If your email address is [email protected] ...

[chocbelli]

... do you often get emails for other people with the same name as you?

I've had a firstname.surname gmail address for about 30 years, with no bother, but in the last 3-4 years I've been getting random but genuine emails for people with the same name - e.g. mailing list subscriptions, an EPC certificate, a building insurance email, emails from solicitors or accountants which include personal info. They are addressed to my firstname and surname, but include postal addresses in other parts of the UK or different countries. I assume these people must have similar emails e.g. firstname.surname1 or firstname.surnameWithDifferentSpelling but somehow mistyped them when filling out an online form.

Does this happen to you? My name is not a common one at all, but is clearly common enough for me to have doppelgangers around the world with poor recollection of their own email addresses.

I'm very curious as to why this just started happening in the last 3-4 years, when I've had this address for ever and ever! 🤷‍♀️

I received someone's Usher concert tickets this way, our emails are similar but not the same. When I looked at the email address they sent it to, it said [email protected], my email is [email protected]

This is making me wonder if anyone is getting emails that are meant to be for me. I'm changing my name soon so I am giving to take tips from here as will need to change my email address.

I get emails to American version of me without the dot in between who sits on the board of some country club.

Never happened to me but both my first name and last name aren't common

Yes - very unusual name but my doppelganger is a sexual psychoanalyst so some of the offers of publications for her to review are, shall we say, interesting!

I have exactly the same issue as you. I was so excited to get [email protected] when it first came out but now regret it bc of all the spam I get.

I have a yahoo.co.uk and a ymail.com address which I use as my main addresses.

The yahoo.co.uk gets very little spam and the ymail gets none at all.

I don't think ymail is available for new addresses now.

The only thing I don't like about yahoo is that it puts emails in spam even if I have added them in to my contacts. Every single email from P&O goes in to spam for some reason.

I also like the diposable addresses you can use with yahoo and ymail.

I've got a fairly uncommon name but there's a gmail person who uses my email address.

Yep. I get emails for a Canadian version of my maiden name. I reply when it's personal (kids football practice cancelled, dad care home arrangements) and tried very hard to get rid of the marketing ones. Hilton gave me her points and wouldn't take them back...

Got it mainly under control now apart from a random company that keeps telling me when they're going to deliver cleaning supplies to her house no matter how many times I tell them.

I once got an email from an American chap trying to reconnect with an old school friend. Once we'd established that I definitely wasn't her, and that he was a happily married dad with no pervy or money-stealing intentions, we became penpals for a couple of years before losing touch.

I've got [email protected] in both maiden and married names, but other than him I've never had email meant for anyone else.

🙋‍♀️ pdsa.pet dispensary pickup reminders from a no-reply address and Monday bridge night partner requests from a club in NZ. I have told them but they keep sending em.

Thanks for your question, @Zita60. Mumsnet, in my opinion, sorely needs a forum for tech/internet threads.

I don't have a particular suggestion, but you can cruise online. My preference, which may be yours, too, would be for something both private and free.

Proton has a good reputation. I'm experimenting with Cyberfear. I'd stay away from GMX, though, which left me unable to access.

https://proprivacy.com/email/comparison/free-secure-email

https://cyberinsider.com/email/secure/

https://privacysavvy.com/email/best/secure-email-providers/

https://www.techradar.com/best/best-secure-email-providers

Happy hunting!

Thank you very much for the information, I’ll look into those. I’ve heard of Proton, but not the others.

I’ve been having problems with Gmail in the last couple of days. My tablet can no longer get to Gmail’s IMAP server, and I’ve had a couple of NDRs for mail I’ve supposedly sent to My[email protected].

Incidentally, if anyone else is having recent problems with the Mail client on an iPad failing to fetch email, it seems the problem is caused by a bug in iPadOS 18. I've just updated my iPadOS to 18.3.1 and the problem has gone away.

For me, although I admit I don't like the look of Gmail, my big objection is that it's Google, and the company long ago abandoned their attempt to be a virtuous company. We now see the billionaire heads of all these tech companies bowing to Trump, and god only knows how they may curtail or surveil us.
And thank you for cheering me up. I figure if even one person starts thinking about it, it's a good thing.

Yes, about 10 years ago I used to get emails sent to me for someone with the same name in the USA and somehow I worked out that she had an initial that was missing in my email address but present in hers. I emailed her to let her know and forwarded the emails to her for a bit and they dried up after a while.

Exactly the same here. Mine has done it for years and I once had to follow up with some credit score agency she'd signed up with and it was really tricky to explain it was the wrong email address and stop mailing me. I've even contacted her husband recently as I was getting so much of her stuff (how the hell did she not realise) and he basically said ignore it. So I do. She's still signing up for stuff with my email address but the last group friend email I had for her also included one to joeMbloggs@gmail so perhaps she's finally twigged.
I'd mind less but in the early years of gmail I accidentally gave the wrong address for something important and when I tried to get it back the American with the same name was so arsy (accused me of being a passive aggressive Brit when I was being polite) that frankly she can do one.

Yes with maiden name. No with married name as it's a very unusual combination

Not sure this is quite right - I've got the firstname.surname@gmail and I get the firstnamesurname ones too. I think I got mine first though, so perhaps that's why.

Yes the same thing happens to me! Often addressed to firstnamesurname without the period in the middle.

No idea how or why it happens but it drives me nuts.

And I got [email protected] and was one of the first to register way back when. So hopefully nobody is getting my emails!

Nope. Never.

If it's a mailing list, then I report it as spam. Mailing lists should verify addresses with an "If this is you, click the link" email before adding people, but not all do. Spam reports impact their "domain reputation" and, when that dips too low, all their mailing list emails will go straight into spam folders.

I got one yesterday with someone's till receipt from a shop in the U.S. The sales assistant probably asked for the address verbally and mis-spelled the name. I immediately started getting mailshots.

My first name can be spelt in different ways, so that is part of the problem. My surname is more common in the US than here, but here it is similar enough to another common surname to often be mis-spelt.

Strangely enough it’s happened just this week with me. Someone has signed up to LinkedIn with my email address. I’m getting job notifications and contact notifications. Tried reporting it to LinkedIn but I have to join to do that and I can’t join cos my email address is already in use! I don’t think it’s just spam cos she seems like a real person at a real firm.
Any ideas?

Go onto Linked In- type your email address into the log in box and then hit forgot password. You'll get a reset password link. Change the password. Then log in and delete the account.

Never, I have a very uncommon surname though.