Financial institutions walk a fine line between delivering a seamless customer onboarding experiencing and ensuring a high level of security. This is especially challenging for fast-growing fintechs for whom expanding customer portfolios is a key priority.
But, as UK tech unicorn Zopa Bank learned, rapid growth often goes hand-in-hand with a surge in fraud attacks. To combat this, the company employed a variety of measures, including reverse email lookup. The result? Zopa was able to leverage the data they gathered to detect early signs of identity fraud and leverage that data to deepen their customer knowledge.
What is reverse email lookup?
Reverse email lookup is the process of identifying the person (or people) behind a specific email address. Using the person’s email as a starting point, this process can uncover specific details about the sender.
In general, reverse email lookup involves scanning the internet, public records, social media profiles, and other available sources to verify that the person behind the email exists and is legitimate.
There are typically three primary uses for a reverse email lookup:
Identity verification
Risk evaluation
Marketing
What information can you find with a reverse email lookup?
The information revealed by a reverse email lookup will depend on the availability of public data and the sender’s privacy settings, but can include:
The sender’s full name
Personal details such as age, gender, or address
Associated social media profiles
Online usernames or aliases
Phone numbers
Employer details
Data breach history
How to perform a reverse email lookup
You can perform a reverse email lookup on your own or through and online service provider. If you’re planning on going it alone, here are some tips on how to get started:
Step 1: Search by email address
The best way to start a reverse email lookup is with a standard Google search. For an exact match, it helps to put the email address in quotes.
If the person in question has a LinkedIn profile, this will likely show up in the Google search, providing you with a wealth of detailed information very quickly. You might also be able to see associated personal websites, social media accounts, and workplace profiles to help you get a more complete picture.
Step 2: Collect and analyse data
The next step is to review the information gathered in your search for clues about the email owner's identity. Look out for consistent names, usernames, profile pictures, and other personal details that appear across multiple sources. Patterns might emerge, such as the same name linked to the email on several platforms, which will help verify the person’s identity.
Note: Not all data is created equal. Some online data might be out of date or inaccurate. So, it’s important to cross-reference findings to ensure they’re valid.
Step 3: Confirm the owner of the email address
Once you’ve gathered and analysed the information, you can combine it to build a picture of who is behind the email address.
Social media profiles, names, photos, and associated phone numbers all contribute to confirming the sender’s legitimacy. When the email address is associated with the sender’s employer, it’s pretty clear-cut. The email address might link to a professional profile on LinkedIn or their company’s website, which explains why some more stringent application forms require a business email address.
Is performing a reverse email lookup legal and ethical?
While reverse email lookup is legal and ethical in many contexts, it can be vulnerable to misuse. So, it's important to ensure you stay within the appropriate boundaries to avoid harming individuals and undermining the credibility of your organisation.
Legislation around reverse email lookup typically falls under broader data protection, privacy, and cybersecurity laws — and varies slightly from region to region. In the EU, for example, reverse email lookup must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which decrees that reverse email lookups are only legal if:
There is a legitimate reason, such as fraud prevention
The data subject has consented
There’s another legal basis defined under GDPR
In the US, there’s no single federal law to regulate reverse email lookups, but several laws can apply, such as:
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which criminalises unauthorised access to computers and networks. This would include hacking or scraping protected information.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which may apply if the lookup is used for employment or credit screening.
State laws, like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), give users more control over their data and may restrict how lookup services use or share that data.
A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself the following questions before proceeding:
Am I leveraging data that’s publicly accessible (i.e., not behind a login)?
Am I performing the lookup for legitimate reasons, such as preventing fraud or conducting lawful background checks, rather than for prohibited reasons such as discrimination?
Will I dispose of the data once I’ve used it? Or, if I do store it, will I adhere to safeguarding guidelines?
Am I adhering to a website’s terms of service?
Am I adhering to local legislation?
Tools for reverse email lookup
There are plenty of both free and paid tools on the market to help you with your reverse email lookup. Free ones might be a good starting point, but paid services often provide better data, more context, and user-friendly reporting.
Paid reverse email address lookup services
There are several reputable paid services that specialise in reverse email lookups. Typically, they combine information from multiple sources such as public databases, social media accounts, and online activity to provide insights into the identity behind the email address. Many of them also offer features like background checks, social media tracking, and breach alerts.
Popular services include:
OSINT Industries (UK): An automated, scalable email, phone number, and username checker tool for law enforcement, private investigators, government, and OSINT practitioners
BeenVerified (US): Comprehensive background checks that include email lookups
AroundDeal (EU): GDPR-compliant reverse email lookup services, providing information such as business emails, phone numbers, job titles, and company details
Free options for reverse email lookup
There are a few free reverse email lookup tools and strategies you can try if you’re not willing or able to pay. In addition to a simple Google search, there are free services such as Have I Been Pwned.
The limitations of free email search engines
While free options are helpful for quick checks, they usually come with certain drawbacks. For example, most free tools only show surface-level data, such as whether an email is active or has been part of a breach. They won’t provide verified identities or deeper personal information.
Plus, due to privacy concerns, many websites and services now restrict email-based profile discovery. All this means that the visibility of data gained via free methods is increasingly limited.
Why email address verification matters
Amongst other things, email address verification plays a key role in protecting organisations from fraud and help them create more targeted marketing campaigns. Here are three common applications of email address verification:
1. Identity verification
Since most online accounts are tied to an email, a verified email address helps establish a person’s online footprint and verify their identity. This is especially important for financial institutions, who use reverse email lookup in concert with other identity verification checks.
2. Risk evaluation
By checking whether an email address appears in spam databases, was involved in data breaches, or lacks a clear digital presence, you can flag suspicious or potentially fake accounts. This is critical for fraud prevention, Know Your Customer (KYC), and Re-KYC and remediation.
3. Creating efficiencies in social media and email marketing
In addition to protecting your organisation from bad actors, reverse email lookup can help boost your marketing efforts. Verified email addresses allow you to enrich contact data, matching email addresses to social profiles, locations, and company info so you can better segment your outreach and personalise your messages.
Developing trends in reverse email lookup
What started as a basic way to match an email address to an individual, has now expanded to become a tool for identity verification, fraud detection, and marketing.
Reverse email lookup can help you build a clear digital profile of your clients, including social media activity, past data breaches, public records, and behavioural patterns — and new developments are just around the corner. Here are a few key trends to watch out for:
Data enrichment: Enhancing email searches with additional context such as job title or location
Data aggregation: Pulling together scattered information from multiple sources into a single report
Social media intelligence (SOCMINT): Analysing public social media data to reveal user habits and networks
Reverse email lookup FAQs
Can I protect my own email address from reverse lookups?
While you can't completely prevent your email address from being found online, you can take steps to minimise its exposure and limit the amount of information a reverse lookup might uncover. For example:
Use separate email addresses for different purposes (e.g., one for social media, one for financial accounts, and one for sign-ups/newsletters)
Avoid posting your primary email publicly on forums, social media profiles, or websites
Enable strong privacy settings on accounts linked to your email, especially social media
Use services like Have I Been Pwned to monitor for data breaches
Limit third-party access to your data when signing up for apps or websites
Opt out of data brokers when possible
Can reverse email lookup services be inaccurate?
Yes, reverse email lookup services can sometimes produce inaccurate or outdated results. These tools rely on publicly available data, third-party sources, and aggregated records, which can vary widely in quality.
If an email address is linked to outdated information, has limited online activity, or was used to create fake profiles, the lookup may return irrelevant or misleading data. That’s why it's important to cross-check reverse lookup results with other sources when verifying a client’s identity.
Are there differences between free and paid reverse email lookup services?
Yes. Free tools typically offer basic data, such as whether an email address is valid, has been involved in a data breach, or is linked to any public social media profiles. They’re great for quick checks but are often limited in scope and may not be updated frequently.
Paid services, on the other hand, use more sophisticated data aggregation and enrichment techniques, pulling from proprietary databases and premium APIs. They also tend to offer better support, analytics tools, and enterprise features for professional or investigative use.
