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Years ago I bought my dad an Audible subscription, but because it was a gift I signed up with my email address and then changed it to my dad's address on his bi

Years ago I bought my dad an Audible subscription, but because it was a gift I signed up with my email address and then changed it to my dad's address on his birthday. Somehow I ended up inside his Amazon account because I used his email address. I guess some of the backend logic is hard to get right the first time. Another time I was talking to a credit union CTO who was dealing with someone blocking other people's account access by picking a random account number and making 3 bogus guesses to lock them out. At the time the credit union had a policy that required calling them to unblock... which was a PITA on weekends when people need money.

mey 3y ago
Instacart has some sort of similar issue, signed up under my email, changed the email address to my wife, support requests get sent to both of our addresses.
jen729w 3y ago
Someone with my name bought a new iPhone in Bismarck, ND last week. They gave AT&T my iCloud email address which is firstname.lastname. An honest mistake, I guess. AT&T dutifully asked 'me' to confirm my email address. I did not. Aaaand... now I still get all of his account email. So what's the point.
- soneil 3y ago
  I've been struggling with this for years - but with a fun twist. My gmail address is first.last, and someone in the UK keeps using it - but they do not have remotely the same first name, and they don't spell their last name the same as I do (the single-L in my username here is a less common deviation, their surname is the more common variant). Years. I've closed netflix accounts, I've sent them sms from their telco's webtext portal asking them to stop, and still there's a koneill out there who is very, very confused about why his email doesn't work. I know where he lives, I know what pizza he ordered, I know his name, his phone number, I just don't know his email address. And apparently, neither does he. The number of services that fail at email validation (or keep sending you reminders, forever, that you haven't validated), blows my mind. For such a simple process, that seems to exist on every single service I (and koneill) sign up for, it has a surprisingly low rate of successful implementations.
  - irrational 3y ago
    There is a woman in another state that must have a gmail address very close to my wife’s. We know when this woman gets Botox, how much she pays for her kids dance lessons (a lot!), and so much more. You would think she would realize at some point, but it has been years and my wife still gets so much of her mail. I used to get email for a guy in California when he would buy something from Harbor Freight, rent a movie from Redbox, or order a pizza. Those started tapering off about a year ago, so he must have figured it out. The strangest one was I was receiving email for a colonel in the US Army! For a few years I kept getting these group emails to all these army officers about upcoming training exercises. I thought about replying to let them know they shouldn’t be sending them to me, but was worried about getting in trouble, so never did. They continued for years, but finally stopped. I always wondered if the guy had a .mil address and accidentally used gmail.com.
  - rootusrootus 3y ago
    I have a similar problem. I have a half dozen different people sending their emails to my gmail account. One of them is a woman who signed up my address for her health care provider, and they're quite liberal with what kind of detail they're willing to put in an email. I tracked her down on Facebook and mentioned it to her, and she seemed to get that it was a problem she might want to solve, but to this day I still get all those emails. In retrospect I should have chosen g6adfs789zg2@gmail.com or something.
    - zx8080 3y ago
      > I tracked her down on Facebook and mentioned it to her, and she seemed to get that it was a problem she might want to solve Not a lawyer, but feels like you could be sued for a) reaching out and clearly mentioning you have some very private information. How does it work for a paper mail - from what I understand it could be illegal to open any letter originated to some other person's name.
      - nucleardog 3y ago
        Sued for what? Unless he was trying to extort her he’s done nothing wrong. Her healthcare provider, on the other hand, could be in some hot shit.
- makr17 3y ago
  My gmail address is lastname@gmail.com. Not a particularly common last name, and I thought it lucky when I got that address early on. I've since come to view it as mostly a curse. I get email invoice every time Orkin goes out to spray a house in North Carolina. No option to say "this isn't me", and I've given up calling to tell them after multiple cycles. The elderly German couple that would email their train itinerary so that their cousin could pick them up at the station. I would politely reply that I am not their cousin, and consequently their cousin would not be at the station. And six months later we start again. Someone in Canada with first initial + last name that results in my last name kept getting wired money, and I would get in email with instructions. Of course no "not me" option. I haven't seen one of those in a while, hopefully he figured it out. And so many more stories of people with my last name or close to it happily sending me their email... But I've had the address for practically forever, and really don't want to let it go.
  - EvanAnderson 3y ago
    I love these stories. I got service emails for the same year, model, and color Honda Civic that I own from a dealer in the UK. I am in the US. That alone was spooky. The car was owned by somebody who matched my first initial, last name email address. (Edwin, I believe…) I tried to unsubscribe. I tried to contact customer service. Nothing worked. Each email would come with a little video walk around of the car. Eventually I started responding saying that their paint looked better than my car, etc. I don’t get them anymore. I presume the owner sold the car.
  - grepfru_it 3y ago
    Same story here, bro. It was really interesting when my cousins wife emailed me (not thinking it was new) about my cousins infidelity. That one made me rethink the safety of email addresses
  - _whiteCaps_ 3y ago
    My gmail address is also lastname@gmail.com I've received Amazon gift cards, customs approval for a yacht arrival in Vanuatu, spreadsheets from Iraqi oilfields, children's book reports, pictures of dogs meant to be sent to veterinarians, etc etc.
- toast0 3y ago
  Given there's a couple peeps who can't figure out their email address, I do my best to click on 'not me' or just ignore the confirmations intended for other people. But if I get mail for others that should have been confirmed, I mark it spam, because it is. Sometimes that includes an unsubscribe, which sometimes works.
- LorenDB 3y ago
  Obligatory relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1279/ https://xkcd.com/1279/
username135 3y ago
This happens with my Gmail account. I know periods don't count, supposedly, but I still get emails for someone with the same name as mine. My email is first.last, theirs is firstlast. I wonder how much of my stuff they get erroneously?
- __ryan__ 3y ago
  You are correct that the period doesn’t count. Both email addresses belong to the same account. A possible explanation is that they have entered your email as a mistake.
- OJFord 3y ago
  The full stop doesn't count. If you're successfully using 'first.last', then theirs is not 'firstlast', that is also yours, as you said yourself. Theirs is probably 'firstlaast' or something - i.e. some typo unrelated to their decision not to separate by '.'.
- dharmab 3y ago
  A more likely explanation: https://xkcd.com/1279/ https://xkcd.com/1279/
TheJoeMan 3y ago
Hey just fyi: they’re not doing it for the purpose of locking people out. They’re doing a distributed account breakin. Doesn’t matter to the thief who’s money they steal, so just try “password” on everyone’s account until you get in.
- gabeio 3y ago
  Yet another amazing reason to use hide my email features, less-guessable user emails as well as unique emails per service.
endominus 3y ago
Speaking of Amazon's account process, I have a really annoying problem with theirs. Apparently I somehow managed to create two amazon accounts with the same email address, but different passwords. They have different order histories and addresses and everything, but the account name is identical. It sometimes makes it confusing to tell why an order I placed hasn't shown up. Interestingly, I can't change the password on one account to the password of the other account. The attempt fails. Which is... somewhat concerning.
- verelo 3y ago
  I have this exact issue too. Let me know if you ever fix it!
- sharkmerry 3y ago
  You are not alone!!! I am in the exact same situation. I've told this to so many people and no one believes. I'm stunned I stumbled on this. Small world
  - hereonout2 3y ago
    Yes me too, depending which password I use I get a different account with same email! Madness
    - dylan604 3y ago
      Is it possible that one account was created using an email address and the second account using a phone number, and then some where down the line each account got updated with the missing information so that now both accounts look identical?
    - glenngillen 3y ago
      I have this too, though I assumed it was some legacy of creating accounts in different geos (i.e., .com.au, .co.uk, and .com).
- dporter 3y ago
  Can you change the password to something unrelated, but are unable to change it to the same? Seems like they might not be salting their passwords?
Fnoord 3y ago
Years ago I started a Netflix trial account while with the family at my mom's place. I intended it to be for her, and called it 'grandma <her name>'. I ended up paying for it (she never has, directly). But apart from when we're around she barely used it and got back to linear TV (though via internet). Meanwhile, my wife and kids love it and it is among our streaming portfolio (for lack of a better term). So basically it is a Netflix account on someone else's name, though a family member. She kept getting these emails that someone logged in to her account, and every time I answered to her 'yeah that was one of us'. Eventually I changed the email address of the account to my own, and now I keep getting called 'grandma <her name>'. And you know when she watches Netflix? When we're around (well, my kids do then). Now the other day my wife got some kind of confirmation error that this was our account, and ever since the writing's been on the wall that we'll get into trouble on this. Btw, we can only pay for it via gift cards or manual bank transfer. The automated system does not work, and every time it gets our card denied. Honestly, it is an abysmal customer service (my wife tried to sort it out on various occasions w/them; still broken).
- topato 3y ago
  Netflix added a way to export your profile's watch history etc to a separate account... (this is the only reason I could think of why you wouldn't just make a new Netflix acct. lol)
ufmace 3y ago
I kind of enjoy these stories since I'm in the inverse situation. I have a firstlast@gmail.com address with my real name, which is pretty unique. I feel a bit annoyed and paranoid sometimes that, since my name is unusual, a Google search will bring up a ton of personal information that I'd really rather be a bit harder to find. But at least I don't get a ton of emails meant for random strangers who put the wrong email somewhere!
andromaton 3y ago
My user name at a major bank was Thomas Anderson (of Neo fame) but got locked out too many times, so now it's a long random thing.

mey 3y ago

Instacart has some sort of similar issue, signed up under my email, changed the email address to my wife, support requests get sent to both of our addresses.

jen729w 3y ago

Someone with my name bought a new iPhone in Bismarck, ND last week. They gave AT&T my iCloud email address which is firstname.lastname. An honest mistake, I guess. AT&T dutifully asked 'me' to confirm my email address. I did not. Aaaand... now I still get all of his account email. So what's the point.

soneil 3y ago
I've been struggling with this for years - but with a fun twist. My gmail address is first.last, and someone in the UK keeps using it - but they do not have remotely the same first name, and they don't spell their last name the same as I do (the single-L in my username here is a less common deviation, their surname is the more common variant). Years. I've closed netflix accounts, I've sent them sms from their telco's webtext portal asking them to stop, and still there's a koneill out there who is very, very confused about why his email doesn't work. I know where he lives, I know what pizza he ordered, I know his name, his phone number, I just don't know his email address. And apparently, neither does he. The number of services that fail at email validation (or keep sending you reminders, forever, that you haven't validated), blows my mind. For such a simple process, that seems to exist on every single service I (and koneill) sign up for, it has a surprisingly low rate of successful implementations.
- irrational 3y ago
  There is a woman in another state that must have a gmail address very close to my wife’s. We know when this woman gets Botox, how much she pays for her kids dance lessons (a lot!), and so much more. You would think she would realize at some point, but it has been years and my wife still gets so much of her mail. I used to get email for a guy in California when he would buy something from Harbor Freight, rent a movie from Redbox, or order a pizza. Those started tapering off about a year ago, so he must have figured it out. The strangest one was I was receiving email for a colonel in the US Army! For a few years I kept getting these group emails to all these army officers about upcoming training exercises. I thought about replying to let them know they shouldn’t be sending them to me, but was worried about getting in trouble, so never did. They continued for years, but finally stopped. I always wondered if the guy had a .mil address and accidentally used gmail.com.
- rootusrootus 3y ago
  I have a similar problem. I have a half dozen different people sending their emails to my gmail account. One of them is a woman who signed up my address for her health care provider, and they're quite liberal with what kind of detail they're willing to put in an email. I tracked her down on Facebook and mentioned it to her, and she seemed to get that it was a problem she might want to solve, but to this day I still get all those emails. In retrospect I should have chosen g6adfs789zg2@gmail.com or something.
  - zx8080 3y ago
    > I tracked her down on Facebook and mentioned it to her, and she seemed to get that it was a problem she might want to solve Not a lawyer, but feels like you could be sued for a) reaching out and clearly mentioning you have some very private information. How does it work for a paper mail - from what I understand it could be illegal to open any letter originated to some other person's name.
    - nucleardog 3y ago
      Sued for what? Unless he was trying to extort her he’s done nothing wrong. Her healthcare provider, on the other hand, could be in some hot shit.
makr17 3y ago
My gmail address is lastname@gmail.com. Not a particularly common last name, and I thought it lucky when I got that address early on. I've since come to view it as mostly a curse. I get email invoice every time Orkin goes out to spray a house in North Carolina. No option to say "this isn't me", and I've given up calling to tell them after multiple cycles. The elderly German couple that would email their train itinerary so that their cousin could pick them up at the station. I would politely reply that I am not their cousin, and consequently their cousin would not be at the station. And six months later we start again. Someone in Canada with first initial + last name that results in my last name kept getting wired money, and I would get in email with instructions. Of course no "not me" option. I haven't seen one of those in a while, hopefully he figured it out. And so many more stories of people with my last name or close to it happily sending me their email... But I've had the address for practically forever, and really don't want to let it go.
- EvanAnderson 3y ago
  I love these stories. I got service emails for the same year, model, and color Honda Civic that I own from a dealer in the UK. I am in the US. That alone was spooky. The car was owned by somebody who matched my first initial, last name email address. (Edwin, I believe…) I tried to unsubscribe. I tried to contact customer service. Nothing worked. Each email would come with a little video walk around of the car. Eventually I started responding saying that their paint looked better than my car, etc. I don’t get them anymore. I presume the owner sold the car.
- grepfru_it 3y ago
  Same story here, bro. It was really interesting when my cousins wife emailed me (not thinking it was new) about my cousins infidelity. That one made me rethink the safety of email addresses
- _whiteCaps_ 3y ago
  My gmail address is also lastname@gmail.com I've received Amazon gift cards, customs approval for a yacht arrival in Vanuatu, spreadsheets from Iraqi oilfields, children's book reports, pictures of dogs meant to be sent to veterinarians, etc etc.
toast0 3y ago
Given there's a couple peeps who can't figure out their email address, I do my best to click on 'not me' or just ignore the confirmations intended for other people. But if I get mail for others that should have been confirmed, I mark it spam, because it is. Sometimes that includes an unsubscribe, which sometimes works.
LorenDB 3y ago
Obligatory relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1279/ https://xkcd.com/1279/

username135 3y ago

This happens with my Gmail account. I know periods don't count, supposedly, but I still get emails for someone with the same name as mine. My email is first.last, theirs is firstlast. I wonder how much of my stuff they get erroneously?

__ryan__ 3y ago
You are correct that the period doesn’t count. Both email addresses belong to the same account. A possible explanation is that they have entered your email as a mistake.
OJFord 3y ago
The full stop doesn't count. If you're successfully using 'first.last', then theirs is not 'firstlast', that is also yours, as you said yourself. Theirs is probably 'firstlaast' or something - i.e. some typo unrelated to their decision not to separate by '.'.
dharmab 3y ago
A more likely explanation: https://xkcd.com/1279/ https://xkcd.com/1279/

TheJoeMan 3y ago

Hey just fyi: they’re not doing it for the purpose of locking people out. They’re doing a distributed account breakin. Doesn’t matter to the thief who’s money they steal, so just try “password” on everyone’s account until you get in.

gabeio 3y ago
Yet another amazing reason to use hide my email features, less-guessable user emails as well as unique emails per service.

endominus 3y ago

Speaking of Amazon's account process, I have a really annoying problem with theirs. Apparently I somehow managed to create two amazon accounts with the same email address, but different passwords. They have different order histories and addresses and everything, but the account name is identical. It sometimes makes it confusing to tell why an order I placed hasn't shown up. Interestingly, I can't change the password on one account to the password of the other account. The attempt fails. Which is... somewhat concerning.

verelo 3y ago
I have this exact issue too. Let me know if you ever fix it!
sharkmerry 3y ago
You are not alone!!! I am in the exact same situation. I've told this to so many people and no one believes. I'm stunned I stumbled on this. Small world
- hereonout2 3y ago
  Yes me too, depending which password I use I get a different account with same email! Madness
  - dylan604 3y ago
    Is it possible that one account was created using an email address and the second account using a phone number, and then some where down the line each account got updated with the missing information so that now both accounts look identical?
  - glenngillen 3y ago
    I have this too, though I assumed it was some legacy of creating accounts in different geos (i.e., .com.au, .co.uk, and .com).
dporter 3y ago
Can you change the password to something unrelated, but are unable to change it to the same? Seems like they might not be salting their passwords?

Fnoord 3y ago

Years ago I started a Netflix trial account while with the family at my mom's place. I intended it to be for her, and called it 'grandma <her name>'. I ended up paying for it (she never has, directly). But apart from when we're around she barely used it and got back to linear TV (though via internet). Meanwhile, my wife and kids love it and it is among our streaming portfolio (for lack of a better term). So basically it is a Netflix account on someone else's name, though a family member. She kept getting these emails that someone logged in to her account, and every time I answered to her 'yeah that was one of us'. Eventually I changed the email address of the account to my own, and now I keep getting called 'grandma <her name>'. And you know when she watches Netflix? When we're around (well, my kids do then). Now the other day my wife got some kind of confirmation error that this was our account, and ever since the writing's been on the wall that we'll get into trouble on this. Btw, we can only pay for it via gift cards or manual bank transfer. The automated system does not work, and every time it gets our card denied. Honestly, it is an abysmal customer service (my wife tried to sort it out on various occasions w/them; still broken).

topato 3y ago
Netflix added a way to export your profile's watch history etc to a separate account... (this is the only reason I could think of why you wouldn't just make a new Netflix acct. lol)

ufmace 3y ago

I kind of enjoy these stories since I'm in the inverse situation. I have a firstlast@gmail.com address with my real name, which is pretty unique. I feel a bit annoyed and paranoid sometimes that, since my name is unusual, a Google search will bring up a ton of personal information that I'd really rather be a bit harder to find. But at least I don't get a ton of emails meant for random strangers who put the wrong email somewhere!

andromaton 3y ago

My user name at a major bank was Thomas Anderson (of Neo fame) but got locked out too many times, so now it's a long random thing.