For changing the password

[Phenolet]

Someone in the United States has been using my email address for their Arbonne account (I'm pretty sure it's a multi level marketing company).

Every once in a while I get emails confirming their order of vitamin sachets and grooming products. It doesn't really bother me as it's only this one company, it's not like this person uses my email address for everything.

Today however, I decided to log in to that person's account and change the password after another email confirming order. I figured they wouldn't be able to log in and then they'd have to open up a new account using their own email address.

However, I now feel bad about it. I was petty and should have just left it. As I said, it's not as if it's a huge inconvenience to me.

What do you think? Was I unreasonable and mean for doing this?

A stranger, or someone you know?

A stranger

Presumably they have made an error with their email address. I think changing the password makes sense, so they notice something is wrong and have to open a correct account. Do they not notice they never get order confirmation emails?!

I'd imagine they made a typo when entering their email address. Seems you took the only course of action available.

I can't ever imagine doing something so unnecessarily petty. You might cause this person all sorts of problems by logging in and changing the password. Why on earth didn't you just hit "unsubscribe" on the email if it was that much of an inconvenience? Btw logging in to someone's account and changing their details can be an arrestable offence, you know.

If I've understood correctly It's the Op's account, she can do what she wants with the password surely?!

No, the OP specifically said she logged into this strangers account and changed their personal details (their password).

I got a few emails containing quotes for home & life insurances a while ago, obviously the insurance broker had the email address wrong. I just replied to the email to point out it had ended up in the wrong place.

I don't think logging into a strangers account and locking them out of it is the 'only course of action'

Much more likely they simply have a typo in a similar email address.

Eg yours is jan134@email and theirs is jam134@email. Changing your password won't change anything

Nah, not petty but I think someone has just made a mistake. I regularly get phone calls for someone called ‘Amanda’. I also get texts from companies. I think she’s put my number in either by mistake or deliberately. One day I got two calls from hotels confirming reservations for the next day. They were about 300 miles apart. I explained to the first one that I wasn’t Amanda and the second one that I also wasn’t Amanda and that she’d made a reservation (probably on Booking.com) 300 miles away and was unlikely to be turning up. The poor woman sounded so disappointed as I think it was a family business rather than a chain. People are shits.

I’ve had a similar issue, my email is my name and someone in Scotland has for some reason got my email on her Apple pay, every time she shops online I get her confirmation emails and thus a million fucking marketing emails.
I’ve used the same email for 17 years and I’m not going to change it, one time an email had her mobile number in it so I messaged her and told her she needs to update her email to the correct one but it still happens so now every time she orders something online I report it as a fraudulent sale to whoever she’s made a purchase from. I don’t care if it inconveniences her, it’s really annoying now and it’s been going on for over 3 years!

She hasn't changed her own password - she has logged into the strangers account, changed the password, and now locked this poor innocent stranger out of their own account (an account they use regularly if OP gets regular emails about it). It was just shockingly spiteful behaviour. There are "unsubscribe" buttons on practically all emails these days from companies. It would have taken OP less time to click it than to commit the fraudulent act they did.

I had a week where i kept getting constant calls for someone all from estate agents. Had to switch my phone off as I was fed up of these calls.

I’ve had this lots of times. The most recent was a nurse in Texas who was job hunting. I change passwords or delete the account.

YANBU
They shouldn’t have stolen your email for their Arbonne account. That’s a form of identity theft they did. You simply used their theft against them to protect yourself and your email.

I don’t think you’ve been petty op, the person is using your details to make purchases. I’d be concerned about some fraudulent activity tbh, particularly considering she’s only using it for the purpose of an MLM.

its not ‘her’ account when she’s using the op’s details to operate it. Would you be comfortable with someone using your home address for their orders? She can now go on and create a new, legitimate account with her own details, everyone is happy.

OP hasn’t committed fraud. The Arbonne account was fraudulently created by a stranger using the OPs email address that he stranger stole from the OP.
Logging onto an account fraudulently created wit

sorry accidentally hit post.
Logging onto an account created by an identify thief who stole your email to create it and then locking them out or deleting that account isn’t spiteful in the least. It’s self defence.

Of course the OP's committed fraud. She purposely logged into an account that didn't belong to her, which would have access to all sorts of personal, financial and security details, and then maliciously changed the password so she can't get access it.

OP better hope that this stranger isn't ever a victim of identity theft because the police will come knocking straight to her door first for admitting this.

I'd be signing her phone number up to every kind of marketing I could.

She hasn't locked the stranger out of their bank account. Stranger can simply create a new account with the correct email address.

YANBU.

The person lives in America. I doubt even with the amount they spend on policing over there they'd stretch to sending 2 of their officers over to argue that her logging in to an account registered to her own email was identity theft.

The US and the UK have very different laws. What country's do you think she has broken?

I don't think it's fraudulent as the account had her details on it except the email which is mine.

I think I've found her on social media so I've sent her a message to try and rectify it. I think I will give her the new password and ask her to log in and change the email address on the account.

Hopefully that will sort it

The stranger didn't "steal" the email for goodness sakes

In what world does it make ANY sense to create an account, put in all YOUR own personal details, including your address and credit cards, and then think "hmm, I know, I'll sneakily use someone else's email address to create this account so they won't know it's me". It's not like email addresses aren't anonymous or take seconds to create or anything... Honestly, some people on here 🙄

I would have done same