Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Identity Theft Attempt In Progress; How To Respond?
An anonymous reader writes "It appears that two weeks ago my email address got into the wrong database. Since that time there have been continuing attempts to access my accounts and create new accounts in my name. I have received emails asking me to click the link below to confirm I want to create an account with Twitter, Facebook, Apple Games Center, Facebook mobile account, and numerous pornographic sites. I have not attempted to create accounts on any of these services. I have also received 16 notices from Apple about how to reset my Apple ID. I am guessing these notices are being automatically generated in response to too many failed login attempts. At this point I have no reason to believe any of my accounts have been compromised but I see no good response."
Sometimes, it becomes necessary to change your e-mail address.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
I would contact my local police force and talk to the financial crimes desk. They may not be able to do anything at this point, but you should establish a paper trail ASAP, which would certainly work in your favor while explaining things to your bank or whatever if the bad guys do manage to hurt you in some manner.
Need a Linux consultant in New Orleans?
1) Wait and see if they succeed, then create new online and financial accounts and deal with the personal and financial fallout
2) Create new online accounts, transfer all information to new accounts and delete the old ones before they succeed
Up to you.
Sent from my ENIAC
This does not sound like identity theft to me. This sounds like someone using a valid email address so that messages don't instantly bounce, and possibly an attempt to hack your existing accounts..
For help with identity theft, go to your local police, not slashdot.
to something not in the dictionary?
after that i would just ignore the failed attempts. after a while the perp will stop and move on to easier prey
Make a new email address and go to the websites that you use and change the account to reflect the new address. As for the other websites. Keep an eye on your bank statements and credit card statements because most banks require fraudulent transactions to be brought to their attention within 45-60 days otherwise they won't refund. Good luck
Um... yes... There's this person, probably in another country, that I suspect is trying to gain access to my facebook account. LOL.
I believe that Jason Bateman was in a recent documentary on this topic - seemed very factual, and you should probably consider his plan of action:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024432/?ref_=sr_1
-jd
have you upset anyone recently?
Wanting to get into your email, and get to your financial stuff would lean toward id theft. But setting up accounts on porno sites? That might be a tip off that someone is trying to ruin your reputation.
Okay you need to listen to me carefully and to be focused. Do you have access to a bathtub? Good, take your laptop into the bathroom and fill the bathtub full of water. I need you to log into your Facebook and open your Farmville tab. You need to do this quickly before they gain access. Take each of your animals from your farm and love them and nuzzle them and say goodbye to them. Then hold them under water in the bathtub until they stop struggling.
...
Are you done? Good, leave them in the tub, they're in a better place now.
Go back into your room and crawl under your bed so the satellites they have control of cannot see you. Open up your Apple account and start forwarding your e-mails to your Gmail account. Yes, I know it will take forever, no there is not an easier way to do this. Okay, once you have all of those out delete your Apple account -- you'll get a new one later. You never really owned that stuff you bought on iTunes so just forget about it now, it's gone. Now log into iCloud on your laptop and start the laptop on fire. It's better to destroy all of those photos, tax returns and documents then to let them have them.
Now listen carefully because this part is important. These men are going to access your accounts. They're going to send your friends messages and make you seem like a jerk -- just for fun. There's nothing you can do about that. Just make sure to leave the Slashdot chat box open when they take you
Hello?
Hello? Anonymous Reader?
I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very large amount of Slashdot karma; karma I have acquired over a very long career. Karma that make me feel like I can stand up to people like you. If you let the anonymous reader's accounts go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will ask you politely to stop messing with people.
My work here is dung.
It is a huge PItA to reset an AppleID.
This time, don't use "abcdef123456" as a password, hmm?
I have had my email address compromised (in spam databases) for years, and nothing like this has happened. However, I use non-trivial passwords (I use the Randall Munroe Method), so I have yet to have had an email address actually cracked.
It sounds like they got more than just your email address. It looks like they actually cracked it.
I am getting sick to death of all my friends, associates, tech support folks, salespeople, etc. getting their email accounts cracked. I mean, I know scientists, engineers and real highbrow types, and they are constantly (often repeatedly) getting their emails cracked.
When you get your email cracked, you are selling out everyone on your contact list.
Good job!
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
-H. L. Mencken
"but I see no good response."
You can stop using that email, monitor your credit cards and other accounts, you can also freeze your credit cards and who can check your credit, change all your passwords, there are entire web pages dedicated to helping with this issue.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
My wife is being plagued by someone giving out her email address and signing up for various accounts.
It's not identity theft in this case, it's just a completely clueless person that doesn't understand that the address is hers, and using it to sign up for various things doesn't mean they can get to the email in the end.
Change your passwords to be very strong, and change them once a week for the next few weeks. Also contact some of your providers and see if they can put a trace on attempts.
Or two weeks ago you pissed someone off and they are just plugging your email address into everything.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
I get these on all my email accounts. I highly doubt you were specifically targeted in any way.
With the 3 main credit agencies, definitely put a credit fraud alert on your account, and if you're a little more paranoid and have a few bucks, put a security freeze on your account, too. Hopefully if you have good passwords they'll lose interest and move along. You mentioned your Apple ID. Is there anybody at Apple that you can report the bogus password reset attempts to, and maybe they can trace their IP address?
There has been not account compromise that you know of right? So there isn't much you can do. You should get your free credit report https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp This is the truly free ones. You can get one free one each year from each agency, there are 3 agencies so you can get one every 4 months. Just keep track of your financial info. You might disassociate the address they are trying to get into from any financial accounts. Change all your passwords to something good and use a password manager so you don't have to do the online reset process.
It all starts at 0
In this case, it looks like you pissed someone off, and they are attempting to gain access to your account and create new accounts with the same e-mail address to get back at you using your name. Change your passwords, and make them strong. You can file reports with the police but they probably won't do much. Most importantly keep an eye our for people pretending to be you and slandering you. If you find it happening somewhere, then contacting the police and/or hiring a lawyer might make sense.
hit the credit reporting sites and see what they have to offer (Experian, Equifax, Transunion). Also, look up LifeLock. Talk to your bank and credit card companies. Delete as many accounts as you can (facebook, apple, twitter, etc.). Move your bank accounts to different banks. Have your banks disconnect your accounts from online-banking (I can choose which accounts to have visible when I log in to my banks website).
I recently had a similar issue. It turned out some moron in Denver with the same name as me thought that he automatically got to have a gmail account in that name. I've had the relevant gmail account since you needed invites. Some quick googling got me his contact info and it got sorted out. Looking back, I got lucky though. I'd change all your passwords and try to reach authorities if it goes on too long.
It looks like you've pissed somebody off and now they're just screwing with you. What would motivate a stranger to randomly open free online accounts under your email address, which they presumably don't yet control, when they can get one of their own just as easily? The days of breaking into and squatting somebody's paid AOL account are long gone. If this was true identity theft, things would start showing up on your credit report, you'd be getting nastygrams in the mail, and the collectors would start calling. Go change your passwords and move on with life.
Yes, what the two above me wrote:
1. go to the police. I guess even in the USA this might be a good idea. As post above this said, you might need the papertrail for evidence
2. create new emailaddress by another provider. Last time I checked hotmail was swarmed with compromised accounts, while gmail actually protected some customers. I do not know about outlook.com. Use IMAP and ssl so that you quckly receive all emails and do not have to delete mails (use provider with large inbox). Set new provider to get all the emails via ssl and pop from the old one (change password first to a strong one).
3. Change literally every password to a strong one and change the associated emailaddress of this account from any account you could think of. Use paper and pencil or trusted password safes (some even create good passwords in case you can not think of so many, use only machines or mobile devices you can trust).
I'd be willing to bet AC poster used thisname@gmail.com and thisname@apple.com and thisname@whatever.com
Are all your usernames the same between all these sites?
Have you responded to any of the 16 notices from Apple about resetting your password? Are the emails actually coming from Apple and not some type of phish.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
You can change your passwords on every site to different random strings of unbreakable length and store them in a password manager, to guarantee that breaking one wouldn't affect the others.
Or you can attempt to close any accounts tied to that email.
Other than closing the accounts, there's nothing you can do. I've called the FBI in a similar circumstance. "Yes, we are tasked with enforcement of that nature. No, we will not act unless you've suffered actual monetary loss."
If you want to prevent this, use different email accounts for each service (you can forward them all to the same "main" account to make checking them easier), so if one email gets abused, you only risk one service. But that's too late for the submitter.
Learn to love Alaska
Having a fairly common name and a early gmail where I snagged first initial + last name I get a lot of junk there. Password reset attempts aplenty, people's airline tickets, house listings, closing documents...
Those I want off of I send a nice mail to support at the company and claim fraudulent use of my email address to register with them. You'd be amazed how fast your email will be off their account (sometimes the account survives that, sometimes... the id10t gets to get a new account -- have fun with that!).
Slashdot Patriotism: We Support our Dupes!
It is just someone who doesn't like you trying to fuck with you. That's not how identity thieves operate. Hopefully one of those automated emails sent you you includes an IP address of whomever is submitting the forms, and that may lead to something. I would say relax, it will pass.
When this has happened to me before, also with the apple ID resets, etc, I've simply hardened the passwords on all my accounts and happily kept on going. As long as you're not following any phishing links, you should be fine.
"The true measure of a person is how they act when they know they won't get caught." - DSRilk
Track them down using the IP address information they have left behind during their attempts.
Then kill them.
Just review your accounts settings. Is your password a strong one?
For the backup e-mail (for lost passwords) is that account secure as well? What about that account's backup?
Are you security questions and answers complex? Are they truthful answers or did you put in some fake/random data as well to protect them? I recommend making the answers really long random strings (like 50+ character password), print the answers out, and store them in a safe or deposit box. Not on your computer.
2 factor auth available?
Your bank probably allows resets to your e-mail. Make sure that is locked down too.
Most everyone is saying similar things, one thing I missed if anyone said it.... put a fraud alert on your credit. Lifelock does this, in fact, its really their main product. Basically, if you write a letter to the credit reporting agencies to tell them that you have reason to believe that someone is trying to steal your identity, they will post an alert on your records, which makes them actually do things like ask for ID when someone claiming to be you asks for a credit report.
The main nice thing about lifelock is/was (its been a while) that this only lasts a few months, they automatically renew it for you. The credit reporting agencies were pretty pissed about this claiming that the fraud alert system is....well.... for people like you who actually have reason to think someone is trying.... not just those of us who know how common and easy it is and know that we are all targets. (or as I liked to paraphrase it "waaaaah we have to do our jobs now....waaaah we can't just be irresponsible with our humoungous database of other people's information....waaaaah")
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
I started getting multiple "you have reached the maximum number of login attempts" from my bank. I changed the account name, and it ended.
Create a new email address, and switch iTunes over to that account. Keep in mind that when hackers got into Mat Honan's life, they did it by exploiting weaknesses in Apple and Google's authentication schemes. Neither weakness was enough on its own, but when combined hackers were able to get full access.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/apple-amazon-mat-honan-hacking/
It's annoying, but be a little proactive and you'll be fine.
Order a free copy of your credit report pronto and check for suspicious activity. Call the credit reporting agencies and put a fraud alert on your account - by providing a phone number only you have access to, any financial institution attempting to open a credit line or loan from someone using you stolen identity will see the fraud alert and call the phone number listed before approving. The fraud alert stays on your record for five years.
My soon-to-be-ex-wife attempted to open a $13,000 credit card in my name using stolen mail. The fraud alert put a stop to any more attempts. That fraud event came out in divorce court and the judge was not too pleased with her.
Regarding the emails to confirm or reset accounts, look for a link to report fraud. Use it (but not the p0rno emails, those bastards will just spam you forever since you just confirmed a live human on the other end).
Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
This isn't casual ID theft. You have something that somebody wants. Someone is trying to hammer at all possible points of your online presence, probably to find information or leverage to get in to something else. (This is the real reason password reuse is bad. One weak system, and your credentials are compromised in other systems)
Do you have a popular online presence? Do a lot of people follow and watch what you do?
Blog? Facebook page? Youtube account? Google+?
Facebook in particular. If you have even a midly popular account you'll be hammered HARD by break in attempts, and due to facebook's generally shit security, you'll probably lose it no matter how well you secure it.
Facebook's fail-open-yes-by-default nature means that popular accounts have huge exposure. Spammers, shady marketers, and social media opinion manipulators (Yes, this is a real thing) buy hacked popular accounts to get their messages to lots of eyes very quickly.
Most of facebook's most popular non-big-celeb accounts are stolen, and exist pretty much to be monetized by shady interests.
Hey, I don't think you can be charged with killing yourself .. can you?
Could just be Phishing too, trying to get you to click on the legit looking links that really take you to a malicious site...
You're fucked :D
Someone in China attempted to access my account about a month ago, and Google (praise be to the google gods), very generously forwarded me the offender's IP address. After about a week of single ping requests, the offender came back online.. and *poof*. He is no longer attempting to steal email accounts anymore. At least, until he gets a new computer.
Amazing stuff you can do with custom firmware these days, no?
I don't know if it is sad or not, but I did this a very long time ago.
I have a throw away email address that I forward (and delete) everything from to one I actually use. When I use my online identity I only use the throw away account (Slashdot included). If it ever becomes compromised (or even just too much spam, which I think was my orginal intent before filters became very good), you can just drop and delete it (if possible), then if you like start a new one and continue the same process. Sure you may have to reconnect to various websites again to re-register or whatever, but seriously 90% are garbage anyway.
It's not perfect, and won't protect you from everything, but it is at least one level of seperation between you and your online communication. Anyway the way I figure it, it doesn't take much to foil most online attempts, most are looking for the low hanging fruit (usually enmasse, usally scripting, so any deviation throws a wrench into the works). Any amount of effort on their part is too much, as there are plenty of easier marks. If someone of some knowlege really wants to illegally access your stuff (and isn't really worried about repercussions), given time and resources they can probably do it. However I have always maintained that doing so to me would be rather pointless in terms of riches and loot, so why would anyone really bother.
Tilts my tinfoil hat to a jaunty angle.
Good call on posting your BS as an AC.
Google Help: Receiving someone else's mail
http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10313
Gmail doesn't recognize dots as characters within usernames, you can add or remove the dots from a Gmail address without changing the actual destination address; they'll all go to your inbox, and only yours. In short:
homerjsimpson@gmail.com = hom.er.j.sim.ps.on@gmail.com
homerjsimpson@gmail.com = HOMERJSIMPSON@gmail.com
homerjsimpson@gmail.com = Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com
All these addresses belong to the same person. You can see this if you try to sign in with your username, but adding or removing a dot from it. You'll still go to your account.
They done goofed this time. You need to set up a backtrace. I can help you. Send me all of your log-in information and I will get the backtrace set up. Then I will forward your case on to the Cyber Police. These hackers aren't going to know what hit them.
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
Not hard.
How do I change my Apple ID
You can also change the e-mail address on your Apple account. No loss of your previous purchases.
I think I would do this on anything where they had my CC info on file. Then pick a strong password for both your old and new e-mail address and wait for them to go away.
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
I don't have an Apple ID, GMail, Facebook, Twitter, or any other accounts; instead, I have friends and activities in the real world, which is somewhat more difficult to "hack".
Seriously: put down the laptop and cellphone, go outside and play.
I've had part of this happen to me. My spam e-mail address is of the format FirstName.noun@gmail.com. I imagine if someone is trying to think of a quick e-mail address, and they share my name, they might come up with the same one. Or maybe they created a very similar account on gmail, but forgot that they're actually FirstName.noun1@gmail.com.
Anyway, I'd say on average I get about two notifications per month that someone is trying to create a facebook, twitter, eharmony, or whatever account with this e-mail address, and I need to click a link to proceed. Generally, I just ignore them, and have not had a problem. Only one time did it get annoying -- someone signed up for a dating service (I forgot which), and it didn't do the "click the link to confirm your e-mail address" thing. Instead, I started getting daily e-mails about potential matches. I tried the "reset password" link on the web site, but they required more information than just my e-mail address. Ultimately, I had to send a message to their support department, and they promptly deleted the account.
If you recently added this account to your mobile phone it may be legitimate. I got multiple notices from gmail regarding logging in to the account from an unusual location. It took a little thought but I backtracked the IP address to a mycingular host in Virginia.
So, were you wifi leaching, using an evil twin and got MTM'd?
Honestly, sorry my friend, this kind of stuff is a PITA.
I would do the following
1. make sure your pc and router are not pwned
2. change the email address that all of your services use NOW
3. for good measure, change all of your passwords.
Right, so as others are saying, for Goodness' sake change your email address; but this time, do it right.
Set up an email forwarder such as bigfoot.net (free [as in beer] for a single forwarding address). Tell bigfoot to forward to your true new account, and make sure you never give out your true address - give _everybody_ your bigfoot address.
That way, if you ever need to change your true email address again for any reason, it will just be between you and bigfoot.
"We reject kings, presidents and voting. We believe in rough consensus and running code." Dave Clark, IETF
Did you recently piss-off a female? Break up with your girl? Pack up your toothbrush? Suggest you be just friends?
Thought so.
"The ferrets, they're every where I tell you!"
I know your password then! I mean after all, I've memorized that xkcd comic for at least a year...
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
What moron moderated this bullshit "insightful"?
1. Including navigational software in my case it would rather be 300 EUR. How about steam? How about othe electronic goods?
2. You do not have to create new accounts, only the password and the emailaddress associated with it - your initial post was already misleading
3. If you do 2. and not the bullshit you were suggesting, nobody has to rebuy anything
Again: What moron moderated this insightful?
IANAL, but if you have their identity couldn't you sue them in small claims court? I'm assuming that they would be unlikely to show up, and you would get a default judgement. Then I think you could get a court order to have the sheriff (?) go and ransack their property to retrieve $XXX worth of stuff. Probably much more satisfying than just getting your $500 back.
I don't think an account was compromised, yet. These sound like phishing attempts. I receive emails for the following kinds of junk:
Your FedEx has arrived but been returned.
You have attempted to sell your Warcraft account.
Your eBay (or Paypal or ???) account (something something that sounds like I should check it out), I don't even have accounts
Etc.
Never clicked, don't want to. Links typically fake pointing to, say, ebay.com but are actually ebay.com.somesuspicious.url.some.tiny.country
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Maybe one day you might get the chance to follow your own advice. Some people exist only to act as examples for others, so be sure to let us know how that goes.
Sent from my ENIAC
Twitter.
Apple.
Facebook.
Those three have something in common.
He was commenting in a general sense. Most people have more sense than money, but some are in the fortunate position of being the opposite of that.
I've had Bryan Prices from Canada, Hong Kong, and the various states (including a person in mine!) that forget that they don't own that particular gmail.com address. I have gotten things to do with Juniper, Apple, business loan applications, cable TV and Internet appointments set (it took them over two weeks, but I think they finally realized that they were using the wrong email on that one), frat brothers that think I'm part of their frat (wrong frat, I'm afraid), people sending me pictures of their Jeeps as if I'm in the market. The automated stuff like the Juniper stuff, I just mark as spam. I have called them, but because I'm not a customer, they refuse to do anything about it. Meanwhile, that guarantees that I will never use them for anything. Notifying the mistaken parties can still be an issue, because they don't change their address book, and the next email arrives to me!
Bryan
ESL, idiot. Get over the fact that not everyone has English as their first language. I've been speaking Spanish for over two decades and still make mistakes far more egregious than that.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
I bet my English beats the hell out of your German. Thank you very much. And yes, either safer or more secure would habe been better.
or maybe "more safest?"
Sent from my ENIAC
He doesn't like to be insulted...
Sent from my ENIAC
I send back replies to people who are emailing me explaining they have the wrong person, and either mark the junk accounts as spam, or contact their customer service and ask for them to remove my email from their account.
Sometimes, the companies will actually comply, especially if it's for some children's website... (COPPA is a big deal).
For the ones who don't listen, or can't remove me, I just keep tossing them into the bit bucket.
-merlyn
Most people only have 1 account. But you shoul hdave more then one.
Holding account purchases: main email that is your backup and used to hold online purchases for Amazon and other sites.
personal: used for friends and family
social: used on message boards and social networks.
if one is compromised, it will not affect the others.
are you sure they're actually trying to create those accounts, and not... sending you false emails/links to cause you to "change your password", login to check on stuff via a dummy link that masquerades as the original sites authentication pages?
...is a bitch to administer. Configuration, authentication, making sure you do all the crap so you don't get flagged as spam. I'll admit that the first time I played with Postfix it took me like two solid days to get everything set up right. You got any recommendations for deployment and admin to save me the headache next time? (Cuz the best part is, it's now been long enough that I've forgotten most of it and it'd probably take me another two days to set up...)
and I don't know about you but my email account has become my legal proxy. An mail sent from my account is in many cases as good as a legally signed document. If I wished to, in a 24-hour period. I could empty my bank accounts, liquidate and transfer my assets overseas, secure $50,000 in credit and probably run up about $100k in debt, all with only access to my email. In the USA, there are many cases of debt incurred by fraudulent means for which the victim has been deemed liable for, and for which they spend years fighting legal ramifications. Worse has happened with less information; Personally, I have had an account compromised by someone who knew enough about me that they convinced phone reps to reset my password by a) being charming and b) pretending to be me. That was an eye-opener. No it shouldn't have happened. Yes, it did.
To me, if my account were to become the object of clear and persistent interest by entities of unknown capabilities and intent, I personally would do what to me is the most prudent thing that I could do and destroy the trail that leads them to my shit. Since I don't know who they are, I have no way of knowing how likely they are to succeed or how they will attempt it. If Apple won't give me what I paid for is the least of my worries - Apple is relatively credible and I have legal recourse, but I have no recourse when my shit disappears over foreign borders into laundered criminal accounts.
Or, to put it another way, f*ck that shit - I'm changing my accounts.
Sent from my ENIAC
Konten sind gefährdet jeden Tag und ich weiß nicht wie es euch geht, aber meine E-Mail-Konto zu meiner rechtlichen Proxy. Eine Mail von meinem Konto gesendet wird, in vielen Fällen so gut wie eine rechtsgültig unterschriebene Dokument. Wenn ich wollte, in einem 24-Stunden-Zeitraum. Ich konnte leeren meine Bankkonten, zu liquidieren und übertragen mein Vermögen im Ausland, sichern $ 50.000 Kredit-und wahrscheinlich laufen bis über $ 100k in Schulden, die alle mit nur Zugriff auf meine E-Mail. In den USA gibt es viele Fälle von Schulden durch betrügerische Mittel für die das Opfer als hat haftet für und für die sie jahrelang kämpfen juristische Konsequenzen entstehen. Schlimmer noch mit weniger Informationen passiert, persönlich habe ich ein Konto von jemandem, der genug über mich wusste, dass sie sich telefonisch Wiederholungen mein Passwort durch einen Reset überzeugt gefährdet) ist charmant und b) sich für mich aus. Das war ein Augenöffner. Nein, es hätte nicht passieren dürfen. Ja, es tat.
Für mich, wenn mein Konto war der Gegenstand der klare und anhaltende Interesse von Einrichtungen aus unbekannten Fähigkeiten und Absichten zu werden, würde ich persönlich, was mir zu tun ist die klügste, was ich zu tun und zerstören könnte die Spur, die sie führt zu my shit . Da ich nicht weiß, wer sie sind, habe ich keine Möglichkeit zu wissen, wie wahrscheinlich sie erfolgreich sein wird oder wie sie es versuchen werden. Wenn Apple nicht geben mir, was ich bezahlt ist meine geringste Sorge - Apple ist relativ glaubwürdig und ich habe Rechtsweg, aber ich habe keine Zuflucht, wenn meine Scheiße verschwindet über ausländische Grenzen in gewaschenen kriminellen Konten.
Oder, um es anders auszudrücken, f * ck that shit - Ich ändere meine Konten.
Sent from my ENIAC
...turns out the other person has a very similar email address... something like my address being jkirk@gmail.com and his jtkirk@gmail.com and I'm not sure if people just don't memorize the t in his email address b/c in everyday-life they'd call him "Jim" or "James" or "Mr. Kirk" but not "James Tiberius" or even know about his second name or if it's because he has typos on is business cards or whatever... in fact this /. story just made me write another email to him suggesting he might want to tell people his email address is j.t.kirk@gmail.com
oh and: I was lucky finding out his real email address because I could convince one of his relatives that he got the address wrong and that he should ask Jim to clarify that, which made Jim contact me eventually...
How about steam?
Press the "Change contact email" button you fucking moron.
"Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
Nah, I don't speak Dutch, just German ... ;>)