You open your inbox and there they are: electricity bills from a guy named José, bank alerts for some woman in Valencia, and a receipt for a blender you never bought. It’s not a hack, and it’s not a conspiracy. It’s a quirk of Gmail that very few people know about. I’m going to tell you exactly why this happens and how to stop it, without any of the usual fluff.
Why you get emails meant for someone else
Gmail ignores dots in the local part of the address. That means jose.luis@gmail.com and joseluis@gmail.com are the same account. If someone in Madrid gives their email as jose.luis@gmail.com to the electric company, but their real address is joseluis@gmail.com, the bill lands in your inbox. The mistake is theirs, but the headache is yours.
This isn’t an isolated bug. Google has documented it for years: dots don’t matter, and neither does capitalization. So when you get Gmail emails for another person, the first thing to do is check if your address is a dotted version of theirs. Nine times out of ten, that’s the whole story.
But there’s a darker scenario: someone sets up automatic forwarding to your address by mistake. They type your email instead of theirs in the forwarding field, and from then on, every message they receive lands in your account. It’s not malicious, but it’s a mess. If you see a sudden flood of weird emails, that’s probably what’s happening.
Is your account compromised? Probably not
Receiving Gmail receipts from strangers does not mean someone broke into your account. If they had, they’d change your password and lock you out. What you’re seeing is a classic case of mistaken identity at the sender’s end. Still, it’s worth checking your filters and forwarding settings to rule out anything strange.
Go to Gmail settings, then ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’. If there’s an address there you don’t recognize, delete it immediately. Also check ‘Filters and Blocked Addresses’—sometimes a filter is silently shoving someone else’s mail into your inbox. It takes two minutes and saves you months of confusion.
If you get Gmail of another person on a regular basis, the problem is almost never on your side. It’s on theirs. But you can still defend yourself.
How to stop receiving someone else’s Gmail
You can’t force the other person to fix their address, but you can filter them out. Create a filter that sends any email containing their name or their usual senders straight to trash or a separate label. I’ve done this with a guy in Seville who kept using my address for his Amazon orders. After three filters, peace.
Another option: reply once, politely, explaining the confusion. Some people will fix it. Most won’t. Don’t waste your energy; just set the filter and move on. The goal is to keep your inbox clean, not to educate strangers.
If the emails are from banks or utilities, you can also contact those companies and tell them they have the wrong address. It’s a long shot, but sometimes they update their records. I’ve had success with a phone company that way.
Gmail on my phone: security that actually matters
Having Gmail on my phone is convenient—notifications arrive instantly—but it’s also a risk if you leave your phone unlocked on a table. Anyone can read your entire life. Set up a screen lock, use fingerprint or face unlock, and enable two-factor authentication on your Google account. It’s basic, but most people skip it.
And if you ever log into Gmail on a borrowed computer—at work, at a hotel, at an internet café—log out when you’re done. Don’t just close the tab. Actually sign out. Google keeps sessions alive for weeks. The next person who uses that computer could open your inbox without a password. Then you say ‘I’ve been hacked.’ No, you left the door open.
Creating a new Gmail without losing everything
Maybe you’re tired of that embarrassing address you made when you were 15. Good news: Google now lets you change your Gmail address without deleting your account. You keep your photos, your Drive files, your contacts. It’s like a mask. You can start fresh without losing ten years of memories.
This is perfect if you want a more professional address for job hunting or business. Just go to your Google Account settings, find the ‘Email’ section, and follow the steps. The old address becomes an alias, so you still receive emails sent to it. No data loss, no drama.
Accessing someone else’s Gmail legally: delegation
If you need to manage someone else’s inbox—your boss, your partner, a client—don’t ask for their password. Use delegation. It’s a built-in Gmail feature that lets you read and send emails on their behalf without knowing their credentials. You add the delegate from the web version, and they confirm. Then you can switch between accounts easily.
This is how assistants and small teams work without sharing passwords. It’s safer, and it’s revocable at any time. The delegate can’t change the account password or settings. If you’re running a business, this is the way to go. Forget about writing passwords on sticky notes.
Little tricks: mark as read from notifications
On Android, you can now mark an email as read directly from the notification without opening the app. Swipe down, tap ‘Mark as read’, and it’s gone. This is a lifesaver if you get hundreds of emails a day and don’t want to open each one just to clear the badge.
It’s a small gesture, but it keeps your unread count sane. I use it constantly. The same goes for archiving from the notification. You don’t need to enter the app for every single message. Gmail has improved a lot in this regard, and most people don’t even know these options exist.
What to do if the problem persists
If after all this you still receive receipts and invoices from strangers, consider that your address might be on a list. Spammers buy databases and send to anything that looks valid. In that case, mark them as spam and move on. Don’t reply, don’t click links, don’t confirm your address. Just report and delete.
Also, check if your email appears in data breaches. Google has a built-in password checkup tool that tells you if your credentials were leaked. If they were, change your password immediately and enable 2FA. It won’t stop mistaken senders, but it will stop real attacks.
The bottom line: getting Gmail from strangers is annoying, but it’s rarely dangerous. Filter it, secure your account, and don’t lose sleep over José’s electricity bill. He’s the one who should be worried, not you.
