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Person Is Sick And Tired Of Folks Using Their Email As A Disposable Address, Gets Sweet Revenge
Did you know that there is this whole commercial ecosystem revolving around usernames? Say you’ve registered to Bored Panda using the username Bored Panda. If there weren’t a display name option already on the platform, you’d probably be able to sell that username for a fair price. The same happens with unique email addresses, website domain names and the like—all for the sake of being unique.
However, while this bit of commercial internet trivia sounds fun and smart, there is a catch: if you have, say, an email that includes a very popular name—that is your actual name—get ready for some spam.
More Info: Reddit
RELATED:
Emails, man, you need them for absolutely everything these days. But instead of using yours, ever considered using someone else’s?
Image credits: Burst (not the actual photo)
This one unlucky person has theirs used all too often, prompting some very petty revenge each time they get the chance
Image credits: greenradioactive
In the end, someone gets taught a lesson while the original poster gets to order things and ruin relationships all with the power of email
Image credits: Stock Catalog (not the actual photo)
A Redditor by the nickname u/greenradioactive recently shared on the r/pettyrevenge subreddit something they’ve been dealing with for quite some time. However, the way they deal with it is definitely a devious one.
OP has a short, simple, and seemingly popular name as their email address. A proud moment indeed, but one that comes at a price. You see, random people tend to use OP’s email address as a “throwaway” email of sorts—a temporary, disposable one they use to register for something and forget about it.
This in turn means that OP gets metric (and other kinds of) tons of spam on the regular. However, it’s not all typical spam from shady websites. Sometimes there’s a mistake, one that OP deals with in a civilized way, but others it’s someone registering for a dating app. Or putting the email down on a car dealer contract. Or anything that provides the potential for OP to mess about.
Image credits: Porapak Apichodilok (not the actual photo)
So, a rando from California signed up for a dating app? Easy, OP uses the forgot password function to claim the account and then tell every single match something mean and then delete the account.
A car dealership also got in touch because it had questions about some random guy’s order—specifically, if they wanted some extra features. Sure, include it all, OP’s not paying for it anyway.
OP’s favorite shenanigans were for a car rental someone booked. OP immediately extended the rental for an extra few days and threw in insurance.
Alas, we can’t know for sure the fates of all these people who decided to tempt fate… well, tempt this one person with the right email address. But we can speculate that the results ranged from mildly infuriating to absolutely catastrophic.
Image credits: olia danilevich (not the actual photo)
Well, let me tell ya, you’d be surprised by how common this apparently is as the comment section was raving with stories.
One commenter once got an invitation where folks needed to sign up for something to do at the function they were invited to. The commenter signed them up for cleanup duty, which likely was confusing to the couple who probably got handed random cleaning tools and supplies on the regular.
It can also work the other way around—not necessarily getting someone into trouble, but taking advantage of their lack of typing skills and getting nobody into trouble. All they did was score free Netflix for about a year, all because the account was registered and paid for on their email.
Or, you know, you can do what this person defaults to, and that is one of three things: [1] cancels all tee times, [2] changes the sexual orientation on dating profiles, or [3] responds to business queries with a polite yet stern “don’t do business with this fool who can’t even spell his email correctly.”
Image credits: MART PRODUCTION (not the actual photo)
According to cybersecurity solutions company Tessian, 58% of people have sent an email to the wrong person at least once in their lives. For 20%, this meant severed ties with clients, and for 12% this meant their job. So, mistakes with emails happen quite often.
But if it isn’t a mistake, most likely folks opt for using fake, temporary or just “stealing” other emails for several reasons. Usually, it’s for privacy reasons—folks just don’t want to give out their personal info or don’t want to deal with all of the spam, newsletters and other bits of marketing they might get.
This is besides the convenience of being able to register quickly for a website and not having to manage your own inbox with an extra layer of spam, all the while messing with the company’s marketing metrics if you’re one for sticking it to the man. But that’s beside the point.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on everything you’ve read here today, so why not do that in the comment section below!
And you’d be surprised how many people have the same issue, mostly because their names are so common and they were the first to snatch that address
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juice 2 years ago
yep...thought it might've been something like "mfkn" (abbreviation for motherf*cking), but no they absolutely censored "moron"
Load More Replies...
EmBree 2 years ago
I contacted the woman that uses my email. (It's not that common and she was easy to find.) Nothing changed. I contacted her again, but nothing changed. I wrote her a long email using all the information I had gotten from her. That she was in therapy, her son's accident, the debt collectors, and the missing money that her boss asked about, the issue with the mistreated horse, and I sent her daughter's school photos that I got a link to. Suddenly she stopped using my mail.
Leslie Harris 2 years ago
someone used my email to signup for hotel rewards, even had points stacked up. I reset the password, changed everything on the account over to me, so sad to bad. I tried for a month to reach out to the person, using the .com version of the email instead of .ca, which was mine, but they ignored me. Though they earned points during that time. So i said screw it, if they have time to travel and earn points but not fix their profile, its mine now.
DJR 2 years ago
Similar one... same name as me doesn't bother to check, just slaps his phone number on to my tractor supply account. He buys a lot of stuff there so I get some pretty sweet perks like a free trailer rental every quarter.
Load More Replies...
Debbie 2 years ago
Sometimes it's an honest mistake... e.g. I have an [123]@outlook.com e-mail adres but also an @hotmail.com (different first parts). I have often tried to sign in with [123]@hotmail.com and almost gone to the password reset before realising. To the people with those e-mail adresses: why don't you get a second e-mail adress? I understand it's nice to have an e-mail adress with just your name, but battling spam is a battle you're going to lose. Unless you enjoy it ofcourse, then keep going.
Ron Baza 2 years ago
This is exactly what I do; my email address is a nickname from nearly 30 years ago
Load More Replies... Amy S 2 years ago
I get that this is annoying but why insult the women the other guy was talking to then delete the profile effectively ghosting them? They didn't do anything wrong.
Angela C 2 years ago
Makes the guy look like an a*****e so if he ever creates a new profile it'll be harder to get matches because women will see it and be like "pretty sure this dude called me a b***h like 2 months ago" and swipe left at the speed of light
Load More Replies...
weatherwitch 2 years ago
The only thing I disagreed with was his going onto the dating websites and insulting random bitches as he put it. That's bloody nice isn't it? 🤬 Why not tell them he's married or something to put them off instead of being nasty to women for no reason given its not their idiocy that's using his email. They're innocent in this.
Adrian Scarlett 2 years ago
Someone living thousands of miles away from me apparently has an issue getting their timesheets in on time and I get the reminder emails. He clocked 790 hours last week. I also get package delivery text messages for someone at the other end of my country... tried everything from rescheduling deliveries to sending postcards telling him the issue. I still get them, and he still gets his deliveries cancelled.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)
There are only 168 hours in a week. What the hell kind of time sheets is her filling out? Even a Centaurian 37 hour day only comes to 259 hours in a week. (If you know, you know.)
Load More Replies...
Hinchess 2 years ago
Some comments here say this is not an actual thing. To those people, I say, you don't understand. It is very real. I get receipts from purchases like REI, airline tickets, big box stores, car repairs, etc and they have the person's name address, etc on them. We have the same first initial and same last name. I don't know if this is intentional or a mistake. I have tried DMing them thru Facebook. No response. So, I have opened another account with a more difficult name. I only use the old one when I sign up for newsletters,contests, etc. Just because you don't see how this works doesn't mean it's fake.
Joshua David 2 years ago
I'm GUILTY. Sometimes when I fill out a form and the phone number is required, which I know will garner a call, I use my phone and shift the last two digits randomly. I'll stop doing this.
Mike Beck 2 years ago
I always use 555-5555 or 867-5309. Can't believe they never check for either.
Load More Replies...
Laura Mortensen 2 years ago
My partner has a very common name and has had this issue. One was a guy from another state who belongs to a golf club. My partner kept calling the golf club and telling them that one of their members was using his e-mail by mistake. They would cancel the account and the guy would sign up again with my partner's e-mail. So my partner canceled one of his golf dates. It never happened again.
Lorraine 2 years ago
Sometimes is an honest mistake not even done by those giving the wrong email but by those registering it. In my country my last name is usually written with a C but mine is written with an Z. I'm used to always say with my last name followed by "with a Z", and even when I clearly say it people will write it with a C. For goodness sake, I just said with a Z!! People sometimes just don't listen.
Marco Richter 2 years ago
Don't most services use verification emails before you are allowed to create an account?
Lorraine 2 years ago
Not always, because in terms of UX adding an extra step is seen as inconvenient for users so they avoid adding the verification, which is a pain for all of us that work with data.
Load More Replies...
Lady of the Loft 2 years ago
This happens to me all the time! There is an elderly lady in Texas who keeps using my email address but it sounds like she doesn't seem to realize it (church stuff, etc) but her name isn't even similar to mine! I also have all sorts of people in India who have signed me up for dating sites, banks, insurance companies, etc. I try to get them deleted but the banks email addresses are always incorrect.
Bina Wei 2 years ago
"Don't use random addresses!" Or, don't use ones that aren't yours, more like. It takes like 2-5 minutes to make your own in gmail. I've made so many over the years bc I have characters on games and text based rp ones (for writing).
Bina Wei 2 years ago
Heck, its been a while since I've used other email providers but I'm sure it takes 5 or so minutes for them too.
Load More Replies...
C. S. 2 years ago
I submit "notgiven@nodomain.net" when it may be sketchy. Seems to be a honeypot for catching trolls and spammers. SpamCop is a useful tool for parsing and reporting spam. Lots of sysadmins worldwide use their source lists to block known spam sources. I used SpamCop years ago to report a local ISP's crapload of spamming. The reports of their spamming blacklisting was so extensive, they almost shut down. They've since eliminated spam from their IP spaces, and have worked up to a fairly reputable status as a provider. Other ISPs have been forced into insolvency and in some cases, even shut down, thanks to SpamCop's realtime reports directly from users. Their realtime statistical reports have enabled some federal governments to prosecute, convict, heavily fine, and even jail some of the worst offenders for their massive-scale fraud and other illegal practices.
Matt Du 2 years ago
Hi, Thank you for bowling at Oz Tenpin Narre Warren Melbourne, Australia. We hope you enjoyed your game. I live in the UK and was getting about one of these a month. So I signed in, change their password and started booking them games at different times with larger size parties. The emails stopped.
mysterious(all pronouns) 2 years ago
I've got 3 email adresses. One is my school account, one is used for signing up for websites and things, and one is used for personal, non-school related things. This way I don't have to worry about spam on emails I actually use.
Diolla 2 years ago
It's notyabout spam, it's about someone else using YOUR email adress.
Load More Replies...
Royal Stray 2 years ago
This is kind of weird since a lot of stuff like this requires you to confirm your mail before you can use it to log into some sites. If it doesn't it's a bit of an AH move since these people probably just typed in a random adress and had no idea it was being used
Pyla 2 years ago
That's funny, my google is my name and I got it when google just started email. Oddly enough, some girl in Argentina set up her facebook account with my email. I just took the FB acct, wasn't interested in facebook (still barely am), but shooed her off and took it. This also might explain why I get so many oddball emails on that acct. I just spam most, petty revenge is too much work.
Biofish23 2 years ago
I got my g mail account right at the tail end of when you still needed an invite to get one, as a result I have a very simple 1st initial last name address. There are two individuals who regularly use my email address, one mostly signs up for spam but also kept resetting the mailing address so Carters/Oshkosh would send my rewards coupons to her. The other one seems to be a total idiot who has used my email address for all sorts of things. He is really into golf, tried to join a recreational hockey league, ordered a custom t-shirt with a pic of a dog on it, recently bought a car but did not schedule his free maintenance appointment. He even had it on his resume for a while. Oh and recently set up an investment account, although with 2 step authentication I couldn't actually log in. ( I wasn't going to try to steal his money, but I did intend to reset his password.)
SandyB 2 years ago
I think it's a gmail thing. Mine is simple & I get a LOT of wrong emails. And a pox on those with no reply addresses & no way to unsubscribe. I did change one guy to paper billing in Spanish once. And had to go onto a church forum to complain before they would remove my address.
Ginny 2 years ago
This is quite impossible as it is not possible to have two email addresses with the same name.
Lorraine 2 years ago
The point is that some people will use what they think is a made up email (throwaway email) so they can provide an email, complete the process, but still don't receive any communication, but it turns out the email does exist. Other times is just an honest mistake, like a typo.
Load More Replies...
LittleWombat 2 years ago
Most of these examples seem like errors, not intentionally using the wrong email address. These aren't examples where someone would WANT to give the wrong info - they aren't spam type things. It seems like not getting your needed communication via email is enough of a punishment.
Random Girl 2 years ago
If you ARE going to use a fake email, end the email in a fake domain so that you don't send spam to some poor person.
Lorraine 2 years ago
Not always, many registration forms check for valid domains.
Load More Replies...
Shawn Brooks 2 years ago
Not my email but this has happened with my phone number. Steven started using my number for all his bill collectors, spammers, sales people etc. I've had my number over 20 years so I'm not changing it but it's very annoying.
Mike Beck 2 years ago
a@b.c myself. Or, for the more clever ones: a@b.com. Or a long string of swearing.
Load More Replies...
juice 2 years ago
yep...thought it might've been something like "mfkn" (abbreviation for motherf*cking), but no they absolutely censored "moron"
Load More Replies... EmBree 2 years ago
I contacted the woman that uses my email. (It's not that common and she was easy to find.) Nothing changed. I contacted her again, but nothing changed. I wrote her a long email using all the information I had gotten from her. That she was in therapy, her son's accident, the debt collectors, and the missing money that her boss asked about, the issue with the mistreated horse, and I sent her daughter's school photos that I got a link to. Suddenly she stopped using my mail.
Leslie Harris 2 years ago
someone used my email to signup for hotel rewards, even had points stacked up. I reset the password, changed everything on the account over to me, so sad to bad. I tried for a month to reach out to the person, using the .com version of the email instead of .ca, which was mine, but they ignored me. Though they earned points during that time. So i said screw it, if they have time to travel and earn points but not fix their profile, its mine now.
DJR 2 years ago
Similar one... same name as me doesn't bother to check, just slaps his phone number on to my tractor supply account. He buys a lot of stuff there so I get some pretty sweet perks like a free trailer rental every quarter.
Load More Replies... Debbie 2 years ago
Sometimes it's an honest mistake... e.g. I have an [123]@outlook.com e-mail adres but also an @hotmail.com (different first parts). I have often tried to sign in with [123]@hotmail.com and almost gone to the password reset before realising. To the people with those e-mail adresses: why don't you get a second e-mail adress? I understand it's nice to have an e-mail adress with just your name, but battling spam is a battle you're going to lose. Unless you enjoy it ofcourse, then keep going.
Ron Baza 2 years ago
This is exactly what I do; my email address is a nickname from nearly 30 years ago
Load More Replies... Amy S 2 years ago
I get that this is annoying but why insult the women the other guy was talking to then delete the profile effectively ghosting them? They didn't do anything wrong.
Angela C 2 years ago
Makes the guy look like an a*****e so if he ever creates a new profile it'll be harder to get matches because women will see it and be like "pretty sure this dude called me a b***h like 2 months ago" and swipe left at the speed of light
Load More Replies... weatherwitch 2 years ago
The only thing I disagreed with was his going onto the dating websites and insulting random bitches as he put it. That's bloody nice isn't it? 🤬 Why not tell them he's married or something to put them off instead of being nasty to women for no reason given its not their idiocy that's using his email. They're innocent in this.
Adrian Scarlett 2 years ago
Someone living thousands of miles away from me apparently has an issue getting their timesheets in on time and I get the reminder emails. He clocked 790 hours last week. I also get package delivery text messages for someone at the other end of my country... tried everything from rescheduling deliveries to sending postcards telling him the issue. I still get them, and he still gets his deliveries cancelled.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)
There are only 168 hours in a week. What the hell kind of time sheets is her filling out? Even a Centaurian 37 hour day only comes to 259 hours in a week. (If you know, you know.)
Load More Replies... Hinchess 2 years ago
Some comments here say this is not an actual thing. To those people, I say, you don't understand. It is very real. I get receipts from purchases like REI, airline tickets, big box stores, car repairs, etc and they have the person's name address, etc on them. We have the same first initial and same last name. I don't know if this is intentional or a mistake. I have tried DMing them thru Facebook. No response. So, I have opened another account with a more difficult name. I only use the old one when I sign up for newsletters,contests, etc. Just because you don't see how this works doesn't mean it's fake.
Joshua David 2 years ago
I'm GUILTY. Sometimes when I fill out a form and the phone number is required, which I know will garner a call, I use my phone and shift the last two digits randomly. I'll stop doing this.
Mike Beck 2 years ago
I always use 555-5555 or 867-5309. Can't believe they never check for either.
Load More Replies... Laura Mortensen 2 years ago
My partner has a very common name and has had this issue. One was a guy from another state who belongs to a golf club. My partner kept calling the golf club and telling them that one of their members was using his e-mail by mistake. They would cancel the account and the guy would sign up again with my partner's e-mail. So my partner canceled one of his golf dates. It never happened again.
Lorraine 2 years ago
Sometimes is an honest mistake not even done by those giving the wrong email but by those registering it. In my country my last name is usually written with a C but mine is written with an Z. I'm used to always say with my last name followed by "with a Z", and even when I clearly say it people will write it with a C. For goodness sake, I just said with a Z!! People sometimes just don't listen.
Marco Richter 2 years ago
Don't most services use verification emails before you are allowed to create an account?
Lorraine 2 years ago
Not always, because in terms of UX adding an extra step is seen as inconvenient for users so they avoid adding the verification, which is a pain for all of us that work with data.
Load More Replies... Lady of the Loft 2 years ago
This happens to me all the time! There is an elderly lady in Texas who keeps using my email address but it sounds like she doesn't seem to realize it (church stuff, etc) but her name isn't even similar to mine! I also have all sorts of people in India who have signed me up for dating sites, banks, insurance companies, etc. I try to get them deleted but the banks email addresses are always incorrect.
Bina Wei 2 years ago
"Don't use random addresses!" Or, don't use ones that aren't yours, more like. It takes like 2-5 minutes to make your own in gmail. I've made so many over the years bc I have characters on games and text based rp ones (for writing).
Bina Wei 2 years ago
Heck, its been a while since I've used other email providers but I'm sure it takes 5 or so minutes for them too.
Load More Replies... C. S. 2 years ago
I submit "notgiven@nodomain.net" when it may be sketchy. Seems to be a honeypot for catching trolls and spammers. SpamCop is a useful tool for parsing and reporting spam. Lots of sysadmins worldwide use their source lists to block known spam sources. I used SpamCop years ago to report a local ISP's crapload of spamming. The reports of their spamming blacklisting was so extensive, they almost shut down. They've since eliminated spam from their IP spaces, and have worked up to a fairly reputable status as a provider. Other ISPs have been forced into insolvency and in some cases, even shut down, thanks to SpamCop's realtime reports directly from users. Their realtime statistical reports have enabled some federal governments to prosecute, convict, heavily fine, and even jail some of the worst offenders for their massive-scale fraud and other illegal practices.
Matt Du 2 years ago
Hi, Thank you for bowling at Oz Tenpin Narre Warren Melbourne, Australia. We hope you enjoyed your game. I live in the UK and was getting about one of these a month. So I signed in, change their password and started booking them games at different times with larger size parties. The emails stopped.
mysterious(all pronouns) 2 years ago
I've got 3 email adresses. One is my school account, one is used for signing up for websites and things, and one is used for personal, non-school related things. This way I don't have to worry about spam on emails I actually use.
Diolla 2 years ago
It's notyabout spam, it's about someone else using YOUR email adress.
Load More Replies... Royal Stray 2 years ago
This is kind of weird since a lot of stuff like this requires you to confirm your mail before you can use it to log into some sites. If it doesn't it's a bit of an AH move since these people probably just typed in a random adress and had no idea it was being used
Pyla 2 years ago
That's funny, my google is my name and I got it when google just started email. Oddly enough, some girl in Argentina set up her facebook account with my email. I just took the FB acct, wasn't interested in facebook (still barely am), but shooed her off and took it. This also might explain why I get so many oddball emails on that acct. I just spam most, petty revenge is too much work.
Biofish23 2 years ago
I got my g mail account right at the tail end of when you still needed an invite to get one, as a result I have a very simple 1st initial last name address. There are two individuals who regularly use my email address, one mostly signs up for spam but also kept resetting the mailing address so Carters/Oshkosh would send my rewards coupons to her. The other one seems to be a total idiot who has used my email address for all sorts of things. He is really into golf, tried to join a recreational hockey league, ordered a custom t-shirt with a pic of a dog on it, recently bought a car but did not schedule his free maintenance appointment. He even had it on his resume for a while. Oh and recently set up an investment account, although with 2 step authentication I couldn't actually log in. ( I wasn't going to try to steal his money, but I did intend to reset his password.)
SandyB 2 years ago
I think it's a gmail thing. Mine is simple & I get a LOT of wrong emails. And a pox on those with no reply addresses & no way to unsubscribe. I did change one guy to paper billing in Spanish once. And had to go onto a church forum to complain before they would remove my address.
Ginny 2 years ago
This is quite impossible as it is not possible to have two email addresses with the same name.
Lorraine 2 years ago
The point is that some people will use what they think is a made up email (throwaway email) so they can provide an email, complete the process, but still don't receive any communication, but it turns out the email does exist. Other times is just an honest mistake, like a typo.
Load More Replies... LittleWombat 2 years ago
Most of these examples seem like errors, not intentionally using the wrong email address. These aren't examples where someone would WANT to give the wrong info - they aren't spam type things. It seems like not getting your needed communication via email is enough of a punishment.
Random Girl 2 years ago
If you ARE going to use a fake email, end the email in a fake domain so that you don't send spam to some poor person.
Lorraine 2 years ago
Not always, many registration forms check for valid domains.
Load More Replies... Shawn Brooks 2 years ago
Not my email but this has happened with my phone number. Steven started using my number for all his bill collectors, spammers, sales people etc. I've had my number over 20 years so I'm not changing it but it's very annoying.
Mike Beck 2 years ago
a@b.c myself. Or, for the more clever ones: a@b.com. Or a long string of swearing.
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