This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Èròjà atẹ̀lélànà yii ni a ti fi pamọ́ fọ́jọ́ pípẹ́. Jọ̀wọ́ béèrè ìbéèrè titun bí o bá nílò ìrànwọ́.

rogue email address

  • 6 àwọn èsì
  • 0 ní àwọn ìṣòro yìí
  • 12 views
  • Èsì tí ó kẹ́hìn lọ́wọ́ Finnbar

more options

My email address consists of my forename dot surname. I recently received an email from a hotel which was addressed to my forename/surname (WITHOUT an intervening dot) I replied asking the hotel to remove me from their mailing list (I have never stayed there). I sent a blind copy to the surname/forename, for info. To my surprise, I received the blind copy. It looks as if Thunderbird may be confusing me with another person of the same name, whose email is similar, but without a dot. Or perhaps something more malign. Please advise. Many thanks.

My email address consists of my forename dot surname. I recently received an email from a hotel which was addressed to my forename/surname (WITHOUT an intervening dot) I replied asking the hotel to remove me from their mailing list (I have never stayed there). I sent a blind copy to the surname/forename, for info. To my surprise, I received the blind copy. It looks as if Thunderbird may be confusing me with another person of the same name, whose email is similar, but without a dot. Or perhaps something more malign. Please advise. Many thanks.

All Replies (6)

more options

Thunderbird is only the messenger here.The email was sent to your email server, your email host having decided that the email id without the dot belonged to you. All Thunderbird did was move it from your server to your Thunderbird email account.

more options

Thanks for your advice. But how do I stop it? Is it malign? Are my emails being diverted?

more options

It may or may not be a 'feature', depending on your perception and your email provider. For example, it may be that your email provider allows flexibility in your email id, allowing for aliases. For example, you may want to pretend to have a different email id when subscribing to a newsletter and having the ability to eliminate the dot allows that and you could create a filter to manage it. Another example: gmail allows users to add -1, -2, etc. to email ids, yet they all still come back to the main one. So, the flexibility can be a plus, allowing for use of an alias. I suggest you check with your email host to see what other options exist. For example, if your id is john.doe, we know it can be johndoe, but could it also be j.ohndoe, johnd.oe, john.doe-1, etc. To me, this is a feature that you may find useful. It also has possibility of spammers, but I see that as minor, because spammers already know of your real id for them to attempt to modify it. There, too many words. I think your email is OK.

more options

Thank you again David. My problem is that I know that there is someone else in my city who has the same forename and surname as as I do. I suspect that forename/surname, without the dot, is his email address. And I fear that he may be getting my emails in the way that i am getting his. Do you think this is not worth bothering about? Thanks again. DS

more options

I think you're safe. He would be using a different email provider, so the letters to right of @ would be different. He isn't using your email provider, or the email host would have detected it.

more options

Many thanks David. Quite reassuring!