Is someone impersonating me?

March 21, 2016 8:08 AM

Should I be concerned that I got a genius bar reservation confirmation email for an appointment I never made?

I got an email from Apple(?) confirming a genius bar appointment that I never made. Not only do I know I didn't make it, but it's at a store location I would never visit because there are three closer to me that I would go to if I needed to.

Should I be concerned about this?

The appointment had an ID number, but I when I went through the Manage My Reservations link, nothing came up, perhaps because the date of the reservation was Saturday and I just saw the email this morning.

posted by archimago to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Most likely whoever made the appointment typed in the wrong email address. I get that occasionally. Reply to it and explain it's not you and hopefully they'll have enough contact information that they can get in touch with the person who made it.

It's most likely not a big deal.

On re-reading your question, if the appointment has already passed then don't do anything. Obviously keep a sharp eye out for any other signs of fraud, but it's probably just a mistyped address.
posted by bondcliff at 8:15 AM on March 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Also, make sure that the email is legitimate. I've seen several moderately convincing emails phishing for Apple IDs. Here's Apple Legal's phishing resource page.
posted by zamboni at 8:21 AM on March 21, 2016 [9 favorites]

It's highly likely that someone typed the wrong address. I'm getting a flurry of signups for game sites, car insurance, etc. from someone whose spouse doesn't know their correct email and is leaving out the digits in the email address. (I am firstnamelastname@gmail, this person is firstnamelastname33@gmail.)
posted by vickyverky at 9:27 AM on March 21, 2016

Husbunny has a common enough name that some bozo who also has it, has about 40% of his mail sent to Husbunny.

I'll get an announcement like, "Hey! The other guy is going to Vegas again!"

I wouldn't worry too much
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:33 AM on March 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. I shall relax now.
posted by archimago at 9:44 AM on March 21, 2016

Change your password. You need an email AND password to make an appointment online. You don't need the pw for a walk up appointment, but I'd still change it.

Turn on two factor auth while you're at it.

Another thing that happened once is someone registered an iCloud account with a variation of my email that had been auto forwarded to mine by Google a while back(i.e. mine is empty.thought, there's was emptythought). That was a confusing day.
posted by emptythought at 10:02 AM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

It could definitely be a wrong email and possibly from the Apple store itself. My last name is the same as a common last name, but with double consonants in a place where the more common version has just one. I can look people in the eyes and say, "With two __'s" twice and I can even make the person I am speaking to repeat that back to me, and still, 70% of the time, they put it with one instead of two.

I am positive I am the bane of some guy with a similar name's existence.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:23 AM on March 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

If you have a period in your gmail account someone might have registered the non-period version by mistake (happens all the time to me).
posted by en forme de poire at 4:30 PM on March 21, 2016