So today is the third time that a woman has used my email while booking a flight in the last few months.
No activity on my CC. Just seems to be using my email when booking. I get all the emails related to the reservation, the ticket, receipts etc. The only contact info is my email.
After the second time I contacted the airline and they sent me several emails that they were on it. But then that faded.
I also found a person on Facebook with the same name and ties to both locations on the ticket. But she never responded.
Using the info in the email I was able to log into the reservation system. I was hoping for an option to add some upgrades to get her attention but there wasnāt anything on this flight. I could click the cancel button to cancel the flight but if this is just some sort of accident on her part that would be pretty mean.
Is this some sort of scam? Iām not sure how it would be but I donāt think like a scammer.
Iām not sure why this bugs me so much but it does. Mostly Iām tired of the WTF is going on feeling.
The spouse keeps getting email from the Ireland Tax service for someone elseās return info. They seem to not take the hint that gmail.com is not the same as whatever the local gmail is for Ireland.
I kept getting emails for someone elseās t-mobile cell phone account. I tried contacting t-mobile to tell them that something was wrong, but they seemed unconcerned.
Itās kind of like when someone gave a supermarket pharmacy my cell number, and I kept getting calls from the pharmacist who told me that the doctor wonāt renew some prescription. Iāve told them that I have no idea who the person theyāre trying to call is, and that they have nothing to do with me, but for whatever reason, I keep getting bothered. Ultimately, I just blocked their calls.
This person is always between Minneapolis and San Francisco.
There is not similarity between her name and my email.
Reminds many years ago, there was a family that had a yearly reunion. And one of the family members had an email close to my email. Every year for 5 or so years, someone would typo his email and then everyone else just did a reply all. Iād finally get through to someone to get me off of all the replies and to please add the missing guy back on their planning list. Yes yes thank you they would say. Next year, same mistake. Same back and forth. I thought it would never end.
Every so often I get calls from a text book supply company saying I am past due. Every time I say I have nothing to do with text books. They seems shocked. They ask if my number is new. I explain my number was new before flip phones were invented. They say they will update their records. Half a year later, ring ring. Text book supplier calling again. I looked them up and the company exists although I have no idea if the caller is actually associated with the real company.
Sadly, thereās little you can do about this. Shitty systems will let you add any e-mail you want without any validation, and then youāll get the e-mails. My Gmail account uses some common words and I get dozens of random sign-ups for things monthly.
Typically if I can, I will close their account or change their password but what I can actually do tends to be inversely proportional to the sketchiness level of the site. āGoodā sites like Facebook, Google, etc will request confirmation and allow me to mark the account as fraudulent while sketchy sites may not even allow me to close the account (but I can at least change their password so prevent the user from ever being able to use it).
Is it some sort of scam? I really donāt think so ā it seems like you can do a lot more harm to them by cancelling their flights than they can do to you. If the airline isnāt willing to do anything about it, and the person on Facebook didnāt ever get back to you it seems like your options are pretty limited.
You can be evil and cancel their flights since you have the power to do this, you can contact the airline again (maybe tweet their CEO or something to get some traction ā public shaming and pointing out security worst practices can be a big motivator), or you can go with the passive approach of marking those e-mails as spam.
Last year someone used my email to sign up for Netflix as part of their cable service. I changed the password and enjoyed free Netflix for 3 months before they noticed.
That was my thought too but of course good scams donāt look like scams so doesnāt hurt to ask.
Iām not evil enough to cancel her flight. I might try contacting the airline again. I will search for their previous correspondence and show them the new flight details and yes, point out I have full access to a customer account of theirās that isnāt mine.
Last year a tow truck coordinator (Honk!) somehow got my personal number added to their database as a tow truck operator. I was getting at least twenty calls a day from them trying to get me to tow broken down vehicles. When I contacted them they told me to log into my account to change the number, which of course I couldnāt since I never had an account. It took four days to finally get someone to understand that I didnt have a tow company and get it resolved.
Someone in Mexico is using a variant of my primary email for their Uber account. Every time this person uses Uber, I get the electronic receipt with all the details. Iāve contacted Uber customer service, and amazingly they responded, assuring me that my address is not in their files. I still get the emailed receipts. It just feels creepy to me.
This has happened to me too. Itās someone with a similar name and email, and occasionally Iāve had her emails pop up in my Gmail box.
One company has repeatedly sent me email receipts of her purchases. I contacted them via email multiple times and even phoned them, telling them I understood the error, but they needed to fix it since it was a breach of their customerās privacy. Nothing for a few monthsā¦ then another e-receipt. I gave up and marked it as spam.
Iāve been halfway tempted to try to contact her myselfā¦ itās possible we could be related somehow. But I wonāt, because it might seem creepy.
Someone in Thailand was using my Grab account (Grab is like Uber). They were paying with cash since I didnāt attach attach a CC. When I contacted Grab they said no worries and locked my account which fixed the immediate problem but not sure what to do when I need a ride next time in SE Asia.
Iām sensing I am not the only one with this problem.
Have you seen this movie:
Interesting I wonder what the percentage of internet users have the issue?
So strangely I got a new email from the airline.
Dear Gary,
Thank you for your email. We appreciate your contacting us to let us know that you received information regarding another Customerās Southwest itinerary.
We send our Customers information about their upcoming travel (confirmation receipts, boarding passes, flight notifications, etc.) to the primary form of contact provided during the booking and/or check-in process. It appears that the Customer who entered the email address in this reservation may have typed it incorrectly. Please delete any emails that you received since they were sent in error. I apologize for any inconvenienceāespecially if this was not the first time youāve received a confirmation email in error.
We hope that you will look to Southwest whenever you are planning future trips as it would be our pleasure to welcome you onboard.
I just got two emails from Apple that show someone is using my email address to try to establish their Apple ID.
I donāt know whether to be worried for my privacy, or feel sorry for someone who canāt figure out why theyāre not getting their confirmation code emails.
So now she has purchased a ticket from SF to DC on a different Airline. I kind of thought she must have a typo in in SW airline account and so every ticket with them had the same error. But now this flight is on Alaska. It hard to imagine someone mistypes their email every time they buy a plane ticket AND doesnāt notices that they never getās anything from the Arline in their email.
ETA: Just like SW, Alaska gave me full access to her reservation. I notified Alaska that she will be bringing an emotional support animal. They will be asking for her supporting paperwork when she checks in. I was hoping they would give me a text box to state the type of animal. But just a radio button.
[Images showing monicaās full name removed by request]
So long as you are never charged for anything and it doesnāt have your name in itā¦you could just ignore it entirely.
Another option would to maybe have some fun with itā¦mean funā¦but ya knowā¦log in using the email address and change the password. You could then mess with her stuff.
