'This is MY email address': Guy gets petty after stranger with similar name keeps using his email

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Aug 4, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

If you have a generic email address and a generic name, there's a high likelihood that you've received someone else's information by mistake...

 

Based on how folks responded in the comments section of this Reddit thread, it's a common occurrence. And it's an extremely annoying common occurrence at that. This Redditor kept on receiving emails meant for this other dude; eventually, it got so bad that he tracked the guy down on social media so he could inform him that this mixup was happening. Now, if it were the occasional email to forward, that would be fine, but the situation kept on escalating. OP would then receive confidential emails about job interviews, house closings, etc., and the strange still refused to do anything about it. That's when OP decided it was time for some deliciously petty revenge.

 

Some of you may think OP crossed a line with this, but as someone who has been in a similar situation, I completely understand where he was coming from. When I was in college, there was a student in my year with the exact same name. At first, we were friendly about it and would send along information that was sent to the wrong guy, but after some time, it became quite clear that I was not receiving important emails. If I were to go back and relive this situation now, I would have done exactly what OP did here. Kudos to him for having the audacity!

 

For more stories like this, check out this post about a guy who self-sabotaged during a mass group interview.

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  • 01
    Font - "Keep using my email? Have fun getting important information" Inbox ★ Starred Snoozed 152 Striving Blogger Carly - Blogging Li. .. S New B I don't
    via Justin Morgan
  • 02
    Font - Keep using my email? Have fun getting important information Long time lurker, first time poster. I have a very generic email address...first initial, last name, basic domain. I've had this email address for probably a decade. I use it for everything. And for the last five years, so has someone else.
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 03
    Font - It started with random emails here and there, until they started getting more frequent and addressed to this guy. I finally hunted the guy down on social media after an email about a job had his information. He apologized and explained our email was very similar but his had 2 numbers after it.
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 04
    Font - I let it slide and it slowed down bit, and if I got a random email I'd forward it on to him. But then it picked back up. At one point I even got the documents for a closing of his house!! It had all his personal information, social security number, bank info. Everything. I did notify the lending company and they removed me from seeing the document, but I finally had enough.
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 05
    Font - I stopped forwarding his emails. I've received tons over the last few years. Job interview? Bummer you missed it! Oh, you got a new job and this is your schedule?? Have fun clocking in late. Receipts of payments? Oops, that's going to the trash. Reminder of car maintenance? Hope your car breaks down!
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 06
    Font - Oh, and I also signed him up for numerous dating apps, p sites, magazine subscriptions, and even a baby countdown... It's still going on, after almost 6 years, but this is my email address, and I refuse to let him have it!
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 07
    Font - ChickensInTheAttic. 14 hr. ago I get the same thing. Hello Mr M from Texas! You're an idiot! He bought a new car recently, so I kept cancelling his servicing appointments. Then one day the cancel button went away and changed to "please contact us to change your appointment". Boo.
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 08
    Font - But, then I got the "please rate your service" email. Zeroes across the board! Shortly followed by a "what did we do wrong?" email. My response of "you should probably confirm email addresses" seems to have worked though - that particular source has gone quiet. 467 Reply Share
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 09
    Font - . 18 hr. ago I think you should start messing with some replies to the various lickthisbook businesses. If you get an appointment confirmation for an eye doctor, tell them to add to the patient notes that you want to be addressed as your highness in the future. If a restaurant is confirming a reservation, make sure you ask to see the dog food menu in advance because you will be bringing your dog Flufffy. Anytime you get a message from a business, invite that business to follow you on 424
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 10
    Font - AcrobaticSource3 +3. 14 hr. ago You should be passive aggressive and forward him emails only after they are useful. Like, if his interview was August 1, forward it to him on August 8. 329 Reply Share
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 11
    Rectangle - Purple1829 14 hr. ago Or only forward the junk emails, but none of the stuff that matters 120 Reply Share
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 12
    Font - Terrible-Image9368 +2. 16 hr. ago Start canceling all his appointments. That seems to work pretty well judging by all the stories I've read on here by people with the same problem 228 Reply Share
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 13
    Font - nicekid81 18 hr. ago Same thing happens to me - my first name initial and a set of numbers. So far I've gotten an email from a gym in Puerto Rico, several dating apps for a dude in California (which he was signing up for progressively raunchier sites), and someone's kid from Alabama asking me to pick them up because they're sick!
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 14
    Font - I let the gym know it was an error, I reset the PW of the dude's account and deleted it, and I let the kiddo know I'm not their dad, which resulted me being their penpal for a bit. 190 Reply Share
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 15
    Font - KitchenCellist 16 hr. ago Someone was using my email address. It finally stopped when I canceled their appointment for a family photo shoot. 149 Reply Share
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 16
    Font - we_gon_ride 15 hr. ago My daughter has had the same cell # for 20 years! Yet somehow she keeps getting phone calls and text messages for this guy "Jeff." First she tried to be nice and ask the businesses to remove her number but eventually she got sick of it. Now she cancels his appointments (type N to cancel) and replies ridiculously to serious x texts.
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 17
    Font - HaroldWeigh 14 hr. ago The family in the apartment next to me often give out my apartment number instead of their's. I get mail with their name (I learned it from the manager) here and there but for a while it was all the time. I spoke to them about it when giving them their mail sent to our apartment. They were rude and freaky about it like it was my fault. They are generally strange about everything. So after that I now send it all back "return to sender".
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 18
    Font - potluck_chuck. 18 hr. ago I have a similar problem. Somebody has almost the same email as me with a one character difference. I imagine this person often gives out their email address verbally and it's then wrongly recorded as mine, not theirs. Some days, I get more of this person's email than my own. No, I'm not kidding. I often think, "doesn't this person wonder why they aren't getting emails they should be expecting?"
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80
  • 19
    Font - Gave up on politely forwarding (with the suggestion that they change their email address or create an alias) years ago. Thank goodness my mail provider makes creating a "delete on receipt" filter easy. There must be 100+ filters in my list because of this person. As Bugs Bunny says: "What a maroon!"
    via u/Outrageous-Yogurt-80

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house email revenge cars petty revenge entitled reddit thread Reddit job interview entitled people
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