28 Mar Track Your Location via Email
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Because what you don’t know… CAN hurt you!!
COMPANIES TRACK YOUR LOCATION VIA EMAIL
At Top Gun Investigations in Florida, we try to educate our clients and all consumers of some issues that may arise when using email. For example, tiny electronic tracking bugs are increasingly being planted to Track Your Location via Email. These “trackers” can be as small as a single, invisible pixel covertly inserted into an email. They are also often planted into hyperlinks embedded in the body of a message. If you open the link, it can see the time when you opened the email and even provide your location and what device you are using!
This process to Track Your Location via Email is typically used by email marketers such as Mailchimp and others. The use of this technology helps commercial businesses send messages that are geared to a specific target area of potential customers. It can be very alarming to open a marketing email, then, unexpectedly get a phone call from that same marketer a few minutes later.
A recent article by noted cyber technician and investigator Brian X. Chen states that it is estimated such trackers are used in more than 60% of all emails sent and that number is continuing to increase. In fact, the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation that concentrates on digital rights estimates that virtually every email now has some form of a tracker that can Track Your Location via Email.
So what can you do to prevent this type of intrusion and stop someones ability to track your location via email? There are some steps you can take to prevent the automatic loading of these trackers. Below are some simple steps you can take to prevent images from loading automatically:
GMAIL:
– Click on the small gear icon
– Click on “Settings”
– Under the General Tab, scroll down to “Images”
– Click “Ask before displaying external images”
– Click “Save Changes”
iPhone:
– Open “Settings” app
– Open “Mail Contacts Calendars”
– Swipe off “Load Remote Images” to turn it off
Android Phone:
– Open “Gmail” app
– Select your account
– Tap on “Images”
– Select “Ask before showing”
PREVENTING EMAIL TRACKING | FLORIDA
Most people are unaware of this activity have no idea that these invisible trackers are widely being used to track your location via email. Unfortunately, other than the steps listed above, there is no method for a consumer to “opt out” of this type of monitoring, and only a few other affirmative steps that can be taken.
There are some tracking detectors available but so far they have not been shown to be very effective to stop someones ability to track your location via email. Trackbuster is a Gmail plug-in that detects when a tracker is hidden within an email. If a tracker is detected, a small icon of an eyeball appears in the subject line to alert you of the presence of a hidden tracker. It seems to be pretty good at finding general marketing emails, but no so efficient at finding trackers placed in personal emails.
There is some good news for Gmail users however. When you open and read an email on Gmail.com or Google Mail apps for iPhone or Android, the images are intercepted and rewritten on a a secure server between the sender and you. This makes it impossible for the sender to receive any detailed information on your location, device or app used and are no longer able to track your location via email. That is clearly good news for those who use Gmail.
PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR | FLORIDA
We must all be vigilant of the wildly revolutionary technologically advanced schemes that are commonly used to intrude upon our personal and professional privacy. There are countless other methods used as well. If you have any concerns about any type of cell phone or computer cyber intrusion or hacking ot how to prevent someones ability to track your location via email, we can help answer your questions and give you the peace of mind you deserve. Call Top Gun Investigations at 813-902-0420 or visit TopGunInvestigations.com to learn more. Because what you don’t know…CAN hurt you!
Call today for a Free, Confidential Consultation at
813-902-0420
Because what you don’t know… CAN hurt you!!
ORLANDO CYBER INVESTIGATION OFFICE