Can you be tracked online? Hide Your Email IP Address

I have a friend, who has a friend. I know, its a terrible way to start a story, but its the truth.  Well, my friend's friend, isn't really a good friend - he owes him money.  How much he owes, I'm not really sure, but the point is that it's enough to make a issue of.  My friend doesn't really understand computers that well, and knows that I have a couple of websites, so he asked me to look into how to track someone's location - the idea is to track this guy down, no matter where he is, and collect the money owed. The most logical way would be to track an IP address or phone number right? I found out that this was totally possible - but what does this  have to do with hiding email IP address? Read on.So if we're talking about tracking IP address, how would you get started?  There are a number of ways.  You could make a fake website and use IP identifying software to record the IP's of all people who access the website.  You could open up the run command on a windows computer and monitor all foreign IPs connecting to your computer while you chat online.  One way you might not think of is by checking the email header of an email sent by the person.  Yes, many free and paid email services include IP address (and other stuff) data right in the header!That means by following a simple set of instructions that can be found online, I can find out the IP address of almost anyone sending me an email.  And with free tools online, I can type in an IP address and locate the IP on Google maps.  I have tried this and was able to track myself down to the exact street I was accessing the Internet on.  Scary, right?This is why if you want to keep your location and other information private when you send emails, you need to hide your email IP address.  This could be applicable not just for sending top secret documents (which most of us rarely do), but for all business, banking, or other transactions with parties you're not familiar with. So the story ends that we still haven't got the guy to respond to an email, but I've learned a lesson; If I ever owe anyone money, don't respond to any emails without a hidden IP!