Can I Retrieve Email Addresses from BCC?












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Can anyone tell me how to unmask the e-mail addresses in a bcc field when I am just a recipient? Need very simple, step-by-step instructions for someone who doesn't code. I have received a group e-mail and would really like to see the others who got it. Thank you!










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    Can anyone tell me how to unmask the e-mail addresses in a bcc field when I am just a recipient? Need very simple, step-by-step instructions for someone who doesn't code. I have received a group e-mail and would really like to see the others who got it. Thank you!










    share|improve this question







    New contributor




    Jenny B is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.























      1












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      1








      Can anyone tell me how to unmask the e-mail addresses in a bcc field when I am just a recipient? Need very simple, step-by-step instructions for someone who doesn't code. I have received a group e-mail and would really like to see the others who got it. Thank you!










      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      Jenny B is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.












      Can anyone tell me how to unmask the e-mail addresses in a bcc field when I am just a recipient? Need very simple, step-by-step instructions for someone who doesn't code. I have received a group e-mail and would really like to see the others who got it. Thank you!







      email






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      Jenny B is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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          2 Answers
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          3














          You can't. You simply won't have any information about the Bcc header when you receive the mail, so you there's nothing to "unmask".



          The way Bcc is designed is specified in RFC 2822, under section 3.6.3. To quote the specification:




          The "Bcc:" field (where the "Bcc" means "Blind Carbon Copy") contains
          addresses of recipients of the message whose addresses are not to be
          revealed to other recipients of the message. There are three ways in
          which the "Bcc:" field is used. In the first case, when a message
          containing a "Bcc:" field is prepared to be sent, the "Bcc:" line is
          removed even though all of the recipients (including those specified
          in the "Bcc:" field) are sent a copy of the message. In the second
          case, recipients specified in the "To:" and "Cc:" lines each are sent
          a copy of the message with the "Bcc:" line removed as above, but the
          recipients on the "Bcc:" line get a separate copy of the message
          containing a "Bcc:" line. (When there are multiple recipient
          addresses in the "Bcc:" field, some implementations actually send a
          separate copy of the message to each recipient with a "Bcc:"
          containing only the address of that particular recipient.) Finally,
          since a "Bcc:" field may contain no addresses, a "Bcc:" field can be
          sent without any addresses indicating to the recipients that blind
          copies were sent to someone. Which method to use with "Bcc:" fields
          is implementation dependent, but refer to the "Security
          Considerations" section of this document for a discussion of each.



          When a message is a reply to another message, the mailboxes of the
          authors of the original message (the mailboxes in the "From:" field)
          or mailboxes specified in the "Reply-To:" field (if it exists) MAY
          appear in the "To:" field of the reply since these would normally be
          the primary recipients of the reply. If a reply is sent to a message
          that has destination fields, it is often desirable to send a copy of
          the reply to all of the recipients of the message, in addition to the
          author. When such a reply is formed, addresses in the "To:" and "Cc:"
          fields of the original message MAY appear in the "Cc:" field of the
          reply, since these are normally secondary recipients of the reply. If
          a "Bcc:" field is present in the original message, addresses in that
          field MAY appear in the "Bcc:" field of the reply, but SHOULD NOT
          appear in the "To:" or "Cc:" fields.



          Note: Some mail applications have automatic reply commands that
          include the destination addresses of the original message in the
          destination addresses of the reply. How those reply commands behave
          is implementation dependent and is beyond the scope of this document.
          In particular, whether or not to include the original destination
          addresses when the original message had a "Reply-To:" field is not
          addressed here.




          In practice the case where To and Cc recipients receive no Bcc line, but each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. This provides no indication of a Bcc to the To and Cc recipients, and indicates to the Bcc'ed recipients that they were sent the email via the use of Bcc without revealing other Bcc recipients.






          share|improve this answer



















          • 1





            each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. Is it? That would require sending the message multiple times instead of a single message with multiple RCPT TO: commands. What MUA would do that?

            – Esa Jokinen
            1 hour ago













          • @EsaJokinen What other choice does the MUA have when the recipients are on different domains? BCC simply forces that behaviour.

            – Selcuk
            1 min ago



















          0














          Typically not possible if you don't have control over the sender SMTP server since this field is not transmitted to the recipient SMTP server.



          When sending a mail, the sender SMTP server checks the BCC field and creates a copy for each recipient listed, removing the list of other recipients.
          That is the whole point of BCC functionality.






          share|improve this answer























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            2 Answers
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            You can't. You simply won't have any information about the Bcc header when you receive the mail, so you there's nothing to "unmask".



            The way Bcc is designed is specified in RFC 2822, under section 3.6.3. To quote the specification:




            The "Bcc:" field (where the "Bcc" means "Blind Carbon Copy") contains
            addresses of recipients of the message whose addresses are not to be
            revealed to other recipients of the message. There are three ways in
            which the "Bcc:" field is used. In the first case, when a message
            containing a "Bcc:" field is prepared to be sent, the "Bcc:" line is
            removed even though all of the recipients (including those specified
            in the "Bcc:" field) are sent a copy of the message. In the second
            case, recipients specified in the "To:" and "Cc:" lines each are sent
            a copy of the message with the "Bcc:" line removed as above, but the
            recipients on the "Bcc:" line get a separate copy of the message
            containing a "Bcc:" line. (When there are multiple recipient
            addresses in the "Bcc:" field, some implementations actually send a
            separate copy of the message to each recipient with a "Bcc:"
            containing only the address of that particular recipient.) Finally,
            since a "Bcc:" field may contain no addresses, a "Bcc:" field can be
            sent without any addresses indicating to the recipients that blind
            copies were sent to someone. Which method to use with "Bcc:" fields
            is implementation dependent, but refer to the "Security
            Considerations" section of this document for a discussion of each.



            When a message is a reply to another message, the mailboxes of the
            authors of the original message (the mailboxes in the "From:" field)
            or mailboxes specified in the "Reply-To:" field (if it exists) MAY
            appear in the "To:" field of the reply since these would normally be
            the primary recipients of the reply. If a reply is sent to a message
            that has destination fields, it is often desirable to send a copy of
            the reply to all of the recipients of the message, in addition to the
            author. When such a reply is formed, addresses in the "To:" and "Cc:"
            fields of the original message MAY appear in the "Cc:" field of the
            reply, since these are normally secondary recipients of the reply. If
            a "Bcc:" field is present in the original message, addresses in that
            field MAY appear in the "Bcc:" field of the reply, but SHOULD NOT
            appear in the "To:" or "Cc:" fields.



            Note: Some mail applications have automatic reply commands that
            include the destination addresses of the original message in the
            destination addresses of the reply. How those reply commands behave
            is implementation dependent and is beyond the scope of this document.
            In particular, whether or not to include the original destination
            addresses when the original message had a "Reply-To:" field is not
            addressed here.




            In practice the case where To and Cc recipients receive no Bcc line, but each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. This provides no indication of a Bcc to the To and Cc recipients, and indicates to the Bcc'ed recipients that they were sent the email via the use of Bcc without revealing other Bcc recipients.






            share|improve this answer



















            • 1





              each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. Is it? That would require sending the message multiple times instead of a single message with multiple RCPT TO: commands. What MUA would do that?

              – Esa Jokinen
              1 hour ago













            • @EsaJokinen What other choice does the MUA have when the recipients are on different domains? BCC simply forces that behaviour.

              – Selcuk
              1 min ago
















            3














            You can't. You simply won't have any information about the Bcc header when you receive the mail, so you there's nothing to "unmask".



            The way Bcc is designed is specified in RFC 2822, under section 3.6.3. To quote the specification:




            The "Bcc:" field (where the "Bcc" means "Blind Carbon Copy") contains
            addresses of recipients of the message whose addresses are not to be
            revealed to other recipients of the message. There are three ways in
            which the "Bcc:" field is used. In the first case, when a message
            containing a "Bcc:" field is prepared to be sent, the "Bcc:" line is
            removed even though all of the recipients (including those specified
            in the "Bcc:" field) are sent a copy of the message. In the second
            case, recipients specified in the "To:" and "Cc:" lines each are sent
            a copy of the message with the "Bcc:" line removed as above, but the
            recipients on the "Bcc:" line get a separate copy of the message
            containing a "Bcc:" line. (When there are multiple recipient
            addresses in the "Bcc:" field, some implementations actually send a
            separate copy of the message to each recipient with a "Bcc:"
            containing only the address of that particular recipient.) Finally,
            since a "Bcc:" field may contain no addresses, a "Bcc:" field can be
            sent without any addresses indicating to the recipients that blind
            copies were sent to someone. Which method to use with "Bcc:" fields
            is implementation dependent, but refer to the "Security
            Considerations" section of this document for a discussion of each.



            When a message is a reply to another message, the mailboxes of the
            authors of the original message (the mailboxes in the "From:" field)
            or mailboxes specified in the "Reply-To:" field (if it exists) MAY
            appear in the "To:" field of the reply since these would normally be
            the primary recipients of the reply. If a reply is sent to a message
            that has destination fields, it is often desirable to send a copy of
            the reply to all of the recipients of the message, in addition to the
            author. When such a reply is formed, addresses in the "To:" and "Cc:"
            fields of the original message MAY appear in the "Cc:" field of the
            reply, since these are normally secondary recipients of the reply. If
            a "Bcc:" field is present in the original message, addresses in that
            field MAY appear in the "Bcc:" field of the reply, but SHOULD NOT
            appear in the "To:" or "Cc:" fields.



            Note: Some mail applications have automatic reply commands that
            include the destination addresses of the original message in the
            destination addresses of the reply. How those reply commands behave
            is implementation dependent and is beyond the scope of this document.
            In particular, whether or not to include the original destination
            addresses when the original message had a "Reply-To:" field is not
            addressed here.




            In practice the case where To and Cc recipients receive no Bcc line, but each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. This provides no indication of a Bcc to the To and Cc recipients, and indicates to the Bcc'ed recipients that they were sent the email via the use of Bcc without revealing other Bcc recipients.






            share|improve this answer



















            • 1





              each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. Is it? That would require sending the message multiple times instead of a single message with multiple RCPT TO: commands. What MUA would do that?

              – Esa Jokinen
              1 hour ago













            • @EsaJokinen What other choice does the MUA have when the recipients are on different domains? BCC simply forces that behaviour.

              – Selcuk
              1 min ago














            3












            3








            3







            You can't. You simply won't have any information about the Bcc header when you receive the mail, so you there's nothing to "unmask".



            The way Bcc is designed is specified in RFC 2822, under section 3.6.3. To quote the specification:




            The "Bcc:" field (where the "Bcc" means "Blind Carbon Copy") contains
            addresses of recipients of the message whose addresses are not to be
            revealed to other recipients of the message. There are three ways in
            which the "Bcc:" field is used. In the first case, when a message
            containing a "Bcc:" field is prepared to be sent, the "Bcc:" line is
            removed even though all of the recipients (including those specified
            in the "Bcc:" field) are sent a copy of the message. In the second
            case, recipients specified in the "To:" and "Cc:" lines each are sent
            a copy of the message with the "Bcc:" line removed as above, but the
            recipients on the "Bcc:" line get a separate copy of the message
            containing a "Bcc:" line. (When there are multiple recipient
            addresses in the "Bcc:" field, some implementations actually send a
            separate copy of the message to each recipient with a "Bcc:"
            containing only the address of that particular recipient.) Finally,
            since a "Bcc:" field may contain no addresses, a "Bcc:" field can be
            sent without any addresses indicating to the recipients that blind
            copies were sent to someone. Which method to use with "Bcc:" fields
            is implementation dependent, but refer to the "Security
            Considerations" section of this document for a discussion of each.



            When a message is a reply to another message, the mailboxes of the
            authors of the original message (the mailboxes in the "From:" field)
            or mailboxes specified in the "Reply-To:" field (if it exists) MAY
            appear in the "To:" field of the reply since these would normally be
            the primary recipients of the reply. If a reply is sent to a message
            that has destination fields, it is often desirable to send a copy of
            the reply to all of the recipients of the message, in addition to the
            author. When such a reply is formed, addresses in the "To:" and "Cc:"
            fields of the original message MAY appear in the "Cc:" field of the
            reply, since these are normally secondary recipients of the reply. If
            a "Bcc:" field is present in the original message, addresses in that
            field MAY appear in the "Bcc:" field of the reply, but SHOULD NOT
            appear in the "To:" or "Cc:" fields.



            Note: Some mail applications have automatic reply commands that
            include the destination addresses of the original message in the
            destination addresses of the reply. How those reply commands behave
            is implementation dependent and is beyond the scope of this document.
            In particular, whether or not to include the original destination
            addresses when the original message had a "Reply-To:" field is not
            addressed here.




            In practice the case where To and Cc recipients receive no Bcc line, but each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. This provides no indication of a Bcc to the To and Cc recipients, and indicates to the Bcc'ed recipients that they were sent the email via the use of Bcc without revealing other Bcc recipients.






            share|improve this answer













            You can't. You simply won't have any information about the Bcc header when you receive the mail, so you there's nothing to "unmask".



            The way Bcc is designed is specified in RFC 2822, under section 3.6.3. To quote the specification:




            The "Bcc:" field (where the "Bcc" means "Blind Carbon Copy") contains
            addresses of recipients of the message whose addresses are not to be
            revealed to other recipients of the message. There are three ways in
            which the "Bcc:" field is used. In the first case, when a message
            containing a "Bcc:" field is prepared to be sent, the "Bcc:" line is
            removed even though all of the recipients (including those specified
            in the "Bcc:" field) are sent a copy of the message. In the second
            case, recipients specified in the "To:" and "Cc:" lines each are sent
            a copy of the message with the "Bcc:" line removed as above, but the
            recipients on the "Bcc:" line get a separate copy of the message
            containing a "Bcc:" line. (When there are multiple recipient
            addresses in the "Bcc:" field, some implementations actually send a
            separate copy of the message to each recipient with a "Bcc:"
            containing only the address of that particular recipient.) Finally,
            since a "Bcc:" field may contain no addresses, a "Bcc:" field can be
            sent without any addresses indicating to the recipients that blind
            copies were sent to someone. Which method to use with "Bcc:" fields
            is implementation dependent, but refer to the "Security
            Considerations" section of this document for a discussion of each.



            When a message is a reply to another message, the mailboxes of the
            authors of the original message (the mailboxes in the "From:" field)
            or mailboxes specified in the "Reply-To:" field (if it exists) MAY
            appear in the "To:" field of the reply since these would normally be
            the primary recipients of the reply. If a reply is sent to a message
            that has destination fields, it is often desirable to send a copy of
            the reply to all of the recipients of the message, in addition to the
            author. When such a reply is formed, addresses in the "To:" and "Cc:"
            fields of the original message MAY appear in the "Cc:" field of the
            reply, since these are normally secondary recipients of the reply. If
            a "Bcc:" field is present in the original message, addresses in that
            field MAY appear in the "Bcc:" field of the reply, but SHOULD NOT
            appear in the "To:" or "Cc:" fields.



            Note: Some mail applications have automatic reply commands that
            include the destination addresses of the original message in the
            destination addresses of the reply. How those reply commands behave
            is implementation dependent and is beyond the scope of this document.
            In particular, whether or not to include the original destination
            addresses when the original message had a "Reply-To:" field is not
            addressed here.




            In practice the case where To and Cc recipients receive no Bcc line, but each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. This provides no indication of a Bcc to the To and Cc recipients, and indicates to the Bcc'ed recipients that they were sent the email via the use of Bcc without revealing other Bcc recipients.







            share|improve this answer












            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer










            answered 4 hours ago









            PolynomialPolynomial

            101k31246339




            101k31246339








            • 1





              each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. Is it? That would require sending the message multiple times instead of a single message with multiple RCPT TO: commands. What MUA would do that?

              – Esa Jokinen
              1 hour ago













            • @EsaJokinen What other choice does the MUA have when the recipients are on different domains? BCC simply forces that behaviour.

              – Selcuk
              1 min ago














            • 1





              each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. Is it? That would require sending the message multiple times instead of a single message with multiple RCPT TO: commands. What MUA would do that?

              – Esa Jokinen
              1 hour ago













            • @EsaJokinen What other choice does the MUA have when the recipients are on different domains? BCC simply forces that behaviour.

              – Selcuk
              1 min ago








            1




            1





            each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. Is it? That would require sending the message multiple times instead of a single message with multiple RCPT TO: commands. What MUA would do that?

            – Esa Jokinen
            1 hour ago







            each Bcc'ed address receives a Bcc line containing only their email address, is most common. Is it? That would require sending the message multiple times instead of a single message with multiple RCPT TO: commands. What MUA would do that?

            – Esa Jokinen
            1 hour ago















            @EsaJokinen What other choice does the MUA have when the recipients are on different domains? BCC simply forces that behaviour.

            – Selcuk
            1 min ago





            @EsaJokinen What other choice does the MUA have when the recipients are on different domains? BCC simply forces that behaviour.

            – Selcuk
            1 min ago













            0














            Typically not possible if you don't have control over the sender SMTP server since this field is not transmitted to the recipient SMTP server.



            When sending a mail, the sender SMTP server checks the BCC field and creates a copy for each recipient listed, removing the list of other recipients.
            That is the whole point of BCC functionality.






            share|improve this answer




























              0














              Typically not possible if you don't have control over the sender SMTP server since this field is not transmitted to the recipient SMTP server.



              When sending a mail, the sender SMTP server checks the BCC field and creates a copy for each recipient listed, removing the list of other recipients.
              That is the whole point of BCC functionality.






              share|improve this answer


























                0












                0








                0







                Typically not possible if you don't have control over the sender SMTP server since this field is not transmitted to the recipient SMTP server.



                When sending a mail, the sender SMTP server checks the BCC field and creates a copy for each recipient listed, removing the list of other recipients.
                That is the whole point of BCC functionality.






                share|improve this answer













                Typically not possible if you don't have control over the sender SMTP server since this field is not transmitted to the recipient SMTP server.



                When sending a mail, the sender SMTP server checks the BCC field and creates a copy for each recipient listed, removing the list of other recipients.
                That is the whole point of BCC functionality.







                share|improve this answer












                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer










                answered 5 hours ago









                NaoyNaoy

                112




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