igovt - suspicious signup using my email address

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jamesrt

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#761750 13-Feb-2013 14:21

Klipspringer:
freitasm: Change the password. If someone created an account in your name or using your email address then they won't be able to access it after you change it (since no way for them to get the email with reset instructions).

Once you take "ownership" check everything is correct and be done with it.

Tried that. But cannot reset it as its asking 2 security questions which I don't know the answers to.

So its definitely not my account.

From http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Identity-Verification-Service-Frequently-Asked-Questions?OpenDocument:

You can also contact the igovt Help Desk on 0800 457 4357

Suggest you call them.

Klipspringer

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#761751 13-Feb-2013 14:22

Plenty of others too

Where you can use igovt services

Klipspringer

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#761757 13-Feb-2013 14:27

sidefx:
Klipspringer:
Tried that. But cannot reset it as its asking 2 security questions which I don't know the answers to.

So its definitely not my account.

Someone probably made a typo when signing up or doing data entry from some handwritten form then? Hmm.. if that is the case they should really have some sort of "confirm your email address" step in their process.

I find this hard to believe.

I have a gmail address with my initial and surname in it.
Have never used studylink either.

jamesrt:
From http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Identity-Verification-Service-Frequently-Asked-Questions?OpenDocument:

You can also contact the igovt Help Desk on 0800 457 4357

Suggest you call them.

Thanks for that I will give them a call and ask them to delete all the information on there system that is linked to my gmail address.

Skolink

1081 posts

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#761758 13-Feb-2013 14:28

No, but it reminds me of one I got two weeks ago from gateway.confirmation@gateway.gov.uk confirming my registration. Unfortunately I accidently clicked the 'confirm' link rather than the 'did not register' link, then as you found I couldn't request a new password without answering a security question. I've had nothing further, so perhaps the account owner realised.

Gmail now no longer allow email addresses to differ only by a . in the middle, but they used to. I sometimes get email from my namesake in the US emailing himself documents from work to gmail.

Klipspringer

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#761760 13-Feb-2013 14:30

Skolink: No, but it reminds me of one I got two weeks ago from gateway.confirmation@gateway.gov.uk confirming my registration. Unfortunately I accidently clicked the 'confirm' link rather than the 'did not register' link, then as you found I couldn't request a new password without answering a security question. I've had nothing further, so perhaps the account owner realised.

Gmail now no longer allow email addresses to differ only by a . in the middle, but they used to. I sometimes get email from my namesake in the US emailing himself documents from work to gmail.

I wish gmail had a setting where you could bounce emails like these.

KevinL

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#761763 13-Feb-2013 14:31

Klipspringer:
sidefx: Someone probably made a typo when signing up or doing data entry from some handwritten form then? Hmm.. if that is the case they should really have some sort of "confirm your email address" step in their process.

I find this hard to believe.

I have a gmail address with my initial and surname in it.
Have never used studylink either. .

You find it hard to believe that someone has the same initial and surname as you?

My email is firstnamelastname@gmail.com, and I frequently get email intended for other people who have the same name - sometimes it's the fault of the sender, often it's because people don't know their own email address.

Klipspringer

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#761765 13-Feb-2013 14:36

KevinL:
Klipspringer:
sidefx: Someone probably made a typo when signing up or doing data entry from some handwritten form then? Hmm.. if that is the case they should really have some sort of "confirm your email address" step in their process.

I find this hard to believe.

I have a gmail address with my initial and surname in it.
Have never used studylink either. .

You find it hard to believe that someone has the same initial and surname as you?

My email is firstnamelastname@gmail.com, and I frequently get email intended for other people who have the same name - sometimes it's the fault of the sender, often it's because people don't know their own email address.

No not really hard to believe that there are other people who share my initial and surname.

But I dont have a very popular surname. Probably only a handful of us in NZ

The fact that this person just so happens to also be in NZ is a bit hard to believe though. Its a .com email address and I very seldom get incorrect email from anywhere in the world, let alone from NZ.

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GregV

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#761778 13-Feb-2013 15:07

sidefx: Or your email address just happens to be similar to someone elses and you've got an email intended for someone else.
(always remember Hanlon's razor :) )

Most likely this. Heaps of new students signing up for Studylink using igovt as various tertiaries start up again. A lot of these students have very little computer experience, but must supply an email address as part of the igovt login process. It wouldn't surprise me if they just entered theirname@gmail.com, because that's what their friend told them to do.

qwerty7

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#761919 13-Feb-2013 19:46

Klipspringer:
timmmay: The bottom of the original email says "Contact Studylink" if you have questions. So it's likely to be Studylink coverting over to iGovt without bothering to warn anyway. If in doubt, do what the email says, contact them.

I did. I called the 0800 number.

Automated voice says sorry they experiencing high call volumes and I need to try again later.

Yea good luck with that, they say they are experiencing high call volumes about 5 minutes after the phone lines open in the morning. Sometimes instead of waiting on the line they just say they have high call volumes and auto hang up. Average wait time seems to be about 45 minutes on hold. Sometimes I have held on the line waiting for 30 - 40 minutes then it auto disconnects so I have to call back. They are f*cking useless

graemeh

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#761924 13-Feb-2013 20:14

You could just keep trying random passwords until the account is locked and hope that when they ring to complain they can't unlock their account and the helpdesk works out the email is wrong.

jtbthatsme

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#761949 13-Feb-2013 21:04

Studylink experiencing high call volumes in February who would have thought???

As for the I have a uncommon name thing I have someone with the department I work for with the exact name (although he's around 20 years older than me), I know of another person who is (or maybe now was) a sportsperson in the NBL with exact same name. Be realistic your name is not unique.

I have to agree with the others there's a huge chance there's been a typo not sure if you realise but NZ is seen as a great place for international students and there would more than likely be someone with the same name and a similar email address as yours. In fact not so long ago we had a instance at work where we had a client with the same name (first and last) and same date of birth as someone else. It does happen and most likely the case here.

As for what you have done in that you've tried to do a password reset is pretty stink. Try putting the boot on the other foot and think about how you would like someone accessing and messing with your personal account information for government services. That is potentially someones livelihood your messing with.

gzt

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#762105 14-Feb-2013 10:17

No idea but call igovt direct and discuss it as a privacy/security issue: https://www.i.govt.nz/cls/static/help

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