In order to consolidate e-mail, we often set up a catch-all e-mail account, then forward e-mail from various other addresses to this account. Recently, however, I started receiving someone else’s e-mail to my Gmail account.
At first, it took me a minute to figure it out (when it started, I figured that Gmail was simply letting an inordinate amount of spam slip through the filters), but when I received a sale notification for an affiliate program I was 99% certain I never signed up for, I decided to investigate. Sure enough, someone had set up their e-mail forwarders improperly. The worst part? Every e-mail I try to send to this person lands in my mailbox. In other words, there’s no way for me to contact this person letting him know I’m receiving all of his e-mail.
The e-mails I received aren’t simple “hey there and hello” e-mails, they are account confirmations, usernames/passwords, website updates, statements and so forth. His e-mails even give me a glimpse into all his marketing techniques. Everything he’s set up for his affiliate business is being directed to me.
Trying to live by the golden rule, I’ve contacted each of the affiliate programs, but according to them, there’s not much they can do. Some will hope he provided a valid and working phone number and call him, some will snail mail him, and a few say it’s out of their hands — he’s responsible for keeping his information safe and up to date. Unfortunately, sorting this out will take time and the only thing I can do in the interim is filter all his e-mail into my trash bin.
Let this cautionary tale serve as a reminder to double check your own e-mail forwarders. You never really know who’s on the receiving end of your e-mail, and it may end up being the downfall of your business if it should fall into the wrong hands.
[…] I came across a blog recently that prompted me to post this entry. This was about someone not receiving spam emails but that they had actually started receiving someone else’s e-mail to their Gmail account. It ended up that the mail forward was entered incorrectly, and “volia” just like that one was not receiving anymore emails, and someone else was getting them instead.[…]
[ March 5th, 2007 at 5:05 pm] [ #Link ]
Big Oops! I’m sure you thought of this. But maybe one of the emails refers to a website owned by this person so that you can get to the whois data. This person is lucky that you are an honest person. You’d think he’d notice a problem within a couple days.
Christy
PS.. Love the new direction and layout of your site. Been too long since I’ve stopped by
.
[ March 9th, 2007 at 1:44 pm] [ #Link ]
Thanks for commenting and for the compliments, Christy.
You’re right, the first thing I did when I realized the e-mail address it was being forwarded from wasn’t a free web based company was check the whois data, and guess what? The same e-mail that was being forwarded was the e-mail address listed in whois.
Thankfully, I’ve stopped receiving it as of yesterday, so I believe one of the affiliate merchants was able to contact him or he started wondering why he wasn’t getting any e-mail and did some checking himself. LOL
~ Teli
[ March 9th, 2007 at 2:02 pm] [ #Link ]