Someone using one of my email addresses quite a bit

C

Captain Kirk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2002
Messages
288
I run my own mail server and have several email addresses that I use. I have a Gmail address, an old university address, and my employer's email that I forward all to my local system where I read & reply with "mutt." My Gmail address is pretty old, back from when Gmail was still in Beta. My username there is pretty popular, so unfortunately the address has become a bit of a throwaway for me with all the spam and garbage it receives. I actually bound another Gmail address to it for more legitimate stuff.

Lately, there's been a huge increase in the number of people using the Gmail for correspondence with their attorney, their CPA, etc. If the email is truly misaddressed and looks 99% legit, I'll let them know they've reached the wrong party. Most people are appreciative. Occasionally, I get the shitty lawyer that tries to tell me to delete all copies, blah, blah, blah...

Now people have started signing up with eBay, Yahoo, and other popular web services that don't do useful email verification. This is really annoying, but I'm not sure I'm within my rights to delete/mess with their accounts just because they couldn't enter their email address correctly. Emails to support@service, etc. usually go unanswered. So my question is, how do people respond to this kind of thing? Just ignore it and go on with life?
 
If you're feeling benevolent, you can migrate all of your usage to another account then put up an auto-reply saying "Uh, oh, you've emailed this account by mistake! Please check the address and resend." and abandon the account. Otherwise just delete and move on with life. It certainly isn't your responsibility to correct the mistakes of others.
 
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I get this constantly, to the point of absurdity. My email address is just my full name @gmail.com. Since I was an early signup I got my name without any numbers or other additions. I like that my email address is so simple, but I get bombarded with stupid emails. Sometimes very personal about financials and other stuff. People even use my email when signing up for say turbo tax. It's unreal.

I also have just my full name on twitter, and I get people following me and DM'ing that clearly think I'm someone else.
 
I had the same issue on my Yahoo account.
I got tired of trying to get the senders to correct/remove me.
I started to 'reply all' with some interesting content.

Ones that came from an American Indian library/school...replied with 'I cant make it to the bake off, Im still in the hospital with a broken hip.
Luckily the back surgery went well (2nd one since the accident!).
I should be able to make the next craft fair, thats if <insert name from email> is cleared by the doctor.

Ones from the Honda dealer regarding my warranty coverage...Yes, Im interested in the extended care, can I bring it in for a checkup on <xxx date>?
/ then dont make the date, reschedule
//dont make that one, ask to reschedule
///tell them that the car doesnt start now, Ill need a pickup
 
Yeah, I'm not keen on deleting the account. It's got other Google services tied to it and I'm not sure I can (or want) to migrate them.

Like I said, if the email looks "real" and important, I'll try and tell the sender they haven't reached their intended recipient. It's the eBay, Yahoo, Facebook ... social media sites that are sending me a deluge. You'd think the bigger sites would be, I dunno, better at email verification?

I guess I can just keep pruning that mailbox.
 
I've seen an influx of things lately as well. For services, like eBay or Facebook, I do a password reset and login and lock the account or delete it. Why should I get the junk and spam for someone who can't remember or type their own email address properly? So I don't feel bad doing it.

If it's work or family related I let them know they've reached the wrong person and that they need to check their contact info. I did have 1 family sign up to their Disney Vacation using my email address. I called Disney support about this and they contacted the family. I got a nasty email from someone in the family but I let them know the ass-hat using my email address was sending me credit card info, home address, and children's names. All stuff they probably didn't want me to have. Never heard back from them.

I know of 5 specific other people who keep using my address or their acquaintances use my address to contact them. I got 1 lady to make sure her whole family knew of the difference. Some guy in Ohio and another in Florida still don't get it. The guy in the UK, it's his work associates and military contract contacts. They usually appreciate the head up about the wrong contact.
 
My boss had a similar issue, was rather funny to hear about. His last name isn't terribly common, but his email address is first initial last name type of deal, and someone of the opposite gender with the same first initial last name signed up for okcupid, so he was getting all of these men contacting this woman who used his email address as her own. Suffice it to say, some of the messages weren't G rated.
 
It's your duty to mess with them, in order to get rid of the idiots that would better be off leaving their computer disconnected.
 
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