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A researcher bought noreply.net. Companies started sending him secrets. (arstechnica.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
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[–] 37 points 3 months ago* (2 children)

I have a firstname.lastname[at]gmail.com email address.

Every single week I get a different person's legitimate email because they forget their email is firstname.lastname12345[at]gmail.com or some other number, and sign me up for stuff..

I get bank statements, rent notices, holiday bookings, xbox live accounts, kayak club membership emails, pizza delivery receipts, Amazon.com accounts and purchases...

You name it....

XKCD calls it "Reverse ID Theft" - I call it "Identity Donation": it's like people think: "here... Be me for a bit... See how you like it..."

https://xkcd.com/1279/

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago

    Well that XKCD comic nailed it. There is a doctor in another state with my name and occasionally patients send me their prescription questions.

    I also had to specifically ask a lady with a similar phone number to stop giving mine out.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    Hah. I have a first initial + last name Gmail address. I occasionally get an email meant for somebody else, but one time I got an email about "plans for the wedding" and it was an itinerary for the bridal party etc. I had to respond to that one and be like "Hey you have the wrong email address"

    I could have messed with them. Or shown up for the wedding or whatever, but I didn't want to ruin somebody's special day. It wasn't the fun thing to do, but it was the right thing to do.

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