Someone is using my email address
Discussion
So what do I do in this situation?
I have a gmail address that I do all my shopping on and a icloud account that I keep for family and personal stuff. In 10 years I have never had much spam on the icloud address.
In the last week on the icloud address I have got legit emails from phone companies, designer clothes stores, shoe shops etc thanking me for signing up and asking me to verify my email account. I have also had an email from an online store with completed order details that look kind of legit as well. I have not clicked on any links in these emails and no money has come out of any bank accounts so far.
I had my Macbook stolen last year but I remotely wiped it. I did get an icloud confirmation 6 months later that it pooped up in Leeds and that it was remotely wiping not sure if that is a factor or not.
I have a gmail address that I do all my shopping on and a icloud account that I keep for family and personal stuff. In 10 years I have never had much spam on the icloud address.
In the last week on the icloud address I have got legit emails from phone companies, designer clothes stores, shoe shops etc thanking me for signing up and asking me to verify my email account. I have also had an email from an online store with completed order details that look kind of legit as well. I have not clicked on any links in these emails and no money has come out of any bank accounts so far.
I had my Macbook stolen last year but I remotely wiped it. I did get an icloud confirmation 6 months later that it pooped up in Leeds and that it was remotely wiping not sure if that is a factor or not.
I’ve got a fairly unusual surname and have hotmail and gmail addresses that are just my initial and surname.
I regularly get waves of legit emails sent in error, but they’re all connected, ie I had loads to a guy doing airport taxi runs, and right now I’m getting someone’s medical insurance payment confirmations. Both are US based.
I’d be more concerned about yours if the email is being used to multiple organisations.
I regularly get waves of legit emails sent in error, but they’re all connected, ie I had loads to a guy doing airport taxi runs, and right now I’m getting someone’s medical insurance payment confirmations. Both are US based.
I’d be more concerned about yours if the email is being used to multiple organisations.
Edit: just realised the icloud Account potentially compromised, dont use personally, my original reply below relevant for gmail
For piece of mind see below checks.
Note: for transparency I haven't hyperlinked the links below.
you can copy paste these, generally always be wary of clicking hyperlinks in emails etc, hover over PC or long press mobile for actual address.
Check compromised passwords below if you sign into chrome browser and save additional passwords
https://passwords.google.com/checkup/start?ep=1&am...
Check google activity with your account here, scroll down and you can search for any abnormal activity
https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity
Additionally you may want to setup 2 factor authentication setup for your account.
https://www.google.com/landing/2step/
Finally run a scheduled check for malware etc
Anti malware bytes is generally ok within free version.
For piece of mind see below checks.
Note: for transparency I haven't hyperlinked the links below.
you can copy paste these, generally always be wary of clicking hyperlinks in emails etc, hover over PC or long press mobile for actual address.
Check compromised passwords below if you sign into chrome browser and save additional passwords
https://passwords.google.com/checkup/start?ep=1&am...
Check google activity with your account here, scroll down and you can search for any abnormal activity
https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity
Additionally you may want to setup 2 factor authentication setup for your account.
https://www.google.com/landing/2step/
Finally run a scheduled check for malware etc
Anti malware bytes is generally ok within free version.
Edited by Domokunation on Monday 1st February 01:21
DoctorX said:
DanL said:
Odds are that someone has an email address similar to yours, and is mistyping it...
I get a lot of emails intended for some woman in the US. I recall she has the same email address but with a full stop in first part. If someone misses that out, I get the email.Any early adopters of gmail that were able to use their name without additional characters probably suffer the most from this.
I’ve had a continual stream of stuff over the years - BMWs ordered in Australia, job interviews in multiple countries, family correspondence that try as hard as I can, doesn’t stop.
Once a “wrong” address has been sent to multiple recipients you are screwed. Most of the time you can just delete it, but every so often I respond where it might make a difference.
it can have it’s upsides though - I once received an email sent on behalf of a young kid by his mother, trying to raise a very small amount for a heart foundation as part of a school charity event. A family member had died from heart problems and one of the email addressees included someone with the same name as me.
Having had quite a lot of heart related issues in my family, I thought sod it and donated what was a very small amount, but still a good chunk of the target. I replied explaining the wrong address and the donation.
I then of course got all the subsequent replies between family members because they still hadn’t corrected the wrong email address. But I also got a lovely reply from the mother and I’m still in touch with them. I have an open invitation to drop in and see them the next time I’m in Vancouver!
I also of course still get a stream of email from the Heart Charity...
I’ve had a continual stream of stuff over the years - BMWs ordered in Australia, job interviews in multiple countries, family correspondence that try as hard as I can, doesn’t stop.
Once a “wrong” address has been sent to multiple recipients you are screwed. Most of the time you can just delete it, but every so often I respond where it might make a difference.
it can have it’s upsides though - I once received an email sent on behalf of a young kid by his mother, trying to raise a very small amount for a heart foundation as part of a school charity event. A family member had died from heart problems and one of the email addressees included someone with the same name as me.
Having had quite a lot of heart related issues in my family, I thought sod it and donated what was a very small amount, but still a good chunk of the target. I replied explaining the wrong address and the donation.
I then of course got all the subsequent replies between family members because they still hadn’t corrected the wrong email address. But I also got a lovely reply from the mother and I’m still in touch with them. I have an open invitation to drop in and see them the next time I’m in Vancouver!
I also of course still get a stream of email from the Heart Charity...
272BHP said:
It is the iCloud account that is having problems not the gmail one. Sorry if that wasn't clear from my original post.
It has 2 factor auth on it so I don't think it has been compromised.
It does have a dot in the first part of the address yes.
I get this from time to time due to a couple of idiots with an email address similar to mine (just initials and surname) but with numbers on the end, which they forget to type, hence the problem. It has 2 factor auth on it so I don't think it has been compromised.
It does have a dot in the first part of the address yes.
The verification ones are good, because it stops your email address being allocated to someone else’s acccount. Just delete them straight away. I had terrible trouble opening an Apple account, because they insisted I already had one. It seems they don’t verify email addresses and some stupid woman in Australia had managed to accidentally use my address.
As for the order, does it have the customer’s name and or/address on it? Does the name look a bit like your email address? If so, it sounds like the same story again. I receive confirmations like this for stuff the same stupid woman has ordered online. If you’re feeling helpful, reply to the retailer and explain that they have the wrong address, otherwise just add it to your blocked senders list.
It does sound very much like you’re having the same problem as me. Unfortunately nobody will give you any details for this other person “data protection mate!” so it’s very hard to contact them and tell them the error of their ways. It appears, you may only have one idiot misquoting your address; unfortunately I have about five.
If it is someone mis-spelling their address, you could e-mail them to let them know (on the basis that it's the dot in username thing - else you really are guessing their real e-mail address!).
They may not know they are doing it and can let relevant company's know.
Could stop you getting the e-mails.
They may not know they are doing it and can let relevant company's know.
Could stop you getting the e-mails.
Leithen said:
Any early adopters of gmail that were able to use their name without additional characters probably suffer the most from this.
I’ve had a continual stream of stuff over the years - BMWs ordered in Australia, job interviews in multiple countries, family correspondence that try as hard as I can, doesn’t stop.
Once a “wrong” address has been sent to multiple recipients you are screwed. Most of the time you can just delete it, but every so often I respond where it might make a difference.
it can have it’s upsides though - I once received an email sent on behalf of a young kid by his mother, trying to raise a very small amount for a heart foundation as part of a school charity event. A family member had died from heart problems and one of the email addressees included someone with the same name as me.
Having had quite a lot of heart related issues in my family, I thought sod it and donated what was a very small amount, but still a good chunk of the target. I replied explaining the wrong address and the donation.
I then of course got all the subsequent replies between family members because they still hadn’t corrected the wrong email address. But I also got a lovely reply from the mother and I’m still in touch with them. I have an open invitation to drop in and see them the next time I’m in Vancouver!
I also of course still get a stream of email from the Heart Charity...
What a nice thing to read. I can thoroughly recommend Vancouver, lovely place. I’ve had a continual stream of stuff over the years - BMWs ordered in Australia, job interviews in multiple countries, family correspondence that try as hard as I can, doesn’t stop.
Once a “wrong” address has been sent to multiple recipients you are screwed. Most of the time you can just delete it, but every so often I respond where it might make a difference.
it can have it’s upsides though - I once received an email sent on behalf of a young kid by his mother, trying to raise a very small amount for a heart foundation as part of a school charity event. A family member had died from heart problems and one of the email addressees included someone with the same name as me.
Having had quite a lot of heart related issues in my family, I thought sod it and donated what was a very small amount, but still a good chunk of the target. I replied explaining the wrong address and the donation.
I then of course got all the subsequent replies between family members because they still hadn’t corrected the wrong email address. But I also got a lovely reply from the mother and I’m still in touch with them. I have an open invitation to drop in and see them the next time I’m in Vancouver!
I also of course still get a stream of email from the Heart Charity...
272BHP said:
So what do I do in this situation?
I have also had an email from an online store with completed order details that look kind of legit as well. I have not clicked on any links in these emails and no money has come out of any bank accounts so far.
Find their complains/fraud email and send them an email saying you didn't order it, and it is fraud.I have also had an email from an online store with completed order details that look kind of legit as well. I have not clicked on any links in these emails and no money has come out of any bank accounts so far.
The person mistyping will soon get the hint when their orders get cancelled!
SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC
One of the idiots I mentioned above opened an Instagram account by misusing my email address, which I only found out when I tried to open one myself. I sent him three messages asking him to correct the email address, which he ignored. So I pressed the forgotten password key and entered his account. It turned out he was a 15 year old Australian lad and not surprisingly it was full of pictures of young girls in bikinis etc. I thought I was going to end up on the Sex Offenders Register
So I immediately changed the email address away from mine.
One of the idiots I mentioned above opened an Instagram account by misusing my email address, which I only found out when I tried to open one myself. I sent him three messages asking him to correct the email address, which he ignored. So I pressed the forgotten password key and entered his account. It turned out he was a 15 year old Australian lad and not surprisingly it was full of pictures of young girls in bikinis etc. I thought I was going to end up on the Sex Offenders Register
So I immediately changed the email address away from mine.The more is posted, the more it sounds like (as others have mentioned) someone else has a similar email address to you and is getting it wrong, I would still suggest changing your password (regardless of 2FA) for safety and also contacting the stores who have confirmed orders with you to call out possible fraudulent purchases.
On the wrong emails sent to you, I can possibly trump the lot of you
I got a Demon Internet account when that company was just ~3 years old and so still comparatively small. Being young and with most of us being naive of potential future usage (i.e. social media) I went for the account name of 'eddie' after the shipboard computer in HHGTTG. Queue confusion in emails a few years down the line. Receiving ones from Professor Heinz Wolf (he of the Great Egg Race fame) was never an issue and he was always apologetic, however finding myself on a swingers email list was amusing, and then surprising when I started receiving 'personal photos' being sent around \00/. I still think I should have asked to be kept on the list when I pointed out the mistake one of their members had made
On the wrong emails sent to you, I can possibly trump the lot of you
I got a Demon Internet account when that company was just ~3 years old and so still comparatively small. Being young and with most of us being naive of potential future usage (i.e. social media) I went for the account name of 'eddie' after the shipboard computer in HHGTTG. Queue confusion in emails a few years down the line. Receiving ones from Professor Heinz Wolf (he of the Great Egg Race fame) was never an issue and he was always apologetic, however finding myself on a swingers email list was amusing, and then surprising when I started receiving 'personal photos' being sent around \00/. I still think I should have asked to be kept on the list when I pointed out the mistake one of their members had made
There are some people who genuinely don't understand how email addresses are allocated and think that they can just start using firstname.lastname@whatever.com and receive the email. Friend of mine had someone doing that with her email address who just assumed that it would work.
They walk amongst us.
They walk amongst us.
Mrs Snuffy had this happen twice with her GMail account.
Once I think it must have been mistyped, and she was getting confirmation of beauty therapy appointments at a place in America. I looked it up and it was a proper place. That was the only ones she was getting for someone in the US. They stopped after a while.
The second one was a letting agency in Australia. She started getting emails about a lease on a house and so on. It seems Australian Gmail is something@gmail.com.au. So I guessed they had missed the .au off. They were sending important stuff about the lease and so on, so I replied and said they had the wrong person so could they correct their records. They were highly indigent and said they did have the correct email address and that they could not understand how I was receiving them. They actually got quite annoyed with me !! After a few emails the managed to work it out and they stopped coming as well.
Once I think it must have been mistyped, and she was getting confirmation of beauty therapy appointments at a place in America. I looked it up and it was a proper place. That was the only ones she was getting for someone in the US. They stopped after a while.
The second one was a letting agency in Australia. She started getting emails about a lease on a house and so on. It seems Australian Gmail is something@gmail.com.au. So I guessed they had missed the .au off. They were sending important stuff about the lease and so on, so I replied and said they had the wrong person so could they correct their records. They were highly indigent and said they did have the correct email address and that they could not understand how I was receiving them. They actually got quite annoyed with me !! After a few emails the managed to work it out and they stopped coming as well.
bigandclever said:
DoctorX said:
DanL said:
Odds are that someone has an email address similar to yours, and is mistyping it...
I get a lot of emails intended for some woman in the US. I recall she has the same email address but with a full stop in first part. If someone misses that out, I get the email.bell.end@gmail.com is the same as bellend@gmail.com, b.ellend@gmail.com and so on.
snuffy said:
bigandclever said:
DoctorX said:
DanL said:
Odds are that someone has an email address similar to yours, and is mistyping it...
I get a lot of emails intended for some woman in the US. I recall she has the same email address but with a full stop in first part. If someone misses that out, I get the email.bell.end@gmail.com is the same as bellend@gmail.com, b.ellend@gmail.com and so on.
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