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Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

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Re: Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

#341

Post by harel »

brenainn wrote: post #152
narag wrote: post #23

I mostly use one single address, but I can tell you exactly where all the spam comes from: idiots whose name is the same as mine. They give my address as if it belonged to them. Probably they created addresses like narag33@server and they believe that it's narag@server instead. So not only I receive all the spam from dubious sites that they suscribed to, but also their legitimate mail from lists and friends. My names…

I was getting some dude's email for about 7 years. Started with newsletters and discussion threads for a journalism guild and a teacher's union. I found that amusing and left it, but one day emailed whoever was in charge and let them know I'm not the intended recipient. Stopped for a while and then it started again and I ignored it. But in the last few years I started getting hotel reservations, golf course membershi…

For 20 years I've been getting emails from construction industry companies, addressed to a Japanese sounding name but my email address. Sometimes they are of a personal nature and I reply telling them I'm not Soichi. Sometimes I leave the guy messages through those contacts hoping they reach him. It originated from a (now gone) directory entry in the San Francisco chamber of Commerce which used my email for some reason I'll never know.

Re: Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

#342

Post by gwbas1c »

gwbas1c wrote: post #331

The absolute worst offender are political activists: (In the US) I attended my town's meeting for a political party in 2016. I put my name and email on the list with an email address that I made up on the spot. It continues to get HAMMERED by every up-and-coming politician in the state who's trying to make a name for themselves. A few years ago I attended Senator Ed Markey's roadshow for the Green New Deal. I again u…

Funny story that I should add:

In 2003 someone tried to get me to join Quickstar, a new initiative from Amway. (It's now been merged into Amway.)

I gave them "quickstar@..."

A few months later I got a cease-and-desist to the email address, and the moron who tried to get me involved called me up and started threatening me.

I had to explain to their lawyer what a catch-all is. Fortunately, he was a very reasonable person who very quickly realized that his company made a HUUUUUGE mistake.

Re: Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

#343

Post by mbreese »

julianz wrote: post #258
croon wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was getting some dude's email for about 7 years. Started with newsletters and discussion threads for a journalism guild and a teacher's union. I found that amusing and left it, but one day emailed whoever was in charge and let them know I'm not the intended recipient. Stopped for a while and then it started again and I ignored it. I had a similar experience, funnily enough golf course memberships too. Doing minim…

I waited until my Gmail doppelganger ordered a pizza, then from the phone and address details in that email I was able to text him and say I hoped he enjoyed the pizza, that his house looked nice from Street View, and please stop using my email address. He did.

I kept getting receipts from a nice grandmother from Missouri (at least I think it was Missouri, but that detail doesn’t matter). I don’t live in Missouri. However, she must have had a similar gmail account. But she couldn’t get her email address right. It was fine for a while, just the typical odds and ends emails. Then I started getting shipping receipts and return information from a clothing company. And then receipts for holiday presents for kids. Eventually I had to use the info in the emails to write and actual letter to this woman, letting her know about the email mixup. I only knew her address from billing information on the prior receipts.

In retrospect, I probably should have printed the emails and then sent those too. That may have been taking the bit too far, but it would have been much funnier from my POV.

Re: Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

#344

Post by cactusmatt »

shagie wrote: post #335
cactusmatt wrote: post #322

I've been using a catch-all domain with unique addresses (example: ycombinator@mydomain) for every service/site/etc. for more than 10 years. Surprisingly, none of these email addresses have gotten spam, outside of what the original service sends. As someone else mentioned, most of the spam I received comes from people with the same name as me. I was an early gmail adopter and my gmail is my firstnamelastname@gmail. I…

The relevant xkcd - https://xkcd.com/1279/ My father has encountered this a fair bit. He was able to get a one of the most prolific incorrect email address users to realize their mistake when they used his email address while purchasing a house in England and he was able to contact the realtor to get back to the person misusing the address and correct the email address. There's still someone who has emirates frequent…

On a similar note, I was also an early Cash App adopter and my username is my firstnamelastinitial (something like JohnS). Increasingly, over the last few years, I've been receiving unsolicited money, almost $800 to date. I used to received much more spam requests.

I ask the senders to "request a refund" but surprisingly, they never do. I guess that's one benefit of having a common username on a service.

Re: Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

#346

Post by nicolas_t »

gravitystorm wrote: post #199

Hostmonster (a Bluehost brand) have been the worst, since they were so blatant about it. I'd only had legitimate correspondence to that address, until the week I cancelled my account, and since then the spam has been relentless. So as part of my account cancellation, they clearly sold my email address on. The most amusing was the UK Parliament petitions site, since you would have thought they were a bit more careful…

I had a lot of spam sent to the email I used to register with French consulate. It's registered as part of the electoral lists so all candidates can get access to that email and they don't have the best security (including one candidate who would cc 200 people from the list on each of his emails)

Re: Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

#347

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

cactusmatt wrote: post #322

I've been using a catch-all domain with unique addresses (example: ycombinator@mydomain) for every service/site/etc. for more than 10 years. Surprisingly, none of these email addresses have gotten spam, outside of what the original service sends. As someone else mentioned, most of the spam I received comes from people with the same name as me. I was an early gmail adopter and my gmail is my firstnamelastname@gmail. I…

Password reset and cancel those accounts. Those companies aren't doing due diligence with verifying email. You don't want someone else's commercial activity linked to your identity.

Re: Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

#348

Post by orangepurple »

vfistri2 wrote: post #231
croon wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was getting some dude's email for about 7 years. Started with newsletters and discussion threads for a journalism guild and a teacher's union. I found that amusing and left it, but one day emailed whoever was in charge and let them know I'm not the intended recipient. Stopped for a while and then it started again and I ignored it. I had a similar experience, funnily enough golf course memberships too. Doing minim…

it has gotten so bad in usa, with creep calling. Seems whenever somebody is not happy with something their immediate response is you are a creep. I find those kind of people disturbing.

Incorporate the first strike doctrine. Before contacting someone that is erroneously using your email address, call them a creep up front to disarm them mentally. Then proceed with your demand that they stop using your email address.

Re: Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

#349

Post by cactusmatt »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #347
cactusmatt wrote: post #322

I've been using a catch-all domain with unique addresses (example: ycombinator@mydomain) for every service/site/etc. for more than 10 years. Surprisingly, none of these email addresses have gotten spam, outside of what the original service sends. As someone else mentioned, most of the spam I received comes from people with the same name as me. I was an early gmail adopter and my gmail is my firstnamelastname@gmail. I…

Password reset and cancel those accounts. Those companies aren't doing due diligence with verifying email. You don't want someone else's commercial activity linked to your identity.

I absolutely do this.

The most interesting site I've pw reset and cancelled so far has been my name-sake's dating account on bigblackbeautifulsingles. He had quite a few matches.

Re: Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers?

#350

Post by epc »

By far it’s US political campaigns and non–profits. I’ve regressed to only using one email address for pretty much everything except financial accounts and political campaigns. For political donations I now give either a campaign or year specific address that immediately routes to spam or trash.

I have three addresses which match my hn account that I first registered in the 1990s and over time have received bank account logins, credit card information, legal documents, and a huge variety of extremely personal information. So many top online services utterly fail to verify email addresses…I now have multiple instagram accounts simply to block others from signing up with them.

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