# Misdirected email from a non-reply address **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 21, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107 "2021-01-21T15:47:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107/21 "2021-01-25T23:23:01Z")
^^Must be. What’s weird is that some of the people using my email address don’t even have the same name as me. If their name was johnsmith why would they use fredflintstone @ mail? Not unless they just made up an email address that happened to be mine and didn’t care if they got the emails or not. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107/22 "2021-01-25T23:53:05Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > Not unless they just made up an email address that happened to be mine and didn’t care if they got the emails or not. That would be my WAG. Kinda like how anytime a store or website “needs” a phone number but, so far as I’m concerned, they have no reason to ever contact me by phone (ie Best Buy, Kroger, Harbor Freight), I use the landline I had growing up. My parents finally got rid of it 5 or 6 years ago. Last I checked it was still available, but at some point, someone will have it and…and I guess we’ll deal with it then. Or they have access to your email account. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2021, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107/23 "2021-01-26T00:07:23Z")
I’m guessing the former. No one has access to my email account except me. And I’m super-careful about that. And, actually, it’s because of the dot thing. I use, as an example: john.smith @ gmail. com, while the ones using my email are using johnsmith @ gmail. com. So since Gmail doesn’t recognize the period. I get both emails. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107/24 "2021-01-26T00:11:17Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > ^^^It’s weird, isn’t it? I mean, these folks aren’t getting their mail. You’d think they’d be wondering why. Yeah, that baffles me too. There’s a guy in Australia who has my name, and he apparently has some financial problems—I get emails when he applies for a high-interest loan or a secured credit card. One email started with “Just one more step and your loan will be approved!” He’s got to be wondering why he doesn’t hear back on that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107/25 "2021-01-26T00:19:10Z")
^^Yup–he must really be wondering. He’s probably going nuts! ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2021, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107/26 "2021-01-26T01:11:34Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Gmail has sloppy, sloppy email protocols. My gmail address is my first initial and full last name, I have had it for a long time. But apparently a distant relative that I do not know began using the same email address except that some letters were capitalized and mine is all lower case. Gmail accepted both address’ I **really** think you are mistaken here. Gmail does not differentiate between upper & lowercase letters in email addresses. [DJones@gmail.com](mailto:DJones@gmail.com), [djones@gmail.com](mailto:djones@gmail.com), and [DjOnEs@gmail.com](mailto:DjOnEs@gmail.com) are all the same address and are all seen as one account. I bet they added in a middle initial, or maybe used a 0 for O or upper case I (i) for lower case L (l). ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2021, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107/27 "2021-01-26T05:57:59Z")
It always amazing that Amazon’s marketing department has an address like 54hfscvt@gmail. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2021, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107/28 "2021-01-26T08:48:10Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I **really** think you are mistaken here. Gmail does not differentiate between upper & lowercase letters in email addresses. [DJones@gmail.com](mailto:DJones@gmail.com), [djones@gmail.com](mailto:djones@gmail.com), and [DjOnEs@gmail.com](mailto:DjOnEs@gmail.com) are all the same address and are all seen as one account. I bet they added in a middle initial, or maybe used a 0 for O or upper case I (i) for lower case L (l). Correct. I’ve tested this with my own Gmail address. A lot of people don’t know their own email addresses. They know what it _ought_ to be, but they keep forgetting what it really is (or they never knew in the first place). I would bet that Dallas’s distant relative is one of those people. > **[Reverse Identity Theft](https://xkcd.com/1279/)** > > I asked a few friends whether they'd had this happen, then looked up the popularity of their initials/names over time. Based on those numbers, it looks like there must be at least 750,000 people in the US alone who think 'Sure, that's probably my email address' on a regular basis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misdirected-email-from-a-non-reply-address/931107.md?page=1)