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openmedia

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#205468 14-Nov-2016 16:26
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So I keep getting other peoples email and I'm trying to understand the reason

 

Options I've considered are

 

     

  1. People are stupid and don't know their email address
  2. People are lazy and get the email address wrong
  3. People have bad hand writing and CSRs guess the email address
  4. Auto complete adds @gmail.com
  5. People don't want the emails but are required to supply an address when registering for a service
  6. Some systems strip the numbers from the end of an email

 

Now this isn't SPAM, these are legitimate emails where for whatever reason I'm getting their correspondence. In the last year I've had

 

  • 2 x IPhone repairs - different people

     

    • One for USA
    • One for Canada
  • Flights with KLM within Europe

     

    • I actually rang KLM in NZ on this and they were very helpful
  • Opticians / Lasik appointments
  • Fairly confidential medical details

     

    • ongoing and for several different people
  • Insurance quotes and renewals
  • Membership of a number of sporting loyalty schemes

     

    • Gun Store
    • Golf Pro
    • Misc others
  • Several very confidential work emails
  • Participation in a family intervention
  • Invites to a funeral
  • Pulled into a very personal/private family discussion

     

    • resulting in abusive emails for stealing a family members email address

The latest one is someone's AT&T + DirectTV account along with username + pin to access the account.

 

Some of these I can unsubscribe from, or reach out to the relevant work/family members to remove me from the email list.

 

Recently there has been a trend to require a login to unsubscribe to the service. This poses a number of interesting issues

 

     

  1. Am i liable for prosecution for logging in as someone else?
  2. I don't always have the username / password

 

One system recently would only allow a password reset with an answer to a secret question. All contact forms required you to be logged in so short of calling a US Toll number I can't unsubscribe. My only choices are to setup a gmail filter or to click SPAM on the email often enough for Google to configure one for me.

 

With the latest AT&T Account I got so fed up with the emails I logged in to chance the email address. The customer re-set the password using their cellphone and changed the email address back to mine. Argh!!

 

So am I alone in experiencing this. Whilst some of it does present mild amusement from time to time, some of these are very frustrating.

 

Steven

 

PS. I like my GMail address and have no intention of giving it up any time soon.





Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.


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Linux
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  #1670866 14-Nov-2016 16:41
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Do you have a dot aka . in your Gmail address?

123.456@Gmail.com example . between 3 and 4 this is ignored by Gmail

Linux



ajobbins
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  #1670867 14-Nov-2016 16:41
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Gmail will ignore any dot/period in the email address as if it never existed. This seems to account for a lot of what you describe when other people have had the same. Maybe they registered an address with an underscore or something but mistakenly give it out as a period, which translates to your address without it?

Or something like that




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skewt
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  #1670869 14-Nov-2016 16:51
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A similar thing happens to my mothers gmail account

 

She gets emails for other people but cant seem to find a connection between the emails and hers

 

She has also had email addresses 'verified' to her account and then its a struggle to sign up to the service yourself - I had to call Apple to reset a password on an account that was verified to her email address but wasn't hers, it was a struggle but they allowed it in the end

 

 

 

 




evnafets
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  #1670872 14-Nov-2016 17:13
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The relevant XKCD comic:  https://xkcd.com/1279/

 

 

 

I have the reverse problem.  I have had an email address for the last 15 years or so that is nameendingwithg@mail.com

 

People keep sending email to nameendingwithg@gmail.com.  Admittedly it is an easy mistake to make, but it leads to no end of confusion when people ask my why I never respond to email... 


richms
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  #1670886 14-Nov-2016 18:09
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skewt:

 

A similar thing happens to my mothers gmail account

 

She gets emails for other people but cant seem to find a connection between the emails and hers

 

She has also had email addresses 'verified' to her account and then its a struggle to sign up to the service yourself - I had to call Apple to reset a password on an account that was verified to her email address but wasn't hers, it was a struggle but they allowed it in the end

 

 

Well someone is clicking the link in the emails to verify the address ;)





Richard rich.ms

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  #1670887 14-Nov-2016 18:12
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evnafets:

 

The relevant XKCD comic:  https://xkcd.com/1279/

 

 

 

 

Perfect. Made my day





Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.


freitasm
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  #1670905 14-Nov-2016 18:43
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Some developers are stupid and won't validate entered emails via a email link.

 

I have cancelled Instagram accounts, a Honda USA account and more - people who registered as freitas.m@gmail.com - these people either don't know their own email addresses or just don't care. I also got a few aeroplane bookings too. I could have been nasty on those ones and cancelled their flights but let it go.





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littleheaven
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  #1670921 14-Nov-2016 19:05
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There's a woman called Gina Salinas in Virginia who keeps signing up to things using my Gmail address (which is not my name but two random words with a dot in the middle - she's not using the dot). The first I knew about it was when I started getting order confirmations from Amazon for items she'd purchased for the childcare centre she co-runs (it's amazing what you can find out about someone with a snippit of their address and their full name). I never got a "confirm your email to validate your account" from Amazon so I assume she changed an existing Amazon user ID to my email address at some point. I contacted Amazon asking them to ring her and advise her she was using my email address, but they wouldn't. They suggested I email her! Um, hello? I was surprised they weren't keen to do it, given the access I could get to her account by clicking "I forgot my password". 

 

Next I tried sending her a message on Facebook. No joy - it probably went into that hidden messages folder most people know nothing about. Shortly after that, she tried to sign up for a Blackberry account with my email address. I clicked the "I didn't request this" link, after making sure it was legit and not spam. Then I got an email from a lady confirming her place on a child-minding course. Excellent, I thought. A real person I could converse with! I explained the problem and asked the lady if she'd contact Gina and let her know she was using my email address. After a bit of to and fro, she said she'd done it.

 

A couple of months later I started getting promotional mail from all sorts of places - pet stores, sale of the day type sites, Best Buy, etc. I just hit the unsubscribe link at the bottom of all of them. Does the woman not wonder why she never gets any email at that address?

 

The last straw came when I started getting her Amazon purchase confirmations again. I'd exhausted every other option, and I really didn't want to be in the position where my email was being used for someone else's account. I used "I forgot my password" and reset her password, then updated her user email address to something completely random that didn't exist, so next time she tries to order something she won't be able to log on, and will hopefully have to create a new account. I made sure she didn't have Amazon Prime or any kind ongoing Amazon video subscription before I did it. I've written the new details down so that if she ever gets a clue and emails my address to find out what happened, I can ask her to stop using my address once and for all, and return the account access to her. I felt really uncomfortable resorting to that, but felt like I was out of options.





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


richms
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  #1670959 14-Nov-2016 19:33
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If there was saved payment details on amazon then you could have ordered her something like an email for dummies book.





Richard rich.ms

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  #1670988 14-Nov-2016 20:51
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ouch! so moral of the story is - don't you your common name (anything) as email?


  #1671031 14-Nov-2016 22:02
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You are not alone and weirdly, I was just about to post a question asking for ideas as to how to resolve the Apple ID issue I describe below.

 

I have a firstname.lastname gmail account and I keep getting email for all sorts of services and subscriptions to both the address with the dot and the one without. Some I have unsubscribed from - some I have emailed and asked them to remove my address from their customer records - with mixed success.

 

The latest, is notification from Apple that I have changed my Apple ID password. I have never actually had an Apple ID set up under my gmail account and I am perplexed as to what to do next. I did manage to click on "this wasn't me" and re-change the password. However, in order to complete the process, I have to complete the security question answers - which obviously I don't know. What I don't understand is how they could have set up an Apple ID in the first place without verification to my email address. Any ideas on how to resolve?


PaulBags
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  #1671038 14-Nov-2016 22:33
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Why would they ask security questions for a "not me" link?

So, is this a gmail security flaw? Should I register every possible combination of my gmail account with '.'s? And why wouldn't google fix it?

freitasm
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  #1671043 14-Nov-2016 23:37
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This is not a gmail problem. This is a problem with companies that don't validate emails when people signup.

 

As for Apple asking for security questions when clicking "It wasn't me"... That's Apple being Apple and full of developers completely disconnected from reality.





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rhy7s
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  #1671044 15-Nov-2016 00:06
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This has gone from an occasional annoyance to sometimes the bulk of my email. I have people from all around the world using my email address and sites that don't use verification are the main problem. Big ones which I haven't been able to contact include Apple, Sony and Netflix. I try and unsubscribe from any I can, or click the wasn't me option, or try and pass messages through senders who've got the wrong address but am not winning thus far.


PhantomNVD
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  #1671049 15-Nov-2016 00:45
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Not sure about Apple, but the password reset email from NFlix just gave me full access to my account even in an incognito session so that should be an easy one?
I keep getting job offers, to my gmail and mail.com (even though this one is not an @mail.com!) emails, but never been lucky enough to get a free NFlix account yet 😈

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