- This topic has 51 replies, 43 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
QI (18F) became casual online friends with a 16M. He once sent me a shortened link disguised as a meme, which I clicked without thinking. He deleted the link soon after I clicked on it.
Later, he suddenly mentioned the city I live in and an approximate pin-code (both were accurate). I never shared this info with him. He deleted the approx pin-code as soon as I saw his text.
When I asked how he knew, he refused to tell me. On further questioning, he said he was “bored” and wanted to “confirm I’m a human.” He claimed this is something he does regularly with others and called it a “habit.”
He added that he had researched the laws and knew he couldn’t get into legal trouble. He said “I know the proper location, but it isn’t leaking. The moment I share something accurate enough, I can get sued. But I’ll assure you that I’m not gonna publish it, not for your, but for my safety.”
He said he doesn’t share info with his targets, and since he shared that with me, I’m not his target. When I asked who his targets are, he said “no-one”.
He also gave his own location (a very small town in the NE) without being asked for it, to play it off as normal, I guess.
I did some research and realized he likely used an IP grabber linked to that meme URL. When I confronted him, he didn’t confess his deeds but casually explained how to track others’ IPs too, which he deleted soon after.
This whole thing feels really uncomfortable and invasive. I want to know:
• Is this illegal in India?
• Can I report this?
TL;DR: A 16M sent me a disguised IP grabber link, later revealed my location, said it’s a “habit” and claimed legal safety. Then deleted the messages. Need legal advice on whether this is a crime in India and what my options are.
-
RI’m not a lawyer, but am a software engineer, and I can tell you that ISPs in India usually use CGNATs, which means that they share the same IP for thousands of customer, so this doesn’t really reveal your location in any granular way. Maybe reveals your city, maybe even reveals a different city, but you have nothing to worry about in terms of safety.
My practical advice here is to stop talking to people online who openly reveal they’re trying to track your location. You can just block him or just stop messaging him altogether and you should be fine. Hopefully you didn’t reveal anything else that might be personally identifying.
Legally, I personally wouldn’t want to waste time on what people in my field call “script kiddies”.
-
PThis, and try to use a VPN or Apple’s iCloud Private Relay if you can. While the info leaked isn’t dangerous by itself, attackers will put together 4-5 pieces of ‘granular’ information to make some precise guesses.
Software Engineers are super paranoid about information online for a reason.
-
ACan you tell me more about the paranoia? I have a software friend who is super paranoid but never understood why
-
PIt’s really just more about knowing how software is built
* despite a lot of security protocols exitisting, there will always be some people who have access to huge amounts of data including personal data. It’s needed to keep stuff up and running. You can minimize the people required, make them sign complex contracts, and split it so they get 1/2 data while another team gets another half, but people have access.
* most “hacker” attacks are social engineering. I either call you and say “your dad (name) was in an accident, come here” or call your bank and say “I am xyz and want to withdraw money”.
* ai adds another layer on this. Could you take your pictures, feed it to ai and generate a plausible aadhar card? How about a video? And this tech is at its worst. How much better will it be in five years.Ultimately, if anyone wants to target you, our laws and methods to keep ourself safe have not kept up. Ultimately the only protection Is minimizing one’s self online (and traditional methods like being friends with politicians). The net is a surprisingly good (but old) movie on this topic with Sandra Bullok.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
ROh, it most certainly does. I’m on JioFiber and have actually checked this using traceroute. They have a ridiculous amount of nesting too. They even use it over IPv6, which is a bit odd tbh. The only way you can get a static IP address with JioFiber, last I checked, was to be a business or be setting some kind of CCTV camera.
-
PI stand corrected. I thought there’s no need to use NAT when you use ipv6 since there are so much address space available. Why do jio use nat over ipvt6? is it for compatibility with legacy systems?
-
RMan, it’s super complex.
They have NAT44, NAT46, NAT64, and finally NAT66. You already know about NAT44 i.e.IPv4 to IPv4 address translation, but you might have IPv6-only clients that need some kind of mechanism to talk to IPv4 only hosts (you’ll see this in mobile networks like LTE/5G), and likewise IPv4-only hosts needing to talk to IPv6-only hosts, and finally NAT66, which translates, as you guessed it, IPv6 hosts to IPv6 hosts.
I’ve heard about this being used to preserve unique local addresses in enterprise networks (and I guess Jio also uses this) as it sort of hides hosts behind a NAT device like a router and protects devices that might have all its ports open by default (see “NAT firewall effect”) and also in multihoming scenarios where a data center, for example, might have connections to multiple ISPs for network redundancy, but instead of having multiple global IPv6 addresses for each hosts, each host would have one unique local address and the NAT devices do the translation based on which ISP connection it uses.
It’s an unfortunate historical accident with IPv6 not being developed fast enough to prevent the proliferation of NAT devices. Maybe if it was developed fast enough, we would’ve come up with better solutions in-place of NAT firewall protection and multihoming capabilities.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
DFirst inform this to your parents and then look into what they have to react or say. He is trying to invade your personal information, which is no joke. Just take a step at the earliest to prevent further data invasion and to prevent from making you feel insecure.
He isn’t doing a right thing, it’s a punishable offence of online pishing and data grabbing. Do inform your parents and take some action at the earliest. -
ENAL
Before you do anything, let’s discuss what he knows about you and what’s the worst he can do against you. You can file a complaint against him in Cyber Cell as he tracked your IP without your consent. You can do it online easily. There’s a juvenile courts to deal with minors.
But you should be aware about what you’ve done with him.
You can further discuss with me if you need more assistance
-
ENAL
Before you do anything, let’s discuss what he knows about you and what’s the worst he can do against you. You can file a complaint against him in Cyber Cell as he tracked your IP without your consent. You can do it online easily. There’s a juvenile courts to deal with minors.
But you should be aware about what you’ve done with him.
You can further discuss with me if you need more assistance
-
-
RHe can’t do anything with that info. If you’re connected to Internet, your IP is always visible.
**What you should have did is, not panic and reply like it’s not your city. Well that’s for next time.**
He can’t know your exact place or anywhere near. Just a vague location. Important thing is to not share more info with this creep in fear he can locate you. He can’t.
-
MOP found how every device/website connected to the internet works. The creep prob thought she would be impressed or something.
Its literally all public info like number plate of the vehicle, and I can find out more info from a random number plate than just pincode and area.
Also OP remember not to click random links, sometimes you might end up with phishing links or malware links.
-
-
-
SHe’s just playing with some online trick he found on the internet. But I will advise u to tell him that u r going to report this matter to cyber police and tell him not to contact you again. Bcz script kiddies ( term used for ppl who have no idea what they doing with security tools/code) can be a&sholes. And can unknowingly harm you because they are just experimenting.
Today he tried to know ur location tomorrow he can compromise ur system with some tricks from internet(Dark web) by making u click some link. Stay safe .
-
BNot possible to get location based on ip
Only they can get isp provider location it’s like if u live in delhi 6 , they will get location of new delhi
-
-
CNAL. But I heard it isn’t illegal since it is not personally identifiable info as the IP is shared. Creepy nevertheless. When someone starts digging info about me I give them a free pass into my block list, they only get worse over time.
There is zero reason to verify and online connection unless you are going to financially invest into it or there is a promise of IRL meetup (in this case that would be illegal). So whichever way you look at it, it is a red flag. Also, i would avoid interacting with minor teens on the internet, they don’t understand boundaries and repercussions, it is hard as an adult to always be on our toes.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
AThese are not accurate, it is usually reverse geo coded address of the ISP gateway, you can try ip2location online, depending on where your ISP’s gateway is, It’ll provide some idea of the loc, depending on your network it might be far from the reality, even if the gateway is in city, it won’t be your exact address. I am software engineer.
-
M1. It is not illegal and every app/website/service you use tracks your IP
2. There is nothing to report
Unless you pay extra for a static ip, your IP will keep changing and unless you have installed some random malware disguised as an app, you are safe.
The IP address at best could give you the general location. But my guess is he used a simple location api in the website to get your coordinates and even that is not precise. Nothing to worry hereThat being said, the behaviour is very creepy so steer clear of the said person
-
MIts not actually illegal to track IP, every website does so.
You should be glad it was just some IP grabber link. And be cautious of opening such links especially from strangers.
What I do is when I receive such links is, connect to VPN, change my MAC address and then open the link. I mean if you really have to and want to know whats inside.
Also remember, whenever you open a link of any sort, you are giving your consent to obtain your IP to that website. What the website does with that IP is upto them.
-
-
-
She probably sent you a masked URL with some free url shortener many in digital marketing use it to get geographical data of their audience to study and target what products to target bitly and tinyurl are 2 most widely used url shortners he might have made one such link only for you there’s no need to worry toh via ip one does not get exact location only city ip address get redistubited timely if you google whatsmyip now and couple of hours/days later you’ll notice its changed
Also you should not be clicking links sent by randoms 🤘(that’s why I haven’t attached any outgoing Links for the websites I have mentioned 🤭)
-
RI always wonder—if you commit a mistake and then tell someone, you get punished. But if you don’t tell anyone, no one knows, and you face no consequences. Same goes for this situation: he told you about it. If he had just taken your location info without saying anything, you probably wouldn’t have noticed and wouldn’t be asking about it here.
-
-
RNAL
Do not fear anything. Each website you visit has your IP address, not only IP grabbers. IP address tells information about your ISP(which is public), not yours(which is private). If you are using local ISP, then in that case, maybe it can tell you the location very close to you, but do not worry, it doesn’t matter. Even if you share your IP address in public, it won’t really matter unless you are running a full-fledged web server with no security provision.
-
-
HThat’s unfortunate..and one of the many side effects of unnecessary online socializing with strangers. Facts to be said!
Anyway, just to give you a fair idea of what a meme can do:
It can download malware, install spyware, open backdoors into your laptop or PC, track your activity, steal your identity, and hijack your online accounts (like banking or social media)….all from just one click.
These things typically get installed via trojans, keyloggers, or remote access tools, and they often execute within seconds, silently giving uninterrupted access to your system, including your webcam.You never really know what’s running in the background after that.This isn’t meant to startle you, but to caution you about the risks, risks that are easy to underestimate. These so called ‘script kiddies’ may be inexperienced, BUT their curiosity, lack of knowledge of legal consequences, and newfound access to others’ privacy often make them far more dangerous than we expect.
Here’s what I strongly recommend you do right away…
1. Cover your webcam..this is one of the most immediate and critical steps. ***
2. Run a full antivirus and anti-malware scan, preferably with a well-known paid version (never a cracked one).
3. Disconnect from the internet temporarily to prevent further exposure.
4. Update your OS, browser, and all apps to patch any security holes.
5. Check for unfamiliar processes or browser extensions, especially anything you didn’t install yourself.
6. Change passwords on all your accounts..especially email, banking, and social media.
7. Enable multi-factor authentication everywhere you can. It adds a much-needed extra layer of security.Follow all the steps in the exact manner.
Also, please talk to a parent or a trusted adult family member…someone mature enough to help you take action. Avoid relying solely on advice from friends your age, especially when fear or anxiety kicks in.
This isn’t legal advice, but I do come from an extensive cybersecurity background and I’ve seen more cases than you’d believe, many of which started exactly like this that created damage you wouldn’t expect.
So, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Anyhow, suit yourself.
Best wishes. -
-
NHahahahaha, brush it off, there is nothing to worry about. Non-techy usually panic on these simplest things. in reality ITS NOTHING. if you use phone then search for privacy settings that are must on YouTube and follow it (the real deal youtuber – usually with low views and absolute bangers). and if you use PC then – do the same.
-
-
-
-
