08 November 2008

Mistaken Email Address Or First Stage of Identity Theft?

Yesterday, somebody using my first name and last name, and an email address extremely similar to one of my personal email addresses, registered onto a web based food delivery service. Whoever it was then proceeded to order two dishes from a Thai restaurant.

I know all this because for some reason, I received the email confirmations for the delivery service registration and the Thai food order (which I presume was delivered to and paid for by the original registrant).  Strangely, while the email address registered was not exactly my email address, I have since learned and repeatedly confirmed that my email provider resolves that particular address to mine.  All this was apparently possible because the delivery service registration process does not include an email address confirmation step.

Since the delivery service account was using an email address which I exclusively received mail for, I went ahead and took over the delivery service account, gaining access from the "forgot your password" function and changing the password.  This will at least prevent any subsequent food orders.

I wonder whether the original registrant is really someone named "Mason Wong" and simply registered with the wrong email address due to a slight typo.  

Or, is this possibly the first stage of someone stealing my identity? Today, an order of beef larb salad and pad se ew with beef is placed using my name and email address. Tomorrow, my credit cards are maxed out and my bank accounts are drained.  Next week, I get arrested by the Department of Homeland Security for treasonous crimes that I did not commit. That would suck.

Well, at least it appears none of my many online passwords were compromised.  At least, not yet.

I'll have to keep an eye on this situation.