Old Email taken by somebody else

[barnacler]

I am curious, an old email address of mine that i abandoned has been taken by someone else, which is bizarre since it was such a random email.

Won't this mean that they will be getting emails from any old contacts of mine that haven't been given my new credentials?

 

[lundunguy]

You can retrieve by selecting forgot password and do necessary verifications.

 

[Darts]

I am curious, an old email address of mine that i abandoned has been taken by someone else, which is bizarre since it was such a random email.

Won't this mean that they will be getting emails from any old contacts of mine that haven't been given my new credentials?

This is concerning. I heard of old phone numbers being recycled but now email address. What service were you using?

 

[onomatopoeia]

You can retrieve by selecting forgot password and do necessary verifications.

Depending on the server, an e-mail account can be purged if it's inactive for a specific length of time.

@barnacler: If your account was purged because of continuous inactivity, the e-mail name became available to anyone signing up for a new account. The only connection to you is if someone sent an e-mail to that address, in the belief that you would be the recipient. Any saved e-mails and contacts would have been deleted during the account purge.

The only ways that someone else could access your saved e-mails and contact list is if they hacked your password, or if you last used that account on a public computer, and didn't sign out of the account when you left. That happened to me with a Yahoo mail account about ten years ago. From time to time, I get a junk e-mail from "Me", with .ccs for some or all of the people who were on my contacts list for that account. It was an account I used only for messaging with my students, so it was no big deal to me.

 

[Jenesis]

Yes. Any old contact who doesn’t have an updated email address will most likely send to this new person.

curious- how did you find out?

 

[MadGeek]

Any old email accounts you have retired but don't want to be recycled set a reminder to log into them January 1st/July 1st. It's important to do that if you're not sure you have used the email address as a recovery point for other email accounts so you don't lose it.

Can also look into setting up email forwarding too but you should at least try to log into the accounts twice a year. Also helps to sign up for a newsletter so the account at least gets some emails.

 

[barnacler]

Depending on the server, an e-mail account can be purged if it's inactive for a specific length of time.

@barnacler: If your account was purged because of continuous inactivity, the e-mail name became available to anyone signing up for a new account. The only connection to you is if someone sent an e-mail to that address, in the belief that you would be the recipient. Any saved e-mails and contacts would have been deleted during the account purge.

The only ways that someone else could access your saved e-mails and contact list is if they hacked your password, or if you last used that account on a public computer, and didn't sign out of the account when you left. That happened to me with a Yahoo mail account about ten years ago. From time to time, I get a junk e-mail from "Me", with .ccs for some or all of the people who were on my contacts list for that account. It was an account I used only for messaging with my students, so it was no big deal to me.

I realize that old emails / contacts will be purged. It is just that the new person could receive emails intended for me, and the sender won't be aware that it is not me.

 

[barnacler]

Yes. Any old contact who doesn’t have an updated email address will most likely send to this new person.

curious- how did you find out?

I sent a email to that email and it did not get bounced back to me as undeliverable.

 

[Jenesis]

I sent a email to that email and it did not get bounced back to me as undeliverable.

Ah. Smart.

Thanks for posting this. I didn’t know this can happen. I need to ensure secure email, and now that I know this can happen, I will keep old email addresses open just to be sure.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

I am curious, an old email address of mine that i abandoned has been taken by someone else, which is bizarre since it was such a random email.

Won't this mean that they will be getting emails from any old contacts of mine that haven't been given my new credentials?

I hope it wasn't Ilovetakingituptheass@gmail.com? because that was mine.

 

[onomatopoeia]

I hope it wasn't Ilovetakingituptheass@gmail.com? because that was mine.

You admit that?

 

[Robert Mugabe]

You admit that?

Sorry. I know it was originally yours.

 

[barnacler]

Ah. Smart.

Thanks for posting this. I didn’t know this can happen. I need to ensure secure email, and now that I know this can happen, I will keep old email addresses open just to be sure.

I am thinking that maybe it was an ex of mine that took it.

 

[onomatopoeia]

I just got this e-mail from Microsoft:

Microsoft account security notification
Microsoft account team <account-security-noreply@accountprotection.microsoft.com>
You
Microsoft account
Your account is set to close on 08/02/2023
Dear **********,
Your account *******@********.com is scheduled to be closed on 08/02/2023 due to account inactivity. Once your account is closed, it will be deleted in accordance with the Microsoft Services Agreement.
If you want to keep your account, just sign in between now and 08/02/2023. All your files, data and info will be just as you left them until then.
To learn more, click here.
Thanks,
The Microsoft account team

I'm guessing that the same thing would happen to your old account, if it was unused for a specified period of time.

If the e-mail server deletes an account, that e-mail name becomes available again to someone else who chooses it for a new account.

 

[hamermill]

I hope it wasn't Ilovetakingituptheass@gmail.com? because that was mine.

For a second there I thought I was hacked until I looked closely at the email address

Ilovegivingituptheass@gmail.com

 

[escortsxxx]

This is concerning. I heard of old phone numbers being recycled but now email address. What service were you using?

As far as know recycle been how it was from the stsrt. i haveemai!s used before others have mine. maybe after the cyber squating case it changed who remebers whitehouse.com an early pornhub

 

[explorerzip]

One way to avoid your address being deleted is to use it to login to sites like Terb, that you might not use every day or want to be associated with your personal address. Or sign up for a bunch of email newsletters so there's always junk coming in.