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lysace 10 hours ago

> I’ve wondered if this person has access to any of my information?

No. They have just told someone your email address and that someone has sent you stuff. Anyone can do that, if they dream up your email address. People having the same name are a lot more likely to do that.

Happened to me as well. I was the first one of the 50 people or so carrying my name to register "first[.]last@gmail.com" back in 2004. At least two of my namesakes have since mistakenly used my email address. Some people just aren't very detail-oriented.

neilv 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I bet this is it.

I have a first.lastname@gmail.com, and my namesake has firstmlastname@gmail.com (with middle initial, and I think they originally created the GMail username without periods).

So, I sometimes receive emails intended for him, by people who saw firstmlastname and think it's firstlastname.

Maybe around a hundred emails so far, over the years.

I've gotten good at telling at a glance that an email is for him, without reading it, and forwarding and deleting.

Fortunately, my namesake is a very accomplished good-guy, so I'm happy to help.

hamdingers 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I still control my first name @gmail.com from very early on, but have never been able to put it to use because of the relentless torrent of misdelivered email.

cdelsolar 7 hours ago | parent [-]

I still own and use mylastname@gmail.com. Yeah I get a ton of misaddressed mail, even some from a relatively famous person with the same last name.

dmurray 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Maybe their email is lastfirst@gmail.com, and people occasionally misremember your address and send your correspondence to them. In that case, yes.

More likely their email address is firstlastnumber@gmail.com or firstlast@otherprovider.com though, in which cases the types of mistakes people make are likely asymmetric.

jibal 9 hours ago | parent [-]

periods are ignored in gmail addresses so there's no difference between firstlast@gmail.com and first.last@gmail.com