Gmail security/privacy flaw?
I’m a little concerned about my Gmail account recently. For the last few months, I have been receiving some emails which were not addressed to me. It seems to be addressed to others with the exact same letters/words in their email addresses as mine.
For example, I have an email address like “superdude@gmail”, no dot, no hyphen, just 2 straight words. If an email is addressed to, let’s say, “super.dude@gmail”, I’d receive it. Same goes for an address like “super.dudekb@gmail” (I think).
I have received some emails from a few different people and even some business emails between countries. I think it started at the begining of the year, then stopped for months, and now I get them again. At first, I thought the other people had entered the wrong email address therefore I have even replied to some of these people (who have sent more than 2 emails) asking them to make sure they have typed the intended recipient’s email correctly and that I would prefer not to receive their emails again (which has nothing to do with me). Most of these people would get back to me and say, “Sorry. It wouldn’t happen again”, but only for me to receive emails from them again. There was also this one person who mentioned that their email record showed nothing of my email address. Hmmmmmmmm….
I wouldn’t exactly say I have received a great deal of these emails (maybe 10-15?) but it is enough to cause me concern and discomfort. I mean, If I can receive others emails in this way, chances are, others can receive mine too… you don’t think?
I have notified Gmail about this via email but they have yet to get back to me… sigh!
Has anyone else had this problem?
Yup, same thing continually happens to me. I have a dot between my name, and someone has the same name without the dot. I continually get advertisements and manage your account requests from the UK; yet I’m in New York.
I had to contact the companies directly to get them to stop sending me emails.
flipping ek!
you’re right.
I have been mailing someone with a name.name@gmail.com on and off for months now and thought they could not be bothered to reply.
by this token namename@gmail.com has been getting them instead. that would explain a lot.
That, or they really could not be bother to mail back.
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=29424&topic=8263
I ran a test by putting a dot in my my.name@gmail.com
and received it at myname@gmail.com
In the header revealed by the More Options link at the top of the mail there was a link next the To: field
“(Yes, this is you. Learn more)” …
>>>
Am I receiving someone else’s email?
Google Mail does not recognise dots (.) as characters within a username. This way, you can add and remove dots to your username for desired address variations. Messages sent to your.username@googlemail.com and y.o.u.r.u.s.e.r.n.a.m.e@googlemail.com are delivered to the same inbox, since the characters in the username are the same.
Keep in mind that hyphens (-) and underscores (_) cannot be used in a Google Mail address. In addition, usernames are not case sensitive. Therefore, it does not matter if you enter upper case or lower case letters.
If you created your account with a dot in your username and you wish you had not, you can change your ‘Reply-to address’. To change your reply-to address:
1. Click ‘Settings’ at the top of any Google Mail page.
2. Enter your username@googlemail.com without a dot in the ‘Reply-to address’ field.
3. Click ‘Save Changes’.
When you log in to Google Mail, you need to enter any dots that were originally defined as part of your username.
Thanks everyone
I see. I never check my mail via the webmail service therefore I’ve neber noticed the “this is you” link. Well, this “doesn’t recognise “.” thing is silly!
But guess what?? Some of these business emails doesn’t even list my email address at all! But I still receive them (no CC, no BCC, etc.)
This is f*ing silly!
Brian, The emails you get are meant for you no matter if there are dots included or not……its just that someone in the UK gave that company your email address by accident– that is why you get those emails from the UK, not because of the placement of the dot on gmail’s side.
The dot issue has been debated for 2 years and I cannot believe this still goes on. There is no bug in Gmail. It is impossible to create another account with your username by simply moving dot places. Try it, it will say email address not available. You own it dots or not!
Well, to be honest, the whole mail-system is a big joke and backwards. It’s time e-mail gets re-invented! I’d be happy to be a part of it ;P
The original post is correct. I’ve ran across the gmail ‘answer’ that someone posted above, I don’t believe it. I get mail fairly frequently for ‘Josh’ where he’s inquired about a membership or signed up for a website of some sort. His address is identical to mine only I have a period.
There is no doubt in my mind that we both have different email accounts with nothing more than a period’s difference.
yes it is happening to me too. i am getting email for a guy named steve who has the same email as me but without the dots. i registered mine first.
how do i contact google about this. it sucks.
I get signed up for so much stuff from the other b harrises of the world it is hilarious. Yeah SIGNED UP FOR. These people don’t even know their own email addresses.
PLEASE B HARRISES, IF YOU GOOGLE “WHY DON’T I GET MY NEWSLETTERS???” READ THIS BLOG ENTRY and TELL YOUR FRIENDS WHO TAKE THEIR KIDS HUNTING TO SMARTEN UP. If the kid doesn’t want to touch the dead bear, he doesn’t have to! No need to make him cry.