Someone else's Google account tried to connect to mine

RealGem

grumbler wrote: »

I am pretty sure the sender address is the easiest thing to fake.

OK thanks, I will ask Google. But I won't hold my breath for a reply. They either don't reply or take a minimum of 3 weeks.

And even then they never answer a simple question. I think they must all be former politicians!

wealdroam

RealGem wrote: »

(similar-name-but-not-exactly-the-same-as-yours)

Was the only difference in the punctuation?

I seen to recall that dots are ignored in the first part of email addresses, such that similar.name@gmail.com resolves to exactly the same address as similarname@gmail.com.

Not sure how that helps though.

RealGem

wealdroam wrote: »

Was the only difference in the punctuation?

I seen to recall that dots are ignored in the first part of email addresses, such that [EMAIL="similar.name@gmail.com"]similar.name@gmail.com[/EMAIL] resolves to exactly the same address as [EMAIL="similarname@gmail.com"]similarname@gmail.com[/EMAIL].

Not sure how that helps though.

Thanks but the dashes (not dots) were only to make it easier to read.

My email is this format:

(EXAMPLE!!)

GertrudePJellybean@gmail.com

and the account wanting to link was:

[EMAIL="GertrudePrudenceJellybean@gmail.com"]GertrudePrudenceJellybean@gmail.com[/EMAIL]

thanks

onomatopoeia99

grumbler wrote: »

I am pretty sure the sender address is the easiest thing to fake.

Pretty much all of it can be faked, this is by design. SMTP is not intended as a secure protocol that authenticates if the sender is allowed to use the address they are sending as. Consequently, it means that if I'm at home, I can send out emails appearing to come from my work address via my home ISP if a technical support problem comes in during the evening from an overseas customer.

Things like SPF are intended to address this lack of control, but that just breaks other things and causes me a headache when I'm wearing my mailserver admin hat.

SnowTiger

RealGem wrote: »

Thanks but the dashes (not dots) were only to make it easier to read.

My email is this format:

(EXAMPLE!!)

GertrudePJellybean@gmail.com

and the account wanting to link was:

[EMAIL="GertrudePrudenceJellybean@gmail.com"]GertrudePrudenceJellybean@gmail.com[/EMAIL]

thanks

Perhaps someone's set up your email address as their recovery email address. Google says they will use it when:

We need to alert you to any unusual activity involving your address

So, perhaps, someone set up GertrudePJellybean@gmail.com as their recover email address when they really meant to use GertrudePrudenceJellybean@gmail.com?

My Google account name is my real name. It's not particularly common, but I get a a few genuine emails meant for other people.

grumbler

SnowTiger wrote: »

Perhaps someone's set up your email address as their recovery email address.

But it was a 'new sign in notification', not recovery?
Notifications get sent to the main address.

Geodark

grumbler wrote: »

But it was a 'new sign in notification', not recovery?
Notifications get sent to the main address.

Nope, get sent to main and recovery - I got two yesterday informing me of the new sign in I hade made.

grumbler

Then it seems someone just erroneously have given the OP's e-mail address as the recovery one.

RealGem

Thanks guys, I thought it was dodgy activity because I was paranoid after losing my phone. I had forgotten about the recovery email address.

Yes, I can now see how it could be that.

thanks a lot