I keep getting someone else's Amazon emails

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evnafets

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#1474036 18-Jan-2016 17:50

So this is Reverse Identity Theft (XKCD) ?

https://xkcd.com/1279/

Sigh. I guess I don't have enough rep to post a URL on here yet. XKCD comic 1279.

littleheaven

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#1474046 18-Jan-2016 18:04

evnafets: So this is Reverse Identity Theft (XKCD) ? https://xkcd.com/1279/ Sigh. I guess I don't have enough rep to post a URL on here yet. XKCD comic 1279.

LOL! The kicker is that the email address is not even my name. It's two random nouns separated by a full stop. Hers doesn't have the full stop. What are the odds?

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sidefx

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#1474047 18-Jan-2016 18:06

littleheaven: Someone in Virginia has keyed their email address into their Amazon account incorrectly, so that it's the same as my Gmail address bar one character. Mine has a full stop between the two words and hers does not. Apparently Gmail doesn't recognise the full stop anyway so I'm getting all her order and shipping confirmations.

As you say gmail doesn't recognise full stops (well sorta: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10313?hl=en-GB) so there must be some other small difference in the addresses.

I too have the same problem, with quite a lot of peoples email ending up in my account (and they always seem to be pretty genuine - I've replied to a few of them informing the sender of the mistake) I guess having a fairly short gmail address (mine is just my first name followed by a year) makes this more likely given the staggering number of people that now use gmail.

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keewee01

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#1474399 19-Jan-2016 10:50

I get regular emails from a Scout Troop somewhere in the US letting them know what activities are coming up for my son (OK, they got that last bit right)

I think they have finally stopped emailing after several requests.

I sent friend requests to the other 2 people on FB with my name. They both accepted

One in the UK and one in the US.

littleheaven

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#1474585 19-Jan-2016 13:24

sidefx:As you say gmail doesn't recognise full stops (well sorta: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10313?hl=en-GB) so there must be some other small difference in the addresses.

Oh, yes, she has a capital letter at the start, and I don't, but I thought email addresses weren't case sensitive? I'm assuming Gmail didn't actually give her that address because I don't get any other mail for her. I'm hoping she just keyed hers into Amazon wrong.

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andrewNZ

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#1474787 19-Jan-2016 18:40

Gmail definitely didn't give them the address, it'll be fat fingered for sure.

There is a very quick test you can perform, try to login to your gmail account using the address they used for amazon, it should get you in no worries.

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sidefx

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#1474896 19-Jan-2016 21:12

Yup, case and fullstops make no difference. She must have made a proper typo. (Another fun test is to try sending a test email to your email address, but with all capitals and full stops between every letter - it should still arrive in your inbox)

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- Richard Feynman

yitz

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#1474945 19-Jan-2016 21:44

sidefx: (Another fun test is to try sending a test email to your email address, but with all capitals and full stops between every letter - it should still arrive in your inbox)

Uh... surely not? My understanding was if you registered firstname.lastname@gmail.com then what you actually registered was just firstname@gmail.com and anything sent to firstname.xyz@gmail.com will arrive in your inbox.

And surely working out firstnamelastname@gmail.com from firstname.lastname@gmail.com is trivial (i.e. you just remove the full stop)... unless I misunderstood the OP?

jamesrt

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#1474953 19-Jan-2016 22:04

yitz: Uh... surely not? My understanding was if you registered firstname.lastname@gmail.com then what you actually registered was just firstname@gmail.com and anything sent to firstname.xyz@gmail.com will arrive in your inbox.

Nope; otherwise the first "john." would mean that no-one called "john" could ever use gmail from that point.

GMail is case-insensitive and ignores fullstops.

yitz: And surely working out firstnamelastname@gmail.com from firstname.lastname@gmail.com is trivial (i.e. you just remove the full stop)... unless I misunderstood the OP?

FYI, the email address in question isn't name-based; the OP said "it's two random nouns"

littleheaven

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#1474966 19-Jan-2016 22:20

Good to know it's a typo. I'd hate for this to start happening all over the show.

And yes, the email doesn't have any of my real name in it :o)

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

bazzer

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#1474983 19-Jan-2016 22:55

yitz:

sidefx: (Another fun test is to try sending a test email to your email address, but with all capitals and full stops between every letter - it should still arrive in your inbox)
Uh... surely not? My understanding was if you registered firstname.lastname@gmail.com then what you actually registered was just firstname@gmail.com and anything sent to firstname.xyz@gmail.com will arrive in your inbox.

And surely working out firstnamelastname@gmail.com from firstname.lastname@gmail.com is trivial (i.e. you just remove the full stop)... unless I misunderstood the OP?

I think you're confusing . with +. So, if you have firstname@gmail.com, you'll receive any email sent to firstname+anything@gmail.com.

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