Problem With Others Using My Gmail Address to Register on Websites?

September 3, 2023 7:31 PM

I am in the process of phasing out use of an old email address that is not being well supported. Thus, I am changing my address for many sites from this old email to a gmail address I've had for decades. I am finding that some sites - Apple, PayPal and Amazon so far - tell me I can't change to my gmail address because it's already in use. I assume this means someone(s) already used my gmail address to register at these sites?

But this seems odd, since I do not remember ever receiving strange gmail from these sites that would indicate someone is actually trying to communicate with them using my gmail address. I have, over the years, received many gmails because people gave my gmail address as theirs - schools, dentists, banks, you name it. But this is different. No apparent attempt at a scam, hack, etc. But no evidence of the gmail actually being used. How could someone actually register at a place like Amazon without having to confirm the email, which they couldn't if it wasn't theirs? Is there some other possible explanation? Will I have any luck getting - for example - Amazon to purge someone who has used my gmail? Thanks!

posted by Jackson to Computers & Internet (29 answers total)

If you control that email address, just ask for a password reset. Legacy systems might not have asked for confirmation.
posted by mhoye at 7:33 PM on September 3, 2023 [21 favorites]

A) Google is going to delete inactive accounts starting in December, so you could wait and start fresh if you think those accounts aren't really being used.

B) Turn on two-factor identification for any existing accounts so people can't use/misuse them.
posted by brookeb at 7:34 PM on September 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: mhoye, what would a password reset do? How would that delete my gmail address from an Amazon account that someone else has set up (assuming that's what happened)?

brookeb, my gmail account is in very active use by me and I don't want to delete it. And I'm using two factor identification. I have no evidence that anyone is trying to actually use my gmail account, only that it appears to have been used by other(s) to register at the places I noted, thereby blocking me from changing my account email to this gmail address. At least I assume that's what's happening.

I'd just like to be able to use my current gmail address everywhere as I phase out my old email. I can create another new gmail address to use at those sites, but I'd rather not have the inconvenience of needing to use a new separate gmail addresses at those sites that won't let me change to my current gmail address.
posted by Jackson at 7:47 PM on September 3, 2023

The password reset should allow you to take control of the account, and either set it up as your own, or delete it.
posted by sagc at 8:03 PM on September 3, 2023 [22 favorites]

The password reset should allow you to take control of the account, and either set it up as your own, or delete it.

This is the way.
posted by kbanas at 8:07 PM on September 3, 2023 [9 favorites]

Response by poster: Sorry, I'm confused. I have control of my Amazon account. What I want to do is change the email associated with that account from the current email associated with that account to a gmail address that I own. But I can't because I get a message that says that my gmail address is already in use therefore I can't switch my account to that gmail address. I can only login to Amazon with my current email. It doesn't do me any good to change the password on my current email at Amazon. And I can't use my gmail address - the one I want to use - to login to Amazon because I don't know what password someone is using - again, assuming that is what's happening. Am I making sense? Thanks for your help, I do appreciate it.
posted by Jackson at 8:32 PM on September 3, 2023

And I can't use my gmail address - the one I want to use - to login to Amazon because I don't know what password someone is using

Password reset the Gmail address on Amazon, not your current (per sagc’s comment)
posted by lesser weasel at 8:40 PM on September 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

Start the process of logging in to Amazon using the email that you want start using and then click the option for "forgot password". With most websites, that will be enough for them to send you an email with a link to reset the password. Once you reset the password, you will have control over the account.
posted by metahawk at 8:41 PM on September 3, 2023 [7 favorites]

Response by poster: Okay, excuse my stupidity. Unfortunately, when I try to login with my gmail and I say I forgot my password, it takes me to a screen that says "Solve this puzzle to protect your account" But there is no puzzle. There is a "Need Help?" button, but selecting it does nothing. So complete dead end. Have tried three times.
posted by Jackson at 9:00 PM on September 3, 2023

Any chance you have an ad blocker or script blocker that's not set to allow the captcha?
posted by trig at 9:08 PM on September 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: This method also failed on PayPal and Apple. They would not accept a new password for the gmail account when I tried to login using it. Even though Apple sent me a reset password email to my gmail account. Dead ends.

trig, I have turned off uBlock but it didn't make a difference.

Doesn't appear to be an easy answer. Thanks for help from all of you.
posted by Jackson at 9:19 PM on September 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

This may or may not help: you can add a plus symbol and any arbitrary text to an email prefix and it will still be delivered. For example, if your address is [e-mail], email sent to [e-mail] should reach you. So you could try changing the address for your accounts to a variant form like that, which presumably has not already been used by anyone. It’s possible that the services will normalize this away and still give the same error, but worth a try?
posted by staggernation at 9:30 PM on September 3, 2023 [4 favorites]

What about trying a different browser?

Regardless, if you find you need to use a different email address, you can set up that address to forward everything to your main gmail account, which at least minimizes inconvenience.
posted by trig at 9:49 PM on September 3, 2023 [5 favorites]

Try it using Chrome on a desktop computer (not tablet/phone). Make sure Chrome is up to date and all extensions disabled.
posted by whitelily at 12:35 AM on September 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

This method also failed on PayPal and Apple. They would not accept a new password for the gmail account when I tried to login using it. Even though Apple sent me a reset password email to my gmail account.

This really confused me, what did you try to do?

Do these words mean:
- I logged out of a session (at PayPal or Apple or other)
- I used the gmail address as a login username at PayPal or Apple or other
- Instead of entering a password I requested an email with a link to reset my password
- I used the link to set a new password for the a login with the gmail address as username at PayPal or Apple or other
- The new password that I had set was not accepted when using the gmail address as username at at PayPal or Apple or other..?

Some services will send notifications that a password has been reset and allow a person logged in with that username to say "I did not ask for this, it wasn't me" and undo the password change.

You may need to attempt this a few more times, then find the option in Settings to close all logged-in sessions to fully reclaim these logins.
posted by k3ninho at 1:04 AM on September 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

I just did it to an unknown to me Amazon account using my, since 2005,Gmail account. I asked for a password reset. Reset it, waited half hour, logged in with the reset password, went to account settings, changed the email address to another email I have in inventory and then changed MY Amazon account's email to my Gmail address I had just removed from anther account.

One thing I had to do before changing the password was turn off my VPN. Not sure why.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 3:38 AM on September 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Some VPNs do their redirects outside the U.S., and that may be a factor.
posted by yclipse at 3:58 AM on September 4, 2023

Someone else could not be using an Amazon account with your gmail address. If they were, you would be getting notifications about everything they bought. They wouldn't have been able to complete the account set up process. Ditto for the other services you are describing.

If those people did manage to set up (but not use) the accounts, you would still be able to take control of the accounts by logging into them and resetting the password.

This sounds like a dumb question, but are you sure you are typing your gmail address correctly? Could it be that you are the person using the wrong gmail address?
posted by Winnie the Proust at 5:20 AM on September 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

You wrote this:

“This method also failed on PayPal and Apple. They would not accept a new password for the gmail account when I tried to login using it. Even though Apple sent me a reset password email to my gmail account. Dead ends.”

Do you mean you couldn’t see the captcha puzzle (same as what happened on Amazon)? Or something else? When you clicked on the reset password link in the email that PayPal/Apple sent you, what happened exactly?
posted by whitelily at 6:05 AM on September 4, 2023

It sounds like you were trying to reset your Gmail password. Don’t! When you try to login to Amazon, select “forgot my password” so it sends a new link to your Gmail account.
posted by blazingunicorn at 9:57 AM on September 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have a similar problem with Gmail. It seems someone uses a slightly different account, with a dot in the address (think [e-mail] instead of [e-mail]). Gmail processes these the same so I recieve a lot of emails where someone signed up with the dotted email account. Possibly Gmail allowed different accounts at one time with the dot not processed to the same account? I can’t tell whether they recieve my emails, so I don’t trust Gmail for anything where I’d need any measure of privacy.
posted by coldhotel at 10:47 AM on September 4, 2023

Sounds to me like you're stuck in a loop of trying the same thing over and over again without understanding what you're doing or what you should be doing.

To be clear, I have had this happen a gazillion times (my gmail account is simply a word without numbers/special characters).

Here's what others above are trying to explain:

- You own (have access to) the gmail address in question. Presumably no one else has your password.
- It is irrelevant that others have used it to sign up to something. They do not have access to the account so do not have access to password reset emails.

1. Go to the account in question (Paypal, Amazon, whatever), which you are presumably logged into with your non-gmail address.
2. Log out.
3. Go to a fresh log in page and try to log in with your gmail account.
4. If the password you try does not work, click "Forgot Password" or "Reset Password" or whatever.
5. Enter your gmail address as the address you want the reset sent to.
6. Log into your gmail account and click the link.
7. When you click the link you will be brought to a reset page. Some such pages ask for a password to be entered (twice, usually) to reset. Some ask for an email address AND the password twice. If it asks for the email address, make sure you use your gmail address and not your non-gmail address.
8. Once it's reset, log in.

I would suggest you do all of the above (after step 2) with a browser different from the one you normally use. When you check your gmail and click the link your default browser will open. Copy the URL from either your email (by right clicking on it) or the default browser's address line once clicked, and paste it into the virgin browser.

The above will absolutely work with any modern account system.

In addition, I would suggest that other people are NOT using your gmail address, but that in fact you signed up at some distant time with the gmail address and simply forgot and then created a new account with your non-gmail address that you continued to use until this date.

I suspect this is the case because, to my recollection, gmail does not predate that necessity of verifying an email address when creating an account. Though there was a time you didn't have to verify, gmail did not exist at this time. Therefore, it is impossible for someone to use your gmail address to create an account on any current system (paypal, amazon, whatever). There is simply no way to do it. Creating an account sends a "verify email" link which no one else but you can click because they do not have your gmail password. If the link isn't clicked, the account isn't created.

Possibly Gmail allowed different accounts at one time with the dot not processed to the same account?

No. This has never been the case. Gmail does and always has ignored any dots in email addresses as they cause a security risk. You can put a dot in your email address if you wish, but they will be ignored. [e-mail] and [e-mail] and [e-mail] are all processed by gmail, and always have been, as [e-mail].

Part of the reason people think the dot matters is because when gmail first launched, it prompted you to choose an address with this format: _____ . ______ @gmail.com, expecting most people to do firstname.lastname. But you could have filled in either box and left the other blank and it would have worked. It was a suggestion, that many people, understandably, assumed was a necessity. They changed the sign up to a single box some time after.
posted by dobbs at 11:10 AM on September 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: I truly appreciate all these helpful ideas. I think I've made some progress. See the following.

Dobbs: I had the same problem on all three sites when I tried to log in with my gmail in order to say I forgot my password so I could then reset the password and thereby gain control of the site. All three sent me an email to my gmail address to start the process, but none would let me past the password. All three asked for some additional account security information that I could not provide since I did not create the account (e.g., Amazon asked me to complete a phone number that was absolutely a phone number I never had, so it seems doubtful that I set up this account and then forgot I did). This does not explain how their account got verified without an email confirmation from me, unless I mistakenly did confirm. But I do have to wonder why the person who successfully set up the account didn't just change the email address on the account once they figured out that their account email (my gmail) wasn't working for them on Amazon.

But I was able to get ahold of Amazon Help. They confirmed that someone had indeed set up an account with my gmail address (they wouldn't say who), but that the account had been inactive since 2012. They said they would delete that account, and sent me an email to my gmail address that allowed me to set up a new Amazon account using that gmail address and still keep my current Amazon account. Having two accounts is not ideal but if I were to delete my current existing account I would lose all my history of orders, etc. Also, Amazon will not allow you to have two accounts with the same mobile phone number, so I will have to have one account with no mobile phone number. I'm still trying to communicate with them to see - now that my gmail address is 'available' - if they can just let me change my address on my current existing account to my preferred gmail address and avoid having two accounts. I have at least 'recaptured' my gmail address on Amazon as I try to resolve the two-account issue.

Dobbs, I will try your suggestion on Apple and PayPal, but I won't be surprised it they stop me by asking for additional security information. As necessary, I will then try to resolve this with PayPal and Apple via Help. Thanks again to all.
posted by Jackson at 12:51 PM on September 4, 2023

Best answer: unless I mistakenly did confirm

Ah. Yes, this is not something I had considered and of course is the outlier for someone else creating an account with your address. Clicking things willy-nilly or absent-mindedly in your email can lead to many, much worse problems than you're experiencing.

Good luck!
posted by dobbs at 12:58 PM on September 4, 2023

Response by poster: Dobbs: I have no problem assuming I am the guilty party; it happens so often. Just relieved that there seems to be a reasonable explanation and solution. Thanks again for your help. I'm going to mark you best answer for sticking with me through this.
posted by Jackson at 2:51 PM on September 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Not sure why Amazon set you up with a new account, as you were trying to change the email on your account to that one.
Do you have a spare email address to assign to the new account, so that you can change the email in your old account to that gmail one you successfully liberated?
posted by kaelynski at 6:17 PM on September 4, 2023

Also, I don't know if some websites catch this or not, but you can add periods freely to your gmail. So if my email is [e-mail], I can use the address [e-mail] and it treats it the same and comes to my inbox. I have used this for testing at work, when I needed to create five accounts to try something five different ways: g.ideonfrog, gi.deonfrog, gid.eonfrog, etc.

So you might just spare yourself the trouble by changing your email address to [e-mail] instead of your preferred [e-mail], and proceed with that as your amazon email address.
posted by gideonfrog at 7:02 PM on September 4, 2023

Response by poster: kaelynski: Amazon said they were going to get back to me about changing the address for me, but if I don't hear from them I will try to do something similar to what you said. Amazon let me set up the new account with my preferred gmail address. I assume I could delete that account and thereby free up and make available my preferred gmail address. Then I could change the email on my current, long standing Amazon account to my preferred email address.
posted by Jackson at 7:44 PM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I was able to solve the problem with all three websites through their customer service people. In two cases, someone else had indeed set up an account using my gmail address. The accounts were closed and I was able to use my gmail address as I hoped. In the third case, (per dobbs) I had indeed set up the account many years ago and somehow verified it before forgetting and opening another account. The old account was closed and I was able to use my gmail address as I hoped. How great to be able to talk to a real person in customer service who was happy to solve my problem. Again, thanks to all for suggestions.
posted by Jackson at 5:02 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]