Wrong email on an account

holly_johnson

So I have an email doppelgänger (or thief). My email is firstnamesurname@gmail.com. My doppelgänger (I presume, is first name.surname@gmail.com). For the last few years I’ve received holiday bookings, Harvey Norman purchases & similar. I’ve also received emails about a super sensitive legal case that I’ve responded to the solicitor & informed them about GDPR issues.

My current problem is Yahoo. For like the last year I get emails from Yahoo that someone has tried to reset my password. A text message number is included. I’ve texted that number to say ffs it’s not me, but it keeps coming.

It’s now escalated such that I’m getting about 5 emails a day about someone trying to reset the account. The email address is no reply. The phone number on their website is never answered.

How can I find someone in Yahoo to stop this crap? It’s dojng my head in. I’m so done with getting this stuff. Who can I complain to? If I could find someone in Yahoo that would help SO much

Gazzmonkey

sugarman wrote: »

Gmail doesn't recognize periods / fullstops in addresses, so it's impossible someone has that address.

Bang on

first.name@gmail.com is the same as f.ir.stna.me@gmail.com

holly_johnson

sugarman wrote: »

Gmail doesn't recognize periods / fullstops in addresses, so it's impossible someone has that address.

Em ok so but what is happening to me is real. It’s not my Yahoo account, I haven’t booked the holidays or made the purchases from Harvey Norman.

So what should I do? I am getting at least 4 or 5 emails a day from Yahoo that someone is trying to reset my account.

It’s not my account. Wtf.

srsly78

Just click the spam button and gmail should block all those mails.

GBX

Not sure but maybe try their help:

https://uk.help.yahoo.com/kb/account ?

caff

sugarman wrote: »

I think you should read it again, it does ..the difference being the fullstop in the second.

The auto blue link text threw me off I deleted the post.

samih

Good info sugarman. I can confirm that first.last@gmail.com works the same as firstlast@gmail.com

Gazzmonkey

holly_johnson wrote: »

Em ok so but what is happening to me is real. It’s not my Yahoo account, I haven’t booked the holidays or made the purchases from Harvey Norman.

So what should I do? I am getting at least 4 or 5 emails a day from Yahoo that someone is trying to reset my account.

It’s not my account. Wtf.

Really sounds like someone thinks your account is their account... it happens as a lot of people share the same name and cant remember the exact email address.

So might not be malicious

granturismo

sugarman wrote: »

Gmail doesn't recognize periods / fullstops in addresses, so it's impossible someone has that address.

It is possible. I registered my young children with firstname.surname@gmail when gmail started thinking they would have unique email addresses. About 2 years one of them started getting emails from firstnamesurname@gmail. She started receiving emails for lifeguard job shift rotas in Melbourne and an email from an Australian phone provider detailing full name, address, dob, mobile phone number and phone account number. She emailed the Australian based gmail account holder but is still getting emails for firstnamesurname@gmail

Its a common problem with gmail. My daughter has set up a new gmail account.

jester77

I have the same issue as the OP with my gmail address, except the resetting the password part. I have a lot of this guys personal info. I have his home address, car reg, I know when he rents a car, when he goes through the tolls, I have info about hospital visits, I get his gas bills where I could easily reset his password and access his account (could probably get his bank details through that). Plus a few personal mails that were for him. So it can happen.

L1011

I've been sent someones payslips (encrypted PDF, so slightly less costly fine-wise for the employer; if I knew who they were to report them as they're sent from an eircom.net address) for a few months, have had to remove Instagram/Fortnite/gambling/etc accounts all due to having firstname.lastname and other people with the same name being quite thick

Its a standard problem for being the person with firstname.lastname@majorproviderbasically.

granturismo wrote: »

It is possible. I registered my young children with firstname.surname@gmail when gmail started thinking they would have unique email addresses. About 2 years one of them started getting emails from firstnamesurname@gmail. She started receiving emails for lifeguard job shift rotas in Melbourne and an email from an Australian phone provider detailing full name, address, dob, mobile phone number and phone account number. She emailed the Australian based gmail account holder but is still getting emails for firstnamesurname@gmail

Its a common problem with gmail. My daughter has set up a new gmail account.

That's the other person being stupid and giving the wrong address to other people - the two address are the same

holly_johnson

I don’t think it’s malicious, I think that the person who owns “firstname.lastname@gmail.con keeps giving my address which is firstnamelastname@gmail.com. The difference being the DOT. I have been plagued for years with bookings, purchases etc. but lately I’m getting about 10 emails a day about attempts to reset Yahoo avcount that is not mine.

It comes fom a no reply address. How can I stop this spam?

holly_johnson

What I’m looking for is some way to contact Yahoo to tell them this is wrong. The email is “no reply” so that’s useless. I’ve looked on their website & the contact number is never answered. I just need the talk to a human!

28064212

holly_johnson wrote: »

I don’t think it’s malicious, I think that the person who owns “firstname.lastname@gmail.con keeps giving my address which is firstnamelastname@gmail.com. The difference being the DOT. I have been plagued for years with bookings, purchases etc. but lately I’m getting about 10 emails a day about attempts to reset Yahoo avcount that is not mine.

It comes fom a no reply address. How can I stop this spam?

Simplest thing to do is set up a filter in your gmail account to send all email from the Yahoo noreply address (and/or with that subject) straight to Trash. Click into the email in gmail, click the three dots in the menu, then select "Filter messages like these".

Just for clarification though, you are the owner of [noparse]firstname.lastname@gmail.com[/noparse] (as well as [noparse]firstnamelastname@gmail.com[/noparse], and [noparse]first.name.last.name@gmail.com[/noparse]). They're all the exact same email address from Google's point of view. What has likely happened here is that someone called FirstName LastName set up an email address like firstname.lastname123@gmail.com, and then forgot that they had 123 in the email. And yes, people do that all the time

Thoie

holly_johnson wrote: »

I don’t think it’s malicious, I think that the person who owns “firstname.lastname@gmail.con keeps giving my address which is firstnamelastname@gmail.com. The difference being the DOT. I have been plagued for years with bookings, purchases etc. but lately I’m getting about 10 emails a day about attempts to reset Yahoo avcount that is not mine.

It comes fom a no reply address. How can I stop this spam?

Just block the yahoo address as spam in gmail? So you won't be bothered with it?

My gmail address is first.last There's a lady in America who is First.t.last (the middle initial is the same as the last letter of our first names). People frequently get it wrong, and I get quite a bit of stuff for her over the years. I only went looking for her when I got a bunch of stuff about her wedding dress, that seemed important. It included a lot of personal information which helped me track her down. Now I just forward certain things on to her, and we have a bit of a chat from time to time

BrokenArrows

holly_johnson wrote: »

So I have an email doppelgänger (or thief). My email is firstnamesurname@gmail.com. My doppelgänger (I presume, is first name.surname@gmail.com). For the last few years I’ve received holiday bookings, Harvey Norman purchases & similar. I’ve also received emails about a super sensitive legal case that I’ve responded to the solicitor & informed them about GDPR issues.

My current problem is Yahoo. For like the last year I get emails from Yahoo that someone has tried to reset my password. A text message number is included. I’ve texted that number to say ffs it’s not me, but it keeps coming.

It’s now escalated such that I’m getting about 5 emails a day about someone trying to reset the account. The email address is no reply. The phone number on their website is never answered.

How can I find someone in Yahoo to stop this crap? It’s dojng my head in. I’m so done with getting this stuff. Who can I complain to? If I could find someone in Yahoo that would help SO much

Change your email address. Because you wont be able to get the other person to change it.

holly_johnson

28064212 wrote: »

Simplest thing to do is set up a filter in your gmail account to send all email from the Yahoo noreply address (and/or with that subject) straight to Trash. Click into the email in gmail, click the three dots in the menu, then select "Filter messages like these".

Just for clarification though, you are the owner of [noparse]firstname.lastname@gmail.com[/noparse] (as well as [noparse]firstnamelastname@gmail.com[/noparse], and [noparse]first.name.last.name@gmail.com[/noparse]). They're all the exact same email address from Google's point of view. What has likely happened here is that someone called FirstName LastName set up an email address like firstname.lastname123@gmail.com, and then forgot that they had 123 in the email. And yes, people do that all the time

I am the owner of firstnamelastname@gmail.com. The offending party keeps using this address. I *presume* they own first ameDOTlastname@gmIl.com. What way can I find to contact Yahoo to stop this onslaught?

holly_johnson

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Change your email address. Because you wont be able to get the other person to change it.

Ah stop. I’ve had this email address for years. Why should I change? Talk about missing he point..

holly_johnson

I’ve rung o1 8663100 about 5 times now but no answer. Ffs how can I talk to a human in Yahoo?

ursa actos

I'm in a similar boat. My email is firstname.lastname@gmail.com and I often get emails meant for someone else with the same name, from businesses & family members alike. Have read of similar cases. Logging into firstname.lastname@gmail.com or firstnamelastname@gmail.com gets me to my email. Did Google recognize periods at one point? I suspect they stopped when they developed some algorithm to distinguish which person they thought the email was intended for?

Update - I see folks saying that it's always been this way with Google.

Thoie

holly_johnson wrote: »

I am the owner of firstnamelastname@gmail.com. The offending party keeps using this address. I *presume* they own first ameDOTlastname@gmIl.com. What way can I find to contact Yahoo to stop this onslaught?

As has been pointed out firstlast and first.last and fi.rs.t.la.st are all exactly the same to gmail, so the likelihood is that the other person has a similar name that "typos" easily to yours. e.g. AnneSmith vs AnnaSmith or else they did something like set up AnneSmith1 and then keep forgetting the 1.

pleasant Co.

sugarman wrote: »

...and WHY are you trying to contact Yahoo??? gmail is GOOGLE.

Someone is trying to reset a Yahoo account's password using the OP's Gmail address as the secondary password reset email. The OP definitely knows that Yahoo is not Google. :pac:

---

OP just set up a filter, there is literally nothing you can do to fix this other human's error, even if you could contact yahoo they will not help you as you do not own the yahoo account from which the password reset attempt is being made.

pawrick

some guy in the usa started using one of my gmail addresses to register for websites such as amazon and ebay during the summer and buy cookery books. I never registered the address with these sites so it wasn't blocked by them. i reset his accounts after the books were delivered and disabled them but he hasn't noticed and continues to register my email for other services on and off.

28064212

holly_johnson wrote: »

I am the owner of firstnamelastname@gmail.com. The offending party keeps using this address. I *presume* they own first ameDOTlastname@gmIl.com.

...Again, you are the owner of firstname.lastname@gmail.com (as well as firstnamelastname@gmail.com, and first.name.last.name@gmail.com). They're all the exact same email address from Google's point of view.

holly_johnson wrote: »

What way can I find to contact Yahoo to stop this onslaught?

Why bother? Setting up a filter takes 5 minutes. You've already spent multiples of that trying to contact them, and there's no guarantee that (a) it's possible to contact a person or (b) that they'll agree to stop sending the emails. Just set up a filter

holly_johnson

holly_johnson wrote: »

What I’m looking for is some way to contact Yahoo to tell them this is wrong. The email is “no reply” so that’s useless. I’ve looked on their website & the contact number is never answered. I just need the talk to a human!

It is the Yahoo customer who is getting it wrong - not Yahoo themselves.
You aren't their customer and they can't and won't help you.

If you are getting emails from Yahoo maybe look this email address up. It might bring you to a Facebook profile or the correct gmail address.

RoYoBo

To prove to yourself that you own all the variations of first names and surnames and dots in your email, send yourself emails to all of them from another email address. Or get someone else to do so if you haven't got another address.
You'll receive them all.

As others have said, a filter is the easiest answer to the problem. If you're at all worried about the security of your email address, set up 2 stage verification in gmail.

granturismo

sugarman wrote: »

Its not possible, if you signed up with firstname.surname@gmail first and another person went to sign up with firstnamesurname@gmail it would tell them that address is already taken. Its always been this way with gmail.

Usually its people going firstnamesurname@gmail.com and surenamefirstname@gmail.com mixing the two up I find.

It is possible. I'm capable of seeing that the emails sent to this other person are in the format firstnamesurname@gmail. There is no dot in the emails we are receiving. She was able to register firstnamesurname@gmail when firstname.surname@gmail was already taken.

28064212

granturismo wrote: »

It is possible. I'm capable of seeing that the emails sent to this other person are in the format firstnamesurname@gmail.

Of course you are. You are the owner of [noparse]firstnamesurname@gmail.com[/noparse] (as well as [noparse]firstname.surname@gmail.com[/noparse]). They are the same email address on gmail's system.

granturismo wrote: »

She was able to register firstnamesurname@gmail when firstname.surname@gmail was already taken.

She wasn't. That might have been what she thought she did, but it's not what she actually did. What she actually did was register [noparse]firstnamesurname82@gmail.com[/noparse] (or some other variation). She then signed up to services mistakenly saying that her email was [noparse]firstnamesurname@gmail.com[/noparse].

She has never received an email sent to [noparse]firstnamesurname@gmail.com[/noparse]

L1011

granturismo wrote: »

It is possible. I'm capable of seeing that the emails sent to this other person are in the format firstnamesurname@gmail. There is no dot in the emails we are receiving. She was able to register firstnamesurname@gmail when firstname.surname@gmail was already taken.

They never registered it.

They have put it in wrong on other sites

wyrn

I'm the same. I have an email account in Gmail with my full name and I am constantly being plagued with emails and subscriptions for my name doppelger. I'm guessing they use a middle initial in their email which sometimes gets dropped.


If you open one of those emails and click on the down arrow beside your email name (it should be just below the name from the person who sent the email), you'll see in the dropdown menu <yourfirstnamelastname>@gmail.com beside it you'll also see "(Yes, this is you.) Learn more". That link brings you to this support page about getting someone else's mail, which tells you to just "Report Spam" from those email addresses

runawaybishop

Log into into the yahoo account and remove your email as the backup