Attempts to steal gmail account.

Diemos

I have my name as my gmail address and another guy in the states with the same name as me seems to be ham-fistedly trying to take it.

In the past I've had password change attempts.
I've been signed up for mailing lists, received his receipts from financial transactions and now he has started emailing me directly.

The mails say random things like
subject: Hello
Body:Goodbye

and my favourite to date:
Subject: Are you
Body: a fool?

What is he up to with these random messages?

Is there anything I can do about this? I can easily trace the guy through his social media etc. I have never contacted him directly, I've ignored all his mails.
I have added all the security I can to the account.
Would anyone have advice on how to proceed from here or even report him to Google.

Thanks

amdublin

Maybe he genuinely thinks that's his Gmail address?

My dad's address is pretty standard e.g. John doe at Gmail. Com
Another John doe in the UK set up their insurance policy with my dad's email. Likely they are John doe at Gmail dot Co UK

What I mean is it might not be a malicious attempt

dudara

I have somewhat similar with a lady in Australia. She occasionally tries to register for things (including her new iPad at Christmas) with my email. Nothing suspicious, it's more funny at this stage.

BigCon

I have a similiar problem, some guy with the same name as me is always using my gmail address to register for stuff, sometimes it's very confidential so it's obvious he's made a mistake.
I've given up at this point and just mark as spam now straight away.
Some people are just dopes...

Diemos

It's not confusion, he has tried to take it on a few occasions.
He's certainly no hacker.

I'm just wondering what he is up to by sending these random e-mails to me, directly from his own account (which shows his naivety).

Galadriel

I have a similar issue with a girl in the US, I keep getting reminders for her doctors appointments, a few months ago it was for a limo she had organised, it's weird it's like they assume they are the only 'Joe Bloggs' in the world so that email address MUST be theirs

GreenFolder2

I've had that a few times with one of my email accounts too.
Including someone actually trying to do password resets over and over.

Just set up two-factor security and you should be fine.

sullivlo

I got invited to an 80th birthday party.

I also got some suggestive messages from a website for the older single people.

I get doctor appointments.

I get receipts. Delivery notices. Confirmation of online shopping.

My favourite though was a scanned copy of passport, drivers licence and bank statements of someone of the same name as me who's friend got the @ part wrong.

vandriver

In the past few years I've had emails for
1.A retired New England electrician
2.A software executive who buys expensive knives
3.A football coach
4.A Texan rancher who was building a 7000 sq ft pond
5.Someone who banks with HSBC
My name isn't even common!

irelandrover

i assume this is to do with the fact atht gmail don't recognise . in teh email.
So joebloggs@gmail.com is the same as joe.bloggs@gmail.com

Wheety

irelandrover wrote: »

i assume this is to do with the fact atht gmail don't recognise . in teh email.
So joebloggs@gmail.com is the same as joe.bloggs@gmail.com

Yeah but surely they couldn't register the second if the first is already taken.

I recently got headhunted by Google trying to poach me away from my job in Facebook. :rolleyes:

Wonder how much they'll offer the real guy

Diemos

Thanks for all the responses.

I don't mind the mistaken e-mails, stuff happens.
I already have 2 factor security, thanks for the suggestion though.

joebloggs@gmail.com and joe.bloggs@gmail.com are essential the same e-mail address to gmail.
This guy is joe.bloggs9@gmail.com.

I'm just confused what this guy is up to by sending me random e-mails.
There are no attachments so it's not a trojan.
I'm just perplexed about what he is up to.

Can you report a user to google?

tracey turnblad

I have an email address traceyturnblad4@hotmail.com (not my real address BTW just the 4 part) when I got my iphone i registered it with Traceymarriedname4@icloud.com. At the start i was always getting confused and putting my email address in as traceymarriedname4@hotmail.com. The person who owns that address must think i'm a weirdo but its a total mistake, i've had hotel confirmations etc sent over to it..I usually cop it after Ive done it

L1011

Google won't do anything - sending weird emails isn't banned by their rules; if it was I know a few people who'd be removed rather rapidly! You can just block his address. The 2FA should eliminate the chance of him taking over the account.

I've got a selection of very thick people with the same name as me - including an emigrant who probably lost his Australian visa as his appointment time was sent to me and I didn't check that email address for a few days; by which time it had passed. I would have assumed it was the immigration lawyer being thick except he'd given that address to lots of people!

Button_y

My email is constantly getting emails for people with same name as me. I get photos from their friends, personal emails, hotel receipts, emails from their employment. At this stage one person with the same name, I know what school she went to, where she works, details about her work, who her friends are, quotes for work...... What really irritates me though is the companies that allow people to register with your email and log in without having that bit where you need to confirm your email address. I have emailed these companies and told them what I think of their data protection.
When I initially registered (in the early days of gmail) I registered first.last@gmail.com with the "." I think shortly after they changed how they handled "." and I think 1 person has never got over that

bigpaudge

My wife gets Emails from the manager of a Supervalu in Kildare to her Gmail account... it's hilarious! But it's also scary that the dot (.) is not recognised in a Gmail account... I thought Google were pretty good on security.

L1011

The . not being recognised and is deliberate. People forget them, and if you do allow them you'll have mick.murphy@ and mickmurphy@ constantly getting each others email

What is happening here is people forgetting that the domain is.

Fuzzy Clam

Its possible that the other person may think that its their account that is been hacked.

Pat Mustard

Diemos wrote: »

What is he up to with these random messages?

He is trying to provoke a response from you.

Diemos wrote: »

Is there anything I can do about this?

You should ignore him completely. If you reply to him, you are giving exactly what he wants.

If you completely ignore him, he will eventually get bored and move on to something/somebody else.

Diemos

Pat Mustard wrote: »

He is trying to provoke a response from you.

To what end though? I mean there are better ways to troll.

Pat Mustard

Diemos wrote: »

To what end though? I mean there are better ways to troll.

You are looking at this from a rational perspective.

This chap may not be.

I don't know, is the short answer.

harr

I get the same for a lad in Florida,,emails from a mobile phone company looking for payment ,they are mostly over due bills..and I have gotten a few very personal emails obviously ment for this other person...pain in the hole at times because I am getting everything from gun store loyalty programs to discount vouchers for his local restaurants....as mentioned google won't do anything and I have emailed the phone company which send the most emails informing them the intended recipient is not getting the emails all they say is nothing they can do till he changes his contact details...

28064212

bigpaudge wrote: »

But it's also scary that the dot (.) is not recognised in a Gmail account... I thought Google were pretty good on security.

You're missing the point a bit. It's not possible for two different people to have joebloggs@gmail.com and joe.bloggs@gmail.com. They are both the exact same email address. Google aren't at fault here

Amalgam

My Mum got in early with Gmail and had a first initial, followed by a very common Irish name, getting 50+ emails a day. A lot of it very sensitive, travel and bank related, password resets, the works basically.

She has kept it, hard to tell, about 5 people actively claiming it. Using it for everything..

Her spam folder is huge.

As Pat Mustard said, don't respond and archive all the 'odd' stuff that seems directed at you. Just in case this situation becomes an issue for you in the future.

MarkR

Same boat here. Those other people with the wrong email address, I presume they never get their emails?

bigpaudge

28064212 wrote: »

You're missing the point a bit. It's not possible for two different people to have joebloggs@gmail.com and joe.bloggs@gmail.com. They are both the exact same email address. Google aren't at fault here

How are they the same Email address? There is a (.) in the middle... if that were in a password it would not be accepted so why is it in an Email address?

vandriver

bigpaudge wrote: »

How are they the same Email address? There is a (.) in the middle... if that were in a password it would not be accepted so why is it in an Email address?

Google disregard dots in email addresses.

vandriver@gmail.com
And
v.a.n.d.r.i.v.e.r@gmail.com

are the same address.

Apologies if anyone actually owns the email address!

bigpaudge

vandriver wrote: »

Google disregard dots in email addresses.

vandriver@gmail.com
And
v.a.n.d.r.i.v.e.r@gmail.com

are the same address.

Apologies if anyone actually owns the email address!

Yeah, just tested it... shocking!

L1011

bigpaudge wrote: »

Yeah, just tested it... shocking!

How is it shocking?

This is by design. Its one email address - two people can't sign up for variants of it.

It hugely reduces the risk of misdirected email

28064212

bigpaudge wrote: »

How are they the same Email address? There is a (.) in the middle... if that were in a password it would not be accepted so why is it in an Email address?

If you want to consider it that way, then Google gives you two email addresses with the same mailbox. Actually, they give you lots of email addresses, because you can also use [noparse]joe.blo.ggs@gmail.com[/noparse], [noparse]j.o.e.bloggs@gmail.com[/noparse] and even [noparse]j.o.e.b.l.o.g.g.s@gmail.com[/noparse]. It's not an issue, it doesn't give anyone else access to your emails

MarkR

I'm still wondering how my alternate goes through life with no email. Luddite