: A year and a half ago, my husband started receiving confusing emails referencing benefits applications that he had not submitted and email newsletters he had not signed up for. Related Articles At first, we chalked it up to someone with the same name having momentary confusion about their own email address. (This is an email address my husband has had for 20 years.
) In the months that followed, it has escalated to periodic flurries of messages not intended for him, like a dozen job application confirmations and requests for legal support confirmations. We don’t know the email address these are intended for, or we’d forward the messages. Recently, my husband received one such mistaken email that included contact information for this other person.
Should my husband call the phone number to alert this person of the longtime email confusion? Should we instead send a letter that is kindly but intentionally worded and can’t be traced back to us should this somehow be an issue for the person at the other end? Or is this some kind of elaborate scam? This seems very involved for a phishing scam, which are internet-based ruses to get secure information. A letter seems to be the best course of action, since you still don’t know the correct email address. This also prevents you from getting further sucked in.
Because phishing scams often begin with a message telling the victim that their private information has been compromised, if you were to call this person out of the blue, .