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Original poster

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

68 replies

SarfE4sticated · 01/04/2018 09:40

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?

OP posts:
MrsHathaway · 01/04/2018 11:21

Incidentally many providers ignore dots, so sallyhathaway=sally.hathaway=s.a.l.l.y.h.a.t.h.a.w.a.y etc. It's far more likely to be a forgotten suffix or middle initial or autocorrect as pp describe.

Muddlingalongalone · 01/04/2018 11:25

I get emails from Mothercare in Stoke with my receipts from my purchases- they weren't interested in the slightest when I contacted them. So annoying!

MrsSchadenfreude · 01/04/2018 11:26

Apparently I am yooneek in the world (as are the DDs) so don’t have this problem. Grin

pestov · 01/04/2018 11:36

Scottish me has a holiday in Blackpool booked next week, and South African me is planning a wedding!

bruffin · 01/04/2018 11:37

Dd has used .co.uk instead of com by mistake a few times .

NiceCardigan · 01/04/2018 12:18

I had this for ages - my “name” was going on a headteacher leadership course, flying from Liverpool airport (with parking) and booking three rooms for a family wedding among other things. I also got confidential information about students sent to me. I started off being polite and sorting stuff out for her even though the airline was a pain, in the end I emailed the person sending the confidential information and said it had been sent to me in error and it was for another Nice Cardigan - that stopped it.

GreenSeededGrape · 01/04/2018 12:23

Irish me is having some lovely cosmetic dental work done, American me appears to be actively job hunting.

I also have one in the UK with absolutely no link to my name (l'm Jane Green and this one is Sarah Purple) who shops A LOT on Amazon.

bakingcupcakes · 01/04/2018 12:25

This happens to me regularly. I just delete or unsubscribe. There's an American version of me who's having marriage/ADHD problems atm.

80sMum · 01/04/2018 12:34

I am very fortunate in that I have a unique first name/surname combination, so there's no chance of anyone else thinking that my email address is theirs!

tribpot · 01/04/2018 12:43

I've had confidential medical documents sent to my Gmail address - from the US, I hope no-one in the UK would be so daft. One of my namesakes seemed to be in litigation over the standard of care she had provided to a patient. Given she can't remember her own email address, I find in favour of the plaintiff .

Nowadays she seems to be in a retirement community in Chicago and I get to hear about their film nights and so on. Recently she was invited to a wedding in the UK and I thought I really had better let the bride know - she was very nice about it.

Just keep marking as spam, unsubscribing and notifying shopping sites of the wrong email address being used. It will slow but probably never stop. Make sure you change your password and if you're not using Gmail 2 step verification I would turn it on.

AnarchyKitty · 01/04/2018 12:48

I've had years of somebody's divorce copied in to me before. Emails regarding child maintenance ( he doesn't pay it), his cheating, his hidden finances, the lot . I've now closed down that account (BT) as even though I emailed the lawyer it still happened. I often wonder if the Wife ever got closure from him.

PattiStanger · 01/04/2018 13:03

I have an email dopplegagnger in Scotland, I know lots about her job, where she shops and have even had emails with rewards that she has earned in shops I don't even use.

bruffin · 01/04/2018 13:06

On a slightly different note. DH and i have booked a holiday in October with Trailfinders logged into app to find i have another holiday booked a few weeks later. That is my ds holiday , we are meeting out there for a wedding but its not connected in anyway.

Also when dd started secondary school they set up accounts for them on the system.DD couldnt understand why her password would stop working and had to be reset. Turned out they used last 3 letters of christian name and first 3 letters of surname followed by the year they started. Other girl had the same name and first 4 letters of surname. It took a few weeks to work out what was going on but solved in the end.

They also had an issue with the aptitude test to get into the school. 2 boys entered with exactly the same name and same birthdate and only one passed. They told the wrong one they had got in Shock thankfully that got sorted out as well.

Redcrayons · 01/04/2018 13:12

american me is on a round robin with a high school reunion group. They were all planning a trip together and I started to get a bit too interested in the details.
I was a bit disappointed when I didn't get to see the post event chat - presumably American me cottoned on that she hadn't been getting the updates.

Original poster
SarfE4sticated · 01/04/2018 16:57

I feel mine is letting me down a bit only ordering leisure wear! They need to up their game Grin

OP posts:
tribpot · 01/04/2018 17:15

Well yours is from a notorious crime family, SarfE4sticated, whereas most of our doppelgangers are just regular citizens.

MelanieCheeks · 01/04/2018 17:21

American me has joined a gym!

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 01/04/2018 17:41

I have a non-standard spelling of my surname. Say my surname is 'Haridan' and most people with that surname spell it 'Harridan'. It's an Irish name so my email has always been fine with foreigners as they look at the spelling because the name is unfamiliar, but in Ireland people think they know how my name is spelled so they often end up sending an email [email protected], which is completely not my fault because I always spell it correctly, and specifically point out that it's an unusual spelling if I'm giving it over the phone.

Original poster
SarfE4sticated · 01/04/2018 17:43

You’ve reassured me tribpot I was feeling a bit basic. Will have to hope a ‘blag’ is arranged soon. If they start ordering balaclavas I call the Police!

OP posts:
MargaretCabbage · 01/04/2018 17:45

I’ve had this. It was really annoying because sometimes when I tried to sign up for things it told me I’d already registered with that email, and it was her.

In the end I started cancelling her accounts, online orders, bookings, etc. Funnily enough she stopped after that!

TeresasGreen · 01/04/2018 17:47

Apparently I got a fit bit recently and my step count is over 20k a day - amn’t I doing well! Grin

Worieddd · 01/04/2018 17:48

A lot of mistakes happen when people put hotmail.com instead of hotmail.co.uk

Efferlunt · 01/04/2018 17:56

I get this too thinkbit is just incompetence rather than fraud. I get all the bank notifications for a lady in Australia and loads of stuff from One in the US including job offers and audition call backs which she will never know about

Redglitter · 01/04/2018 18:01

If you have a mobile number would it not make sense to phone them and tell them. They'll probably be quite grateful & take more care in future

Original poster
SarfE4sticated · 01/04/2018 18:10

I did think about that Redglitter and joe66 and but thought it might be a bit rude to use their mobile number without them having given it to me iyswim.

OP posts: