"Hello!! No, I'm sorry ...wrong EMAIL address!"

All the time.

3 different people in 3 different states are just positive that my email address actually belongs to each of them.

It doesn't. (but it's a great email address)

They sign up for all kinds of things and even give it out to their friends and workplaces.

When you get a signup notice for something good, immediately go online and claim you "forgot" your password, use email verification. Create a new password and BAM! Now it's all yours. The imposters will NEVER get back in.

check the e-mail headers, OP.

you still send email? how quaint.

[quote]When you get a signup notice for something good, immediately go online and claim you "forgot" your password, use email verification. Create a new password and BAM! Now it's all yours. The imposters will NEVER get back in.

Then some poor bastard (Bailey) will being paying for my netflix. I can't do that.

I started receiving emails from some kind of design firm and also landscaping services in emails sent to a few people. When they first started showing up, I politely replied to all writing that I received the emails in error and for them to correct the address. Someone replied and thanked me for bringing it to their attention and saying they would correct, but to this day, I still continue to receive such emails.

If you mark them as spam, R5, they'll go to the spam folder.

I'm getting wrong e-mail all the time on one of my gmail accounts. I used to write back about their mistake but practically never got a reply back so now I just don't bother anymore. Unless the e-mail seems important with an invoice or with secrets. Few months ago I got a training session schedule of a national level sports team because someone mistaked my e-mail for belonging to one of the coaches. I replied and told them of the mistake but when I later received another one I didn't bother anymore. I don't read those mails because I they are not for me.

Maybe someone else is signing up for stuff with your email address. Not gonna lie, I’ve done it before.

Is it ‘bigdicktop69@******.com’? Because that’s mine and I’ve been waiting for Netflix to activate my account.

It happens to me. I've received nude photos in error, a dating site in another country (I have an ethnic nonWASP surname) sent me confirmation of my dating profile. I sure had fun changing the password and rewriting that profile. Last week I wrote to my namesake informing him a national clothing chain sent me a confirmation of his shirt order -- they gave me the postal address. I attribute my receipt of others' emails to:

Having a twenty-year old gmail address

etailers' webforms mangling entered email addresses for insertion to CRM databases

people fatfingering orders on tiny smartphone keyboards

Gmail has major problems in this area because their incoming servers ignore any periods in the email handle. So if your email address is chriskenney@gmail.com, then chris.kenney will also reach you at the same address. I am not convinced that this was always the case though. There is another person with the same name as me who I am almost convinced actually has some sort of read access to the same account. I get too much personal mail for him.

Email addresses from old hacks are traded online all the time. Basically, they are "disposable addresses" that people can use for spamming others, signing them up to receive spam, when the scammers need a disposable email to try to sign up for something etc. Basically, your, say, old Gmail address along with some old password from a leak from years ago got into the hands of a scammer and they probably tried it out on Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Netflix, Twitter, Instagram, wherever you're likely to have had an account. Generally, it doesn't work since you've likely changed the password or contact info at the said site but it's enough to strike the proverbial gold once or twice to make it worth their efforts.

I get them in my gmail account. I receive billing and account info for someone's electric service in the UK all the time. I've received customer service replies for someone's cell phone service in another state. And I've received a quote for a landscaping job for someone in Australia. Sometimes I try to follow up with the sender to let them know the mistake (the Australian landscaper). Sometimes I just ignore them (the UK electric company).

2015 thread brought to you by loser @R8