My gmail is a word (a profession - can you guess which one?) that for some reason people often decide woild make a good fake email to give out. I get a lot of spam to that account, most of which i ignore, but when I get on certain mailing lists (conservative or religious) I give them one chance to remove me before I start trolling. I’ve also had people sign up for many services using my email (some of them even paid services, or in one case, a federal student loan account) so I get the “confirm this email” message a lot. I ignore it, but if the service contacts me again, I usually do a password reset to make sure the account isn’t accessible by whoever used my email.
Almost all of these incidents are intentional misuses of my email, but on occasion I’ve run in to someone who used my email by mistake - usually because they have the same address but with a different domain (i.e. hotmail, yahoo) or they have added a number to the word and forgotten to include it when signing up for something or filling out a form. When this happens I will contact the person if I can and let them know that they’ve used my email accidentally, and caution them about making sure it doesn’t happen again. I’ve met a very nice (and apologetic) meteorologist from somewhere in California, and a really mean real estate agent from Nevada because of these errors. The real estate agent currently has a subscription to MLS that she can’t access because apparently her parents didn’t raise her to be nice to others.
Reminds me how in college I would write in tiny writing a short story around the edge of a dollar bill, with my Email address included and an invitation to contact me. Then I’d go buy a soda with it.
Had a couple of friendly replies. One made its way 2 states away.
My name is Jeremy Pickett. For some reason, every couple years another Jeremy Pickett tries to contact all the other Jeremy Pickett’s. This started in 1996, or at least that’s when I was roped into it.
Hmm I’ve thought about doing that in the past. But then, like with this textdoor neighbors thing, I remember that every new person you meet is a new problem you’ll some day wish to be rid of.
I know one of my namesakes is a fantasy novel cover illustrator, and another is a portrait photographer who for some reason went through a phase of giving out an email address at [ourmutualname].com, which he doesn’t own, because I do and have for years.
In 2000 I found the HR department’s shared files, including the spreadsheet with personal info and compensation for every employee in the company, the employment contracts for the executives, and details of some sexual harrassment settlements. It was interesting reading.
@someguy, I have a root level email address at gmail (no numbers or non-letter characters), and people who I assume have number versions of that email constantly sign up for things using my address. I get one dude’s Lyft another’s Uber receipts, their subscriptions to news sites, and occasionally their signups to “dating” sites. Most recently someone signed up for a cougar site. I just delete that stuff as it comes in.
Ugh, me too. Sometimes it feels like there’s a cabal in India using my Gmail address for everything. It’s been signed up for so many Desi porn and dating sites that I’ve lost count. I sometimes get receipts or recruiters for random people in India as well.
Then there’s been sign ups using my Gmail to Ashley Madison, Monster.in, PlayStation Network, Steam, and just about anything else I can imagine.
It’s so fucking irritating and naturally there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Thankfully I don’t use this account for any important business and it’s primarily what I use for throwaway accounts or as a spam countermeasure.
When someone uses my Gmail address if feel motivated I’ll go in and delete their account or change their password depending on how evil I’m feeling. I’ve never trolled using one of these accounts though.
My gmail is initial and last name and last name is not common. I get stuff occasionally meant for others. Some insurance agent in Alaska. A Christian rocker in Missouri. A guy into lacrosse in Idaho. We’re all buddies now.
I’m Austin Williamson. Fortunately, the one from my home province is dead (same age as I was, when he had an unfortunate collision with a dump truck). One from Ontario was arrested last year for kidnapping, rape, and a few other charges. •_• I’m changing my name in the near future
My brother is anonymousone777 on an email service. He sent an angry letter to anonymousone - the original - and apparently was mistaken for a disgruntled cow orker
I have a somewhat-common first name and a very common last name.
Many collection agencies seem unable to grasp the idea that more than one person can have the same first and last names, even though we have different DOBs and SSNs.
Also, I once got an anonymous voicemail that said I should get tested for STDs if I was the [firstname lastname] who hooked up with Wayne in the parking lot of a Flying J truck stop. (Nope, not me.)
I have a fairly uncommon last name, but once (a long while back) I was contacted several times by a Blockbuster Videos several states away (in a state that I’d only ever driven through once) who very much wanted me to pay for an overdue movie that I’d obviously not rented. I had to threaten legal action before they finally left me alone.
Me too. When the AM leak happened, I actually checked the db and sure enough, my email was in there. I was a little worried that my wife, who knows my online pseudonym, might check the leaked db on a whim and think that I really had signed up, and that I’d be left to explain that many people use my email to sign up for things, but luckily that never happened.
In addition to the rare embarrassing instance, there are plenty of times that I try to sign up for something and get an “incorrect email/password” error which makes me wonder if I forgot I already signed up for something or whether someone else used my email. In that case I always just reset the password and take over the account.
Also, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken over a Facebook account. That’s the most fun; turning someone in to a super Bieber or Nickelback fan is always amusing.
We should start a club. Or at least exchange notes. Most recent catch was someone signing up for Ashley Madison with my email address. I’ve been on the receiving end of multiple dating site memberships, real estate alerts for cities and countries I’ve never even visited, and at least one online gambling service.
I do enjoy the services that not only fail to validate the email address, but also provide said address with a direct-access email link! They want to remove roadblocks for users eager to start using the service.
I, on the other hand, appreciate the opportunity to interject into early stages of flirtatious conversations and mention that the (invariably male) user isn’t exactly setting any trustworthiness records, what with the fake email address and all.
There is a young woman in France and a gamer in India and another gamer in Poland who all have used my email to sign up for stuff. I usually contact the company/entity that sent me the email & explain the problem. Twice I’ve gotten really nice responses from customer service departments, and I’ve also gotten many apologetic emails from Florence in France’s family members, who keep sending me phone pics of babies and vacations.
The only time I’ve really messed with anyone is when I deleted, repeatedly, the Polish gamer’s Playstation account, but only after he used my email for the third time.
I have an – in North America – exceptionally uncommon last name. Despite this, I once received a confirmation for an in-person interview in a city I used to live in.
That was weird enough, but I followed up; the company’s business focus was close to, but not quite in, the industry I was covering. It wasn’t entirely impossible that my editor had arranged an interview and neglected to mention it to me. And that they misunderstood and assumed I’d be doing the interview in person.
Nope. Turns out that there was another journalist with the same last name, also using a gmail account for professional purposes, covering a similar industry, in a city I used to live in.
I never did find the guy. I hope his article was a success.
