someone DOES have the same hotmail email address as me, this is a security issue

Anonymous
2013-10-17T10:11:46+00:00

hi, someone definitely has the same Hotmail email address as me. I have had this address for years. then a few months ago I started receiving information from ebay that was meant for this person. I contacted ebay and they asked this person to change her email which she must of done because I do not receive mail from ebay that's is not intended for me now.  yesterday I received a email from a energy company with this persons name and and energy account  number. I am worried she may be receiving my emails and this may be a security issue? what should I do please.?

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy

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  1. Brian Tillman [Outlook MVP 2007-2019] 25,920 Reputation points
    2014-09-23T18:14:31+00:00

    There's nothing you or Microsoft can do.  Someone outside of anyone's control has mistyped their address and used yours accidentally.  You can't stop someone from mistyping an address.  For example, someone could have the address ******@hotmail.co.uk but when trying to sign up for Paypal, they enter ******@hotmail.com instead, with the latter being your address by mistake.  It could have also been something simply like the difference between ******@outlook.com and ******@outlook.com.  In other words, it was just a typo on the other system, not two identical addresses on Hotmail/Outlook.com.  How would prevent that?  How could anyone?

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-08-10T06:40:57+00:00

    So I agree - it sounds like he has been using your email address, but not by logging into your outlook.com/hotmail account. Instead, he has told people (and facebook, etc.) that his email address is yours instead of what is really his. Given that you have the same name, his proper email address is quite possibly very similar.

    In this case, changing your password would have no effect as your account isn't compromised.

    To be fair, I don't think there is anything Microsoft can do in this situation. If this other guy hasn't woken up to it by now, I have limited sympathy for him. Of course, Facebook and banks should validate email addresses before using them, but if you clicked on a link in such an email, they wouldn't know better.

    Maybe the best approach is to set up rules to block emails from these specific people, or just simply delete them.

    Sorry, I can't think of any other alternatives.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-08-10T04:53:03+00:00

    Recently I was getting notifications from Facebook, that I have opened a Facebook account with my email address and getting a bunch of friend request from people I don't know.

    I actually logged into Facebook with my SHARED email address, since I didn't know the password asked for a reset code which was delivered to the shared email address and checked out who is the other Attila Gombos ..... this person lives in Hungary which I have known for a while, and he had a legit Facebook account. I have also received numerous emails even from his girlfriend and bank statements not to mention a bunch of job applications etc. Since I have asked his girlfriend and also his bank, to notify him about this situation which either he doesn't care or never done anything to correct it, I have deleted his Facebook account yesterday, with a hope this will get someone's attention.

    I hope this clarifies the situation

    Attila

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-06-23T22:02:33+00:00

    I also had this problem. He had my Facebook page and was using my email address. I got back into my account and deleted all his friends, turned off everything associated with him, sent a message to his friends that the account was illegal, and locked it down so that only I could access anything. I also have not used the account for a while just to make sure.

    Changing passwords did nothing to stop the guy even in Facebook.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-10-18T05:04:53+00:00

    Hi saffroncairns,

    Welcome to Microsoft Community. I understand that you suspect that your account might have the same email address. Please be informed that each account is unique and our system would not allow to create a duplicate email. To ensure that your account is secured, please try to update your password and reset information by following the steps on this **link**.

    If you still encounter this issue, you can try to create a message rule to filter those messages. You may refer to these steps:

    1. Sign in your account and go to your Inbox.
    2. Click the cog icon located at the upper right of the page and select More mail settings.
    3. Under Customizing Outlook, click Rules for sorting new messages.
    4. Follow the on screen instructions.

    If you need further assistance, please let us know.

    Thanks!

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