submit personal information to create an account—such as your full name and real mailing address—which could be accessed if your email were ever to be breached.

Truly anonymous email is defined by the lack of any personally identifying information (PII) associated with the email itself and/or the account, including the sender’s IP address and other fields such as timestamps and the message path.

What Anonymous Doesn’t Mean

There is a sliding scale of anonymity depending on how thoroughly you want to hide your identity. If you are not concerned with disguising your IP address, there are plenty of email methods that keep other parts of your identity secret.

For example, if you create a new email account using all fake PII, you can send an email to someone without exposing who you are. You might consider this email anonymous, but your IP address and metadata are still discoverable in this scenario, so your identity is not completely hidden.

Why Use an Anonymous Email Account?

There are many legitimate reasons to use an anonymous email account, such as:

• You want to avoid spam mail, ads and trackers.
• You want to keep certain correspondences anonymous—whether it is for a business or personal use.
• You are about to become a whistleblower for a company you currently work for.
• You live in a region of the world where internet activity is monitored by the government.
• You’re a journalist and need to keep yourself or your sources anonymous.

5 Methods To Send an Anonymous Email

Since true email anonymity is defined by a lack of PII, including the sender’s IP address, there is no way to send a truly anonymous email without obfuscating your IP address using either a virtual private network (VPN) or Tor browser. Therefore, our first recommendation is to use a VPN or Tor browser, and the subsequent methods should be used in conjunction with that first step to achieve anonymity in email use.

Use a VPN

VPNs route your internet traffic through a network of worldwide servers—effectively hiding your IP address from hackers, government and even your own internet service provider (ISP)—but VPNs alone don’t make any email you send anonymous. You should use a VPN in tandem with other methods we describe below, such as using encrypted email or burner accounts. For example, an encrypted email account won’t have any of your PII and will scramble all your email information while the VPN hides your IP address.

If you decide to use a VPN service, be sure to choose one that adheres to a strict, no-logs policy—meaning the VPN provider will not store any information that could be used to identify you if it is ever called on by a government or authority.

The one downside to using a VPN is that the good ones cost money. If you want to try a free option that will hide your IP, consider using the Tor browser when sending your anonymous emails. The Tor browser is a volunteer-run project that routes your traffic through a series of nodes that are designed to obscure your originating IP address. Note that—while effective at masking your IP—the Tor browser will result in slow connection speeds.

Use an Anonymous and Encrypted Email Provider

Anonymous and encrypted email services work much like regular email, but the contents of your messages—as well as your inbox and contact list—are scrambled with encryption algorithms. This service makes it impossible for third parties—including your ISP, hackers, government and sometimes the email provider—to read your correspondences or know who you’ve been in contact with. The only person who can read the message you send is the receiver of your email.

These types of email services are generally best used for ongoing correspondences where you may want to be able to regularly access your messages and reply. While encryption secures the contents of your emails and account, it will not hide your IP address, which could still be a liability in terms of identifying you.

Some popular anonymous and encrypted email accounts to consider are:

• Proton Mail: Good for personal use and has a guaranteed no-logs policy and strong encryption
• Hushmail: Geared towards small businesses, healthcare and law offices
• Guerilla Mail: An easy-to-use and free service for disposable email accounts

Create a “Burner” Account

Burner email accounts are similar to cheap, prepaid phones that can be used for a short time and then disposed of. In the case of burner emails, users aren’t required to register any information to use them, and the accounts expire after a designated amount of time passes. You can send and receive emails for a small window of time with little information linking you to the activity.

Similarly to encrypted email accounts, burner accounts do not mask your IP address. Burner accounts can also be useful for avoiding spam by using “receive only” accounts when signing up for certain websites or services that require an email address for access or discounts.

Strip Metadata From Attached Files

Even when using encrypted email and a VPN, email documents may still include metadata—especially if you have included some kind of attachment to the email. Pictures taken with a digital camera may include who took the picture along with where and when it was taken. Even Word documents or Excel sheets may reveal some point of origin such as the author or company involved.

You should always be certain to first strip any metadata that may exist from your emails and any attached files.

On Windows, you can easily remove metadata by using a Windows tool called Document Inspector. You can also opt to do so manually by right-clicking your file, selecting Properties > Details > Remove Properties and Personal Information.

To fully remove metadata on macOS, you will need the help of a third-party app, such as ImageOptim.

Create a New Email Account

You always have the option of creating a new email account with the email provider of your choosing. Just be sure to provide all false information when registering, including name, date of birth, home address, etc. As we’ve mentioned, this method does allow you to send and receive email with a version of anonymity, but you’re better off pairing it with a VPN in order to hide your IP address to achieve true anonymity.

Email Services To Avoid for Privacy Concerns

Some of the main draws of the larger, corporate email companies such as Yahoo and Gmail are that they are free, easy to use and provide useful apps. However, your privacy is usually not their first priority, and you should remember that these companies always have access to your email account. If you’re concerned with privacy, you should consider avoiding the following email services:

Gmail

Google has a history of mistrustful behavior—namely scanning customer email contents for “marketing purposes.” While it claimed to have stopped this in 2017, it still admits giving third parties access to customer inboxes.

Yahoo Mail

In 2016, it came to light that Yahoo was providing U.S. intelligence officials backdoor access into hundreds of millions of user accounts. Furthermore, in 2017, Yahoo became part of Verizon Media service—an organization that admitted to using cookies, device IDs and other tactics to track users.

AOL Mail

Yes, AOL Mail still exists. AOL Mail also became part of Verizon Media as of 2017. This means that AOL Mail—like Yahoo Mail—will collect PII including IP addresses and cookie information to track user behavior.

Bottom Line

You don’t need to be in a special situation to be interested in how anonymous email works. In fact, if you are concerned with privacy at all, you may want to consider altering your email behavior even slightly by using tools such as encrypted emails and burner accounts when sending messages with sensitive contents. Just remember that, without a VPN, your activity can still be linked back to your IP address through your ISP, and your email may also contain metadata you need to strip away.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)