# Gmail spam already? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 30, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-spam-already/262176 "2004-08-30T03:53:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-spam-already/262176/1 "2004-08-30T03:53:33Z")
I just got a Gmail account, thanks to the generosity of **Plan B**. I haven’t used it to send any messages. I never filled out the address in any web forms. I never posted the address to any Web sites. Basically, the account’s address is unknown to the outside world. Today, I checked the account, just for the hell of it, and found this: > [@](#): > > From: Miranda Tucker \<[fditugfvvnmi@hotmail.com](mailto:fditugfvvnmi@hotmail.com)\> > Reply-To: Miranda Tucker \<[fditugfvvnmi@hotmail.com](mailto:fditugfvvnmi@hotmail.com)\> > To: dtariensay [ay-tee] [gmail.com](http://gmail.com) > Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 15:14:33 -0500 > Subject: popular software at low low price taut and > [@](#): > > From: Armando Sparks \<[hivcy@hotmail.com](mailto:hivcy@hotmail.com)\> > To: Dtarver \ > Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 04:59:09 -0100 > Subject: popular software at low low price quixote The addresses are vaugely simlilar to mine, but not quite. Still, though, I got the misaddressed spam. Think of the implications: instead of fishing for addresses, spammers now just have to send out e-mail to a bunch of random strings, knowing that it will be directed to a Gmail account with a similar username. This is perhaps the one thing that can really, really hurt the value of Gmail. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-spam-already/262176/2 "2004-08-30T03:56:17Z")
BTW, the title is somewhat misleading. Gmail is NOT sending out spam. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-spam-already/262176/3 "2004-08-30T07:46:50Z")
Weird. I’ve had a gmail account for about two months now, have posted it on a couple websites, use it for daily correspondences, and have it as my listed email address for at least two different sites (including this one) and in all that time, I have yet to get a single piece of spam whereas my yahoo, hotmail, and aol addresses (which all use the same name, sans the last one) all get the occasional unwanted email. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-spam-already/262176/4 "2004-08-30T09:55:36Z")
Apart from emails to my brother and a couple of friends, I haven’t used my gmail account at all. Zero spam thus far. My primary email account (@gmx.net) has been absolutely brilliant at blocking spam in the past three years I’ve been using it - I can count the number of times I’ve received spam at this address on the fingers of my hand. And this is without even setting up any filters! ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-spam-already/262176/5 "2004-08-30T21:18:42Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > The addresses are vaugely simlilar to mine, but not quite. Still, though, I got the misaddressed spam. > > Think of the implications: instead of fishing for addresses, spammers now just have to send out e-mail to a bunch of random strings, knowing that it will be directed to a Gmail account with a similar username. I’d double check this. Maybe your email address is on there, but hidden, with a billion others, under the BCC. Try sending an email JUST to the address you are seeing, and see if it shows up in your in-basket. If it does, then GMail has a BIG problem. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-spam-already/262176/6 "2004-08-30T21:32:42Z")
It took this long? That’s kind of surprising.