Duplicate GMAIL account names.
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Bruce Ferjulian
May 11, 2014, 8:37:50 PM5/11/14
to gmail...@googlegroups.com
Something could have gone wrong with how GMAIL treats account names. This is the story.
I just received a help from a family member that the email contact setting had been changed, this person uses their GMAIL account for Apple iTunes.
When I created the account for them I used ( Firstname...@gmail.com ). The Apple email was addressed to someone else but the email address that Apple said was in question was ( Firstnam...@gmail.com ), the first thing I noticed was there was no period between the first and last name. This looked suspicious. After resetting the Apple iTunes account with a new password I checked the email address listed and there was only one, it was the email account with a period between the first and last name. Whew, things looked better, they probably were not hacked.
Since I created the account and also setup the IMAP mail for this family member there should've been a second GMAIL account.
I sent an email from the account in question with a period between the first name and last name expecting the email to begin generating undeliverable reports from GMAIL, instead the same account used to send the email, received the same message.
I then tried my personal account which again separated the first and last name with a period and sent an email to myself to what I belived to be a nonexistent account with no period between the first and last name. Again, when I sync, the email came back to me.
So a couple of questions.
1. Does GMAIL create a duplicate email account for every user with any special characters stripped out?
2. Why would Apple be in the know that an alias GMAIL account existed?
If your GMAIL address is formatted like mine with a period separating your first and last name, report back here if you too have an alias email address if you try sending to yourself to a GMAIL username without the period separating your name.
This is the RAW data from the email that looped back to myself.
Return-Path: <bruce.f...@gmail.com>
Received: from [192.168.1.73] (user-0c2ihch.cable.earthlink.net. [24.41.69.145])
by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id c90sm8851544qgd.3.2014.05.11.17.16.22
for <Brucefe...@gmail.com>
(version=TLSv1 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA bits=128/128);
Sun, 11 May 2014 17:16:23 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Sun, 11 May 2014 20:16:20 -0400
Subject: Test
Message-ID: <nu65hvvlf5h9hdx6wlo...@mail.inoguru.com>
From: Bruce Ferjulian <bruce.ferjulian@gmail.com>
To: "Bruceferjulian@gmail.com" <Brucefe...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Bruce Ferjulian <bruce.f...@gmail.com>
I just received a help from a family member that the email contact setting had been changed, this person uses their GMAIL account for Apple iTunes.
When I created the account for them I used ( Firstname...@gmail.com ). The Apple email was addressed to someone else but the email address that Apple said was in question was ( Firstnam...@gmail.com ), the first thing I noticed was there was no period between the first and last name. This looked suspicious. After resetting the Apple iTunes account with a new password I checked the email address listed and there was only one, it was the email account with a period between the first and last name. Whew, things looked better, they probably were not hacked.
Since I created the account and also setup the IMAP mail for this family member there should've been a second GMAIL account.
I sent an email from the account in question with a period between the first name and last name expecting the email to begin generating undeliverable reports from GMAIL, instead the same account used to send the email, received the same message.
I then tried my personal account which again separated the first and last name with a period and sent an email to myself to what I belived to be a nonexistent account with no period between the first and last name. Again, when I sync, the email came back to me.
So a couple of questions.
1. Does GMAIL create a duplicate email account for every user with any special characters stripped out?
2. Why would Apple be in the know that an alias GMAIL account existed?
If your GMAIL address is formatted like mine with a period separating your first and last name, report back here if you too have an alias email address if you try sending to yourself to a GMAIL username without the period separating your name.
This is the RAW data from the email that looped back to myself.
Return-Path: <bruce.f...@gmail.com>
Received: from [192.168.1.73] (user-0c2ihch.cable.earthlink.net. [24.41.69.145])
by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id c90sm8851544qgd.3.2014.05.11.17.16.22
for <Brucefe...@gmail.com>
(version=TLSv1 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA bits=128/128);
Sun, 11 May 2014 17:16:23 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Sun, 11 May 2014 20:16:20 -0400
Subject: Test
Message-ID: <nu65hvvlf5h9hdx6wlo...@mail.inoguru.com>
From: Bruce Ferjulian <bruce.ferjulian@gmail.com>
To: "Bruceferjulian@gmail.com" <Brucefe...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Bruce Ferjulian <bruce.f...@gmail.com>
Zack (Doc)
May 11, 2014, 10:18:35 PM5/11/14
to Gmail-Users Google Group
Not sure why "Apple" would be in the know, but ever since GMail came out 10 years ago, it's been the same... dots (and capitalization) don't matter in GMail.
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Andy
May 11, 2014, 10:34:51 PM5/11/14
to [Gmail-Users]
1. Does GMAIL create a duplicate email account for every user with any special characters stripped out?
Firstname...@gmail.com and Firstnam...@gmail.com (and even fI.rstn.a.m.el.a.s.t...name@gmail.com) are not different or duplicate accounts. They are the same account. Google/Gmail ignores periods.Andy
Marko Vukovic
May 12, 2014, 11:54:57 AM5/12/14
to gmail-users
On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 2:37 AM, Bruce Ferjulian <bruce.f...@gmail.com> wrote:
Something could have gone wrong with how GMAIL treats account names. This is the story.
We've discussed this several times on this group. You should always have a search in the archives, and on the web first.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=dots+in+gmail+addresses
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=dots+in+gmail+addresses
While you're at it, have a look at Gmail plus addressing too.
Marko
casey stephenson
Jan 26, 2015, 11:53:13 AM1/26/15
to gmail...@googlegroups.com
Yes! This is happening to me also! I have a period separating my first and last name and there are emails I am receiving that are addressed to my name with no period separation also. I just came into a VERY sticky situation regarding my tax return for 2014. My Turbo Tax account was linked to another user because of this issue.
How do we stop this??
Casey
How do we stop this??
Casey
Message-ID: <nu65hvvlf5h9hdx6wlochoo1.139985...@mail.inoguru.com>
Zack (Doc)
Jan 26, 2015, 5:06:36 PM1/26/15
to Gmail-Users Google Group
GMail does not permit the other account to be created, and treats all variants, with or without periods, as the one same account.
Andy
Jan 26, 2015, 5:32:43 PM1/26/15
to [Gmail-Users]
Yes! This is happening to me also! I have a period separating my first and last name and there are emails I am receiving that are addressed to my name with no period separation also. I just came into a VERY sticky situation regarding my tax return for 2014. My Turbo Tax account was linked to another user because of this issue.
How do we stop this??
It's hard to understand that someone would have seen the messages he was replying to, without believing the answer that was already given there.
"casey.stephenson" is the same exact Gmail user as "caseystephenson", as well as "Cas.ey.step.HE.n.SON" and any other combination. The periods make no difference.
You can even login with any of those alternate versions and it will always bring you to your account.
Andy
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