Receiving somebody else's emails
Discussion
This has been an ongoing irritation for about the last 10 years, on and off.
I have an email address "firstname.lastname@googlemail.com", but I receive periodic emails for somebody else. This person has the same name as me and lives in the north of England. All the emails come to "firstnamelastname@gmail.com" without the "." separator, which still comes to me. I have tried emailing this address but it just comes back to me, so clearly gmail doesn't distinguish betweem them.
They come from various places (car dealerships, gyms, and today's bunch from booking.com). They are genuine, it's not spam/phishing etc., and I have asked the companies involved to contact this guy by other means to let him know, but it just carries on.
What I don't understand is how he doesn't realise he doesn't get any confirmation for things, and how most of the time it must work for him as I don't get them all the time. Also, how does he manage to sign up to any of these things without me getting emails?
Any clues as to how to resolve it!?
I have an email address "firstname.lastname@googlemail.com", but I receive periodic emails for somebody else. This person has the same name as me and lives in the north of England. All the emails come to "firstnamelastname@gmail.com" without the "." separator, which still comes to me. I have tried emailing this address but it just comes back to me, so clearly gmail doesn't distinguish betweem them.
They come from various places (car dealerships, gyms, and today's bunch from booking.com). They are genuine, it's not spam/phishing etc., and I have asked the companies involved to contact this guy by other means to let him know, but it just carries on.
What I don't understand is how he doesn't realise he doesn't get any confirmation for things, and how most of the time it must work for him as I don't get them all the time. Also, how does he manage to sign up to any of these things without me getting emails?
Any clues as to how to resolve it!?
Go on his holiday!
My partner gets the same issue with Gmail, usually from friends of her namesake that have just made an assumption about the address we presume, since like yours hers is the 'best' name.surname format whereas presumably the others have name.surname2 or whatever. She usually replies but they keep coming.
My partner gets the same issue with Gmail, usually from friends of her namesake that have just made an assumption about the address we presume, since like yours hers is the 'best' name.surname format whereas presumably the others have name.surname2 or whatever. She usually replies but they keep coming.
I get similar.
Managed to track down the other people to their business based on the e-mails they were getting and his Dr appointments etc. Contacted them through facebook.
I still get them.
I'm conflicted on if I should sign him up to cashback on his credit card or not? "Just click here"...
I have told his bank this isn't his e-mail address. But still the e-mails come.
Managed to track down the other people to their business based on the e-mails they were getting and his Dr appointments etc. Contacted them through facebook.
I still get them.
I'm conflicted on if I should sign him up to cashback on his credit card or not? "Just click here"...
I have told his bank this isn't his e-mail address. But still the e-mails come.
Bloke I work with gets the same, and his nom de plume is a crane driver 
(real bloke works in an office). He periodically gets stuff always relating to work and crane-driving jobs etc. I seem to remember the (crane driver) also set up as a Ltd company or something ie I suppose self-employed or contractor or whatever. You’d think he wants to get it right but as per the OP it’s been going on years!
(real bloke works in an office). He periodically gets stuff always relating to work and crane-driving jobs etc. I seem to remember the (crane driver) also set up as a Ltd company or something ie I suppose self-employed or contractor or whatever. You’d think he wants to get it right but as per the OP it’s been going on years!Gmail doesn't care about the dots, or pluses: https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways...
I've had dozens of these as I got in very early (beta invite days) and have <common two initials> <common surname>@gmail.com . It's usually people with convoluted extra letters or numbers forgetting about them when they give the address out.
Tennessee hunting licences, invoices for animal feed for a farmer in Cumbria, employment contract stuff for a lawyer in Chicago, house particulars for a place in SW London, order details for a sofa being delivered in Brooklyn, eye test reminders for somewhere in Ohio, some dude's plentyoffish.com profile and messages ...
Usually if it's something machine-generated there's an unsubscribe link. If it's a real person and it sounds important I'll do a quick reply saying I think they got the wrong address.
I've had dozens of these as I got in very early (beta invite days) and have <common two initials> <common surname>@gmail.com . It's usually people with convoluted extra letters or numbers forgetting about them when they give the address out.
Tennessee hunting licences, invoices for animal feed for a farmer in Cumbria, employment contract stuff for a lawyer in Chicago, house particulars for a place in SW London, order details for a sofa being delivered in Brooklyn, eye test reminders for somewhere in Ohio, some dude's plentyoffish.com profile and messages ...
Usually if it's something machine-generated there's an unsubscribe link. If it's a real person and it sounds important I'll do a quick reply saying I think they got the wrong address.
sjg said:
I've had dozens of these as I got in very early (beta invite days) and have <common two initials> <common surname>@gmail.com . It's usually people with convoluted extra letters or numbers forgetting about them when they give the address out.
Wife and I have single initial surname for both Gmail and Hotmail on their .com level domains. Our surname isn't very common, but not that rare either.We get waves of incorrect emails - it's always someone with a first name with the same initial. I've been getting one lady's emails for years, including lots of sign-ups for things which is a bit odd unless someone else is signing her up for stuff, and for months I regularly got emails for some kind of airport pickup driver, often from irate customers waiting for him!
I get a few for a guy in the states - mines shortened first name, his is full I guess.
Quite a few bits when he started a new job - a doctor no less! More recently an invite to a poker night.. my first reply was alone the lines of ‘bit of a distance, what’s the buy in?’ After a bit of group chat I revealed myself as a random guy in England with the same name and they were all offering to chip in for flights!
Quite a few bits when he started a new job - a doctor no less! More recently an invite to a poker night.. my first reply was alone the lines of ‘bit of a distance, what’s the buy in?’ After a bit of group chat I revealed myself as a random guy in England with the same name and they were all offering to chip in for flights!
My missus has had this happen twice; once she started getting emails for someone in Australia about their rental property. I emailed the company and they replied and said I was wrong, and that they did have persons correct email address, but added that they did not understand how two people were receiving the emails they were sending. Tossers.
And the second time she started getting appointment confirmations for a beauty salon in the US. I logged on to the persons account and could see when she'd had her hair done, nails filed etc. I just left it and nothing else came.
I assume it happens because the email address has been written down or dictated over the phone and that's where the error has occurred.
And the second time she started getting appointment confirmations for a beauty salon in the US. I logged on to the persons account and could see when she'd had her hair done, nails filed etc. I just left it and nothing else came.
I assume it happens because the email address has been written down or dictated over the phone and that's where the error has occurred.
NiceCupOfTea said:
This has been an ongoing irritation for about the last 10 years, on and off.
I have an email address "firstname.lastname@googlemail.com", but I receive periodic emails for somebody else. This person has the same name as me and lives in the north of England. All the emails come to "firstnamelastname@gmail.com" without the "." separator, which still comes to me. I have tried emailing this address but it just comes back to me, so clearly gmail doesn't distinguish betweem them.
They come from various places (car dealerships, gyms, and today's bunch from booking.com). They are genuine, it's not spam/phishing etc., and I have asked the companies involved to contact this guy by other means to let him know, but it just carries on.
What I don't understand is how he doesn't realise he doesn't get any confirmation for things, and how most of the time it must work for him as I don't get them all the time. Also, how does he manage to sign up to any of these things without me getting emails?
Any clues as to how to resolve it!?
I've the same problem, I'm jsmith@gmail.com and she's jsmith1@gmail.com (I'm obviously not JSmith, just an example). I've been getting her emails for years, not just spam but stuff from lawyers and estate agents... I've got enough info to open dozens of credit cards (she's American). I have an email address "firstname.lastname@googlemail.com", but I receive periodic emails for somebody else. This person has the same name as me and lives in the north of England. All the emails come to "firstnamelastname@gmail.com" without the "." separator, which still comes to me. I have tried emailing this address but it just comes back to me, so clearly gmail doesn't distinguish betweem them.
They come from various places (car dealerships, gyms, and today's bunch from booking.com). They are genuine, it's not spam/phishing etc., and I have asked the companies involved to contact this guy by other means to let him know, but it just carries on.
What I don't understand is how he doesn't realise he doesn't get any confirmation for things, and how most of the time it must work for him as I don't get them all the time. Also, how does he manage to sign up to any of these things without me getting emails?
Any clues as to how to resolve it!?
The only thing you can do is mark anything that is not yours as spam. Gmail will direct almost all future emails from them as spam. You can of course choose to f
k with them. Things like cancelling subscriptions, changing passwords, signing up for extra things if they've already given their CC info but given that they're in the UK and so are you that's a bit of a risk that they might come after you. There isn't much you can do, even if you can get a legal injunction to get them to stop using your email address, such injunctions are effectively unenforceable and probably feel entitled to your email address as it's "their" name.
Also check that no other IP's are logging onto your account. Not likely, but IIRC easy to check in Gmail.
So just mark it as spam and move on with your life.
NiceCupOfTea said:
<snip>
I have an email address "firstname.lastname@googlemail.com", but I receive periodic emails for somebody else. This person has the same name as me....
<snip>
I had the same issue a couple of years ago.I have an email address "firstname.lastname@googlemail.com", but I receive periodic emails for somebody else. This person has the same name as me....
<snip>
I documented it in this thread (last couple of posts) (but never found a solution)
We've had this problem with my mothers Gmail account, since it was moved from @googlemail.com to @gmail.com
It's incredibly annoying. I've created some filters to catch and delete most of it, but there's still some that gets through.
I blame Google for allowing very close account usernames. I thought they checked for this and prevented it at signup, but perhaps those checks weren't done properly with the @gmail and @googlemail addresses in different domains?
It's incredibly annoying. I've created some filters to catch and delete most of it, but there's still some that gets through.
I blame Google for allowing very close account usernames. I thought they checked for this and prevented it at signup, but perhaps those checks weren't done properly with the @gmail and @googlemail addresses in different domains?
I had this too, apparently I share the same name as a corporate lawyer for one of our major clients, and somehow my email address ended up circulating in their address book and I kept receiving very sensitive emails about specific cases.
I responded a few times copying the proper guy in saying this email wasn't meant for me and I've deleted etc, he actually phoned me up to stress how important it was that I let him know if I receive any email intended for him, no apologies for their inadequacies of course.
I still get the odd one from time to time, despite him sending out an 'important' email to his company stating how sensitive the information was.
I responded a few times copying the proper guy in saying this email wasn't meant for me and I've deleted etc, he actually phoned me up to stress how important it was that I let him know if I receive any email intended for him, no apologies for their inadequacies of course.
I still get the odd one from time to time, despite him sending out an 'important' email to his company stating how sensitive the information was.
Some of you are very civic-minded. You should be proud of yourselves.
I, on the other hand, am just a mischievous nuisance. (don't berate me; I really couldn't give a st)
An email address of mine receives multiple email feeds.
Chap hires a car. I cancel it.
He books his dog into doggy-daycare - I cancel the appointment.
One receives his payslip by email each week - I wrote back asking his payroll clerk to send nudie pics too.
One is a member of a church group where they volunteer to do various activities. I volunteered to do flowers for the church, cleaning, late lock-up etc. Obviously, I didn't show.
A teenager used my email address to sign up to Apple itunes, Instagram etc. I changed all her passwords.
And on and on and on.
I, on the other hand, am just a mischievous nuisance. (don't berate me; I really couldn't give a s
t)An email address of mine receives multiple email feeds.
Chap hires a car. I cancel it.
He books his dog into doggy-daycare - I cancel the appointment.
One receives his payslip by email each week - I wrote back asking his payroll clerk to send nudie pics too.
One is a member of a church group where they volunteer to do various activities. I volunteered to do flowers for the church, cleaning, late lock-up etc. Obviously, I didn't show.
A teenager used my email address to sign up to Apple itunes, Instagram etc. I changed all her passwords.
And on and on and on.
V8mate said:
Some of you are very civic-minded. You should be proud of yourselves.
I, on the other hand, am just a mischievous nuisance. (don't berate me; I really couldn't give a st)
An email address of mine receives multiple email feeds.
Chap hires a car. I cancel it.
He books his dog into doggy-daycare - I cancel the appointment.
One receives his payslip by email each week - I wrote back asking his payroll clerk to send nudie pics too.
One is a member of a church group where they volunteer to do various activities. I volunteered to do flowers for the church, cleaning, late lock-up etc. Obviously, I didn't show.
A teenager used my email address to sign up to Apple itunes, Instagram etc. I changed all her passwords.
And on and on and on.
I'm guessing you have a common-ish name.I, on the other hand, am just a mischievous nuisance. (don't berate me; I really couldn't give a s
t)An email address of mine receives multiple email feeds.
Chap hires a car. I cancel it.
He books his dog into doggy-daycare - I cancel the appointment.
One receives his payslip by email each week - I wrote back asking his payroll clerk to send nudie pics too.
One is a member of a church group where they volunteer to do various activities. I volunteered to do flowers for the church, cleaning, late lock-up etc. Obviously, I didn't show.
A teenager used my email address to sign up to Apple itunes, Instagram etc. I changed all her passwords.
And on and on and on.
There are less than 1000 people in the world with my surname... and one of the t
ts keeps using my email address. V8mate said:
Some of you are very civic-minded. You should be proud of yourselves.
I, on the other hand, am just a mischievous nuisance. (don't berate me; I really couldn't give a st)
An email address of mine receives multiple email feeds.
Chap hires a car. I cancel it.
He books his dog into doggy-daycare - I cancel the appointment.
One receives his payslip by email each week - I wrote back asking his payroll clerk to send nudie pics too.
One is a member of a church group where they volunteer to do various activities. I volunteered to do flowers for the church, cleaning, late lock-up etc. Obviously, I didn't show.
A teenager used my email address to sign up to Apple itunes, Instagram etc. I changed all her passwords.
And on and on and on.
If that's true you're a bit of a dick, really.I, on the other hand, am just a mischievous nuisance. (don't berate me; I really couldn't give a s
t)An email address of mine receives multiple email feeds.
Chap hires a car. I cancel it.
He books his dog into doggy-daycare - I cancel the appointment.
One receives his payslip by email each week - I wrote back asking his payroll clerk to send nudie pics too.
One is a member of a church group where they volunteer to do various activities. I volunteered to do flowers for the church, cleaning, late lock-up etc. Obviously, I didn't show.
A teenager used my email address to sign up to Apple itunes, Instagram etc. I changed all her passwords.
And on and on and on.
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