My email address being used by someone else with the same name

[SarfE4sticated]

Hi there,
Hope you can help - someone with the same name as me, living in a different part of the country, is using my email address. I am getting bombarded with invoices from online shopping sites, and lots of spam.
Because I am getting their online shopping paperwork, I know their address and mobile number. I have emailed the sites they are shopping with to let them know that they are using the wrong address but there is usually a 5 day time lag in their response and in that time I get loads of emails.
I don't know what to do about it. I googled my name and in their area they are known as a 'crime family' (local paper description) so I don't want to get on the wrong side of them.
What do I do?

Change your email address

This is really common. There have been other threads about this. I have about 4 different people using mine. I have even had their plane tickets. There won't be anything dodgy going on. Just assign things that aren't for you to spam.

OK Temporary your response has calmed me down a bit. Plane tickets! Blimey. So you just spam until they realise their mistake? I can do that.

Isthisname I don't want to change my email address, but thanks for the suggestion.

I have the same problem. I usually click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email, if there isn't one I mark it as spam to block further emails.

I know, you'd think you'd get your email address right for plane tickets. Ive had payslips too, and rotas, and interview invites. It's like a whole insight into the other me. One of the other mes used to go to a Canadian craft group. Those emails were great, I loved those. Really funny.

Do you have a gmail account? They do a weird thing where people with similar names can get each others mail. I very often get messages about Austrailian kids football practice arrangements I can't remember the details of what causes it but I just block them as pp said.

They are probably just mistyping their own address I suppose.

Is it gmail?
I have had this too.

Start signing them up for junk mail if you know their RL address?!

The trouble with gmail is that the address just auto fills. You have to check really carefully.
When I type a name into the address bar when composing, it autofills with gmail addresses of people I have never heard of. It must be a systemic glitch.

Can you text them? I wonder if their email is firstname.surname and yours in firstnamesurname for example.

They've probably made a mistake so don't do anything dickish like send them junk mail as suggested!

I had this. The other me had the identical address except she put the number 1 at the end of her name. I expect she used it correctly but other people omitted the 1 when typing her address. I got all sorts of interesting emails for a few years, and most of the time just replied to say that had the wrong person.

It is gmail, I assume they have left an important dot out somewhere. It's the fact that they are a notorious crime family which weirds me out a bit, I guess they are unlikely to plot crimes via email though!

I also have an American person using my email address too, I get their bank statements and oil cleaning invoices.

Crikey Temporary you could steal their lives if you wanted to!

I have this also. I
I once replied to a personal email from one of the person's friends who checked the correct email address and whereas mine eg is BurraRioja@..... com. the correct email address for the other person is [email protected].

I know so much about the other person, as an example their child's school added my email to their database and was sending me regular, sensitive information for a couple of weeks despite me emailing them to explain they had the wrong one. It was only when I threatened the ICO that they stopped.

I've learned to put up with it because I don't want to change my email address but it is frustrating sometimes.

I stupidly did this, I typed in @yahoo.com instead of @ymail.com and sent my bookings.com confirmation email to somebody else with my name. I spent the next week worrying that they would show up and take my hotel room 😂

Sometimes these things are just a mistake, nothing sinister. But if it’s happening a lot then close down your email and make a new one x

I did think that HunterHearstHelmsley not sure how I would word it though, without it sounding a bit stalkerish. It wouldn't feel right using their mob no without their permission in a way.

Is there any point in me trying to contact google about it? I can't think that they will care that much though.

I'm guilty of Gmail auto filling my email details wrongly and having plane tickets sent somewhere else

My email address is, let's say, EmmaPGrundy@.... because EmmaGrundy@... was already taken. But Gmail autocorrects to it without the P and I don't always realise. I recently bought plane tickets and misentered the email address. However I just logged back into my account for that airline and it wasn't a big deal. I presume there must be an Emma Grundy somewhere who was quite surprised to receive an email from EasyJet about her forthcoming flight/short break!

Ive has this since I started using the internet. Namesake signs me up for all kinds of websites and newsletters.

Why not just send them a text message forwarding stuff saying I think this is for you? Simple really.

I've had this too. Eventually switched from Gmail.

emma
I look forward to tonights episode when Emmurr discovers she has "won" a free holiday for her and Ed

I also get this. In my case I don't actually use the email address - I use it only as a log in, and actually give out an alias email address. Eg address is [email protected] and I use [email protected]. So I know that mail addressed to sarah. is actually for her.

It's slowed down since I pointed out to one correspondent that he was asking me/her to commit insurance fraud. Usually I just unsubscribe or cancel orders or close accounts wherever possible. Free Netflix trial? NOPE.

In your circumstances I'd be tempted to write to her very politely saying the email provider appears to have fucked up so you keep getting her emails and does she maybe have another email address she could use?

Do you think she's actively trying to defraud, or that she's just a bit dim?

It won’t be a ‘dot’ problem, because gmail won’t assign email addresses with nothing distinguishing them but a ‘dot’ (it actually doesn’t recognise dots, so if someone does put a dot into your address it’ll still get to you). The problem is someone with the same name assumes that your address is theirs (because it’s their name, and they’ve forgotten that they had to use a number or a middle name when they signed up because it was already taken), or they are confusing their hotmail or yahoo id with their gmail one.

I’ve posted this before but there’s a woman who keeps using mine and she’s in a position where she has access to confidential info about students she works with. I’ve been sent emails with that info lots of times, as well as the usual Hotel/restaurant/mailing stuff. I tracked her down and contacted her using another address, and she was extremely rude about it. And she still bloody uses my email address.

MsBeauvoir