Scam? My email used to buy plane tickets

Yes, can sort of ignore it. Except each time there is moment of worry that someone might have used my CC and then I see it is Monica again. No charges have shown in my card. She just seems to habitually make her reservations with my email. Not get and sort of confirmation from the airline. And just shows up at the airport expecting all is well.

Also, I have my email hooked up to trip-it. So her itineraries show up in my trip-it app as a new trip. Then I need to go delete it each time.

I will prank her to get her attention. I donā€™t want to cause her any significant trouble or cost and also wonā€™t do anything that ties up airport resources for other people (I mention this since I briefly considered listing her as blind and deaf and ordering her a wheel chair). But that might might impact an other traveling needing those service. so no to that.

From the airline emails I can access the ticket details. I can cancel it, add extras and so on. I canā€™t access her actual account info or I would change her email to the customer support email of the airline. That would be hilarious.

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Yes. I have been the stupid one plenty of times. I really just want to let her know so she can fix it. As it stands, any updated info about her flight comes to me and not her. The ability to alter her flight comes to me not her. I really just want to give all that to her and not be part of her travel plans. My only reason to prank her is to make her wonder if her account has been hacked and go find the error and fix it.

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The email, along with credit card info an the IP address she made the reservations from is all sent to the US government for prior approval before any flight is allowed for anyone in the US. This kind of thing helps show just how dirty that database must be.

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Iā€™m trying to find a useful Alaska email that I can email a screen shot of her reservations (plus the backsory). The one positive, this time is that the ticket includes her miles plan ID. In the previous tickets through SW the only identifiable info was her name and my email. if I can reach a human they might be able to use her miles ID to contact her.

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This will be her 4th flight using my email btw. Not a one time deal that slipped though once.

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Itā€™s frustrating. I get a couple of account emails, too. A cell phone account and a credit card account. It freaks me out a bit, but since they donā€™t get the emails it doesnā€™t seem like a deliberate scam.

Well, since account recovery is often via email, she may have similar issues trying to get the problem solved.

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If I every get a password reset email on her behalf I will do her the favor of clicking approve.

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if you could send a message through the itinerary/ticket under her name I have a questionā€¦can I carry explosive materials on this plane?" hahhahahaha

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Ohhhhh. That is wicked. Donā€™t even joke about that.

[whispers into potted plant] Heā€™s joking. Heā€™s joking.

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Chances are the booking site just autocompletes her details and sheā€™s not checking.

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Thatā€™s true must have her email stored in a central place that gets reused regardless of the airline.

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My email is both an Latin word and a common south and southeast asian name. I have someoneā€™s SBI card statements, another personā€™s delivery notices, got tickets to the Poetry Bordello in SF, and have gotten confidential marketing plans and cabling specifications from companies in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Recently received an Indian womanā€™s naughty pictures to her husband. She was mortified when I notified her. Yes I deleted them.

I make a good faith attempt to contact them and then start having fun if there is no response. Yes, all of us make mistakes. But if youā€™re given a chance to stop making them and ignore itā€¦

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Good lord you might have enough material there for a you tube channel.

Hello this is Tsath and today on Not My Email we get to know what is up with Jim in Thailand. But first a word about our sponsor, Squarespaceā€¦

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Same. I reported it to American Express many times and they didnā€™t care. I still get the emails.

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I wonder if Monica has a spouse named Gary? GaryMon - a shared email? (Assuming your email is something like your username.)

In anycase, I am using her full name,[REDACTED], in the text. At some point maybe sheā€™ll google herself and find this thread and discover the problem. Sort of a reverse doxingā€¦

Hi [REDACTED]! Please stop using @Garymonā€™s email address when you book your flights!

[Edited because we canā€™t have nice things.]

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And thatā€™s how easy it is. :wink:

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Dā€™oh. I will leave the typo as a lesson for all that may enter. Nice catch.

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And now Iā€™ve gotten another e-receipt for my Canadian doppelganger, this time from an outdoor-clothing business. Thatā€™s another company to argue with. >sigh<

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I get emails for other people all the time, because itā€™s a common word. Itā€™s not my main account but itā€™s still irritating, and does cause me that moment of panic wondering if Iā€™m being scammed. I consider the use of my email address to be identity theft, so I almost always take some action. If itā€™s an innocuous email that is sent to me as part of a mailing list (usually meteorological), Iā€™ll politely ask to be unsubscribed. But if itā€™s dating sites, job sites, social media etc Iā€™ll usually delete the account if possible or change the password after changing the content of the post to something absurd (usually Britney Spears related). Iā€™ve gone as far as to track down a woman using my email and call her on the phone - that stopped her right away (also, probably realizing that she didnā€™t have access to her MLS account made her realize the error of her ways). And then there was the weather guy from somewhere in California who kept ordering booze from a local liquor store. I really wanted to have those diverted, but instead let him know that Iā€™d prefer not to get his receipts. Iā€™ve never cancelled anyoneā€™s flight but I came pretty close to cancelling a womanā€™s cable installation the other day. It still irritates me that I get her bills.

One thing worth noting is that while I consider it identity theft of my identity, Iā€™m pretty sure that legally it could be viewed exactly the other way ā€˜round. Accessing someoneā€™s account and changing significant details, or causing them to be charged, could be considered hacking, regardless of how you get access. I would never mess with anyoneā€™s airline accounts or anything government related because the risk is too high. I donā€™t want to have to explain myself to Homeland Security with the ā€œbut the emails were annoyingā€ defense.

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Donā€™t you fear this might get out of hand? You now put her name and some of her movements in the public domain. The internet is a cruel place, and if e.g. someone tweets or blogs about thisā€¦ I can imagine a couple of ways putting her name on the web could go south.

I see your slightly amused annoyance, but I would still suggest to remove that info as good as possible. Same goes for @someguy.

ETA: other than that, all stories here are really nice.
I usually donā€™t get other peopleā€™s mail, but I sent mail to the wrong people quite often. Wrong top level domain, usually .net / .com / .de / .ch / .it / .li , once even .at, wrong domain name (embarrassingly often @google.com vs. @gmail.com!), and the typical spelling variations of emails someone tells you, verbally. Thankfully, my name is quite rare.

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