4 replies to this topic

[Anoushik]

I have a gmail account that consists of only my first name. I believe it's been already three years since I opened that account. I don't really use it; I use Hotmail primarily. Three months ago I started receiving emails from my bank to my gmail account. The problem is that it's not addressed to me but to another customer with the same first name. I think she must've thought that she was the only one using that email and didn't check that it was taken. The emails were very generic, mostly information about online banking. Still, I contacted the bank and let them know what was happening. The guy answering told me to just ignore them since they couldn't do anything about it. So, I did. But I received another email addressed to that person with her statement for her deposit account and all her account number showing except for the last three numbers. So, I thought that's not good and called the bank today again. They told me that they can't do anything about it and I had to do something about it, which is contact gmail and have my account closed. I don't want to do it. It's not fair. In this case the other person is the one who should be interested to have her account changed because of security reasons and not I. Am I wrong to assume so? Ethical questions aside, is there a security threat to me to if I don't close my account?

[Sip]

No why is there a threat to you? If you want to make sure, just change your password and you will be the only one who knows it. If there is any contact info on the statement, you could try to contact the person and let them know.

The bank sounds pretty dumb to me if that's the case. Also, be aware that this might be some sort of spam mail or scam. So just delete the things that are not for you. And even the things that are for you, check carefully.

[Anoushik]

Yes, thanks. That's what I thought. As long as there is no security threat with someone having access to my friends' email addresses.

No, there is no contact info. The emails do seem to come from the bank. All the links, all the phone numbers listed seem correct.

I don't want to close my account and open a new one. But I guess that'd be the right thing to do. This concerns another person's privacy. It's just that I'm not fully convinced that she's even real. And I don't want to close my account when I'm not fully convinced.

[Sip]

Don't close your account. You can probably set up a filtering rule to make your email delete those emails automatically when they show up if you are worried about the "moral" problems.

But it's not your fault .. just imagine if someone put the wrong address and their bank statements was coming to your house ... would you move?

[Anoushik]

Thanks, that makes sense!