From the technological "What The???" files this week...

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Wheelbarrow01

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#315914 29-Aug-2024 21:02

So, while I was in Australia a few days ago, I got a call from my best friend. He was using his work laptop to log into a New Zealand Govt website that uses RealME for ID authentication.

The reason he called me is because when the RealME ID authentication page for that website opened onscreen for him to enter his details, my name was pre-populated into the username field.

I've never even seen his work laptop, much less used it, and certainly never logged into RealME on it (or any other device at his home or workplace for that matter). We are both at a total loss as to how my name came to be pre-populated in RealME on the browser of his work laptop.

While I do access the same govt website from time to time, that is where the commonality ends.

Days later we still cannot fathom how this could be possible. Is it just a glitch in the matrix???

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#3276888 29-Aug-2024 23:53

He could be syncing browser settings from another computer. Not a good idea when it comes to a work device but plausible.

Or maybe an autofill suggestion.

cddt

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#3276915 30-Aug-2024 08:38

A similar "glitch in the matrix" thing happened to my wife. She was buying things using the "Shop Pay" button from Shopify, the items were getting delivered, but her sister's credit card was being charged. Meanwhile the sister (who lives elsewhere) was disputing the charges because she thought her account had been hacked etc... Took a long time to put the pieces together, and we're still not sure how Shopify managed to confuse/link their accounts on the back end.

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#3276998 30-Aug-2024 10:10

Shoes2468: He could be syncing browser settings from another computer. Not a good idea when it comes to a work device but plausible.

Or maybe an autofill suggestion.

I have to agree here. This sounds like the most likely cause.

For Google Chrome see chrome://settings/people & chrome://settings/autofill

For MS Edge, see edge://settings/profiles/sync & maybe edge://wallet/personalInfo

For Firefox, see about:preferences#sync & the Password section under about:preferences#privacy

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KiwiSurfer

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#3277137 30-Aug-2024 12:19

Wheelbarrow01:

The reason he called me is because when the RealME ID authentication page for that website opened onscreen for him to enter his details, my name was pre-populated into the username field.

My first question would be was RealMe pre-populating this from their end or was the browser doing this. This may help work out the culprit.

Wheelbarrow01

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#3278782 4-Sep-2024 13:12

KiwiSurfer:

Wheelbarrow01:

The reason he called me is because when the RealME ID authentication page for that website opened onscreen for him to enter his details, my name was pre-populated into the username field.

My first question would be was RealMe pre-populating this from their end or was the browser doing this. This may help work out the culprit.

The most likely culprit is the browser, however as I've never used his work laptop (and he's never had any reason to enter any of my personal details on any webpage open on his work laptop), there's no logical explanation as to why my RealMe username would have auto-populated into the username field of ANY website.

My mate is not tech savvy, so he doesn't have a login for the likes of Firefox or Chrome where saved usernames/passwords are shared across multiple devices. In fact he doesn't have multiple devices - or any devices of his own. The guy doesn't have any social media presence. He does have an iPhone provided by his workplace for calls and txts. It has a useful clock on the screen. It may do other stuff but he's not really sure lol.

MadEngineer

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#3278837 4-Sep-2024 13:32

Both of you should check your sync settings and see where things are being saved to

From there, for example if it’s a Google account, check what devices have authenticated against it through the account settings. Maybe blindly hit the sign all out button, change your password and sign back in.

It’s also possible he has simply searched your name somewhere and his browser has saved that

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richms

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#3278838 4-Sep-2024 13:32

cddt:

A similar "glitch in the matrix" thing happened to my wife. She was buying things using the "Shop Pay" button from Shopify, the items were getting delivered, but her sister's credit card was being charged. Meanwhile the sister (who lives elsewhere) was disputing the charges because she thought her account had been hacked etc... Took a long time to put the pieces together, and we're still not sure how Shopify managed to confuse/link their accounts on the back end.

Shop pay is horrible to use from a user side of things with you logging into a place and then it wanting to send a login code to a mobile number you have never used on that website because you used it on a different website ages ago.

Richard rich.ms

KiwiSurfer

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#3278865 4-Sep-2024 15:28

MadEngineer: From there, for example if it’s a Google account, check what devices have authenticated against it through the account settings. Maybe blindly hit the sign all out button, change your password and sign back in.

Chrome has some surprising behavior when it comes to Google properties -- I've noticed myself being automatically signed into Google services and/or signed into Google in Chrome itself without my express authorization. While I appreciate this is convenient for people who may only have one Google account and is happy for everything to be associated with the one account, that sort of behavior is one of the reasons I stick with non-Google browsers. It caused issues when I had a $WORK Google account and a $PERSONAL Google account and no good way to keep the two separate and on occasion I would see sync issues with stuff supposed to be in $PERSONAL appearing under $WORK account on a different machine -- whereas Firefox didn't exhibit any of that behavior and worked as I expected. Wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with this.

Have either of you on any occasion signed into your account while using another person's browser? E.g. sometimes I sign into Google on my husband's computer and sign out and still see my name listed under the Google sign in screen on his computer or under 'Switch Account' settings etc.

trig42

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#3278916 4-Sep-2024 15:41

richms:

cddt:

A similar "glitch in the matrix" thing happened to my wife. She was buying things using the "Shop Pay" button from Shopify, the items were getting delivered, but her sister's credit card was being charged. Meanwhile the sister (who lives elsewhere) was disputing the charges because she thought her account had been hacked etc... Took a long time to put the pieces together, and we're still not sure how Shopify managed to confuse/link their accounts on the back end.

Shop pay is horrible to use from a user side of things with you logging into a place and then it wanting to send a login code to a mobile number you have never used on that website because you used it on a different website ages ago.

It sure is. My wife ordered something from iHerb and it auto populated everything for her.

Turns out she sent the new owners of the house we moved out of 18 months ago a present.

I couldn't get it redirected (iHerb pretty much packed and dispatched it instantly) and it came via Aramex who do not have a facility to redirect a parcel like NZ Post do. They were so slow at answering their email and couldn't reconcile the tracking number iHerb had given us with a package in their system. Luckily it was only $10...

KiwiSurfer

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#3278919 4-Sep-2024 15:51

Doesn't it show the address it'd send it to? Sounds like user error to me. Last few Shop Pay purchases I've done it'd shown me the address -- which I sometimes change because I switch between my SO's work address and our home address and it's always been addressed to the address I select. Or was it some sort of dark pattern like Amazon's one-click shopping (which I've always thought was a terrible idea ripe for abuse/confusion/etc).

Behodar

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#3278920 4-Sep-2024 15:58

KiwiSurfer:

It caused issues when I had a $WORK Google account and a $PERSONAL Google account and no good way to keep the two separate

Microsoft is just as bad. We used to have a thing called the "home use programme" that let you use Office at home, but it's gone now and the advice is "just download Office and log in using your work email address". But if I log in with that, it also logs into OneDrive and all this other stuff that I don't want on my home computer. If I sign out of OneDrive then it deactivates the Office licence. What idiot came up with this?!

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boosacnoodle

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#3278922 4-Sep-2024 16:02

richms: Shop pay is horrible to use from a user side of things with you logging into a place and then it wanting to send a login code to a mobile number you have never used on that website because you used it on a different website ages ago.

That may be your experience, but a surprising number of our customers use it, as does my partner. It's very convenient for them.

KiwiSurfer

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#3278942 4-Sep-2024 16:54

Behodar:

KiwiSurfer:

It caused issues when I had a $WORK Google account and a $PERSONAL Google account and no good way to keep the two separate

Microsoft is just as bad. We used to have a thing called the "home use programme" that let you use Office at home, but it's gone now and the advice is "just download Office and log in using your work email address". But if I log in with that, it also logs into OneDrive and all this other stuff that I don't want on my home computer. If I sign out of OneDrive then it deactivates the Office licence. What idiot came up with this?!

Yup it's awful. It's gotten to the point I only use my work office applications within Firefox if I need to respond to urgent stuff outside work hours on my personal laptop. At least that way it keeps the crap within Firefox which I can then clear away.

MadEngineer

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#3279075 4-Sep-2024 21:54

KiwiSurfer:
MadEngineer: From there, for example if it’s a Google account, check what devices have authenticated against it through the account settings. Maybe blindly hit the sign all out button, change your password and sign back in.

Chrome

Same for a Microsoft account in Windows. Activate Office with a Microsoft account and suddenly all the things are logged in to it. Only way I could see to cleanly remove the login was to trash the user profile and start again

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networkn

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#3279082 4-Sep-2024 22:50

I'd struggle to believe this wasn't an autofill or autocomplete. It's entirely likely he would have typed your name at some stage on that device.

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