Receiving someone else's email to my Hotmail acct (same email address) - help!

First of all-DON'T! I'll explain why and it involves the oldest trick in the book after the apple-and sheepherding.

Second, right click the sender in the list and choose View message source. You will see the full message and it's sender information. things to look for are things that say FAIL or unknown and if there are several email addresses in the list of recipients. The last one is especially indicative of a likely fraudulent/SPAM message.

Now, spammers play on your curiousity...they bank on you clicking or replying, because you are NICE and want to solve a perceived problem.

Again, DON'T. You are being compromised if you do. Mark it as spam, a phishing scam if that's what you fell it is or just delete it unopened. I would recommend that you do report it as it helps Your email provider (ANY ONE) define spam and combat it.

Now, how can you be certain that a link is genuine and that it's going to where you think it should?

If it's already in you Junk/Spam folder then the chances arepretty good that it's what the folder says it is. If you are sure it really isn't find Move to and put it where it belongs. This will also train not to put it in Junk,

A: It's not always so easy. You have possibly expected to see the links revealed at the bottom of the browser screen when you hover over them and that's not always the case. You may not be sending where you think and that's a big problem.

Stop knocking Microsoft. They didn't invent email, hypertext protocol (http) or most of anything you all complain about and it has nothing to do with Outlook/Hotmail/MSN-Live.com. The answer here is common sense, which ain't so common as it has been said.

If mail is not addressed to you, you don't recognize the sender and especially if you didn't ask for whatever it was/subscribe/belong to/not a friend or relative etc...don't open it!

Using View message source allows you to see the content, as does a preview but I couldn't vouch for a preview as it could trigger an auto-opening routine if that were part of an exploit (i.e. malware/virus etc). Many email programs and sites offer a preview window if you need to explore further and most block suspicious images to protect you (and you can still ask to view them).

Microsoft recommends that and it isn't just talk.

NOW-please scan your computer with whatever program you choose or run the scan Microsoft gives you monthly to help find malware http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/virus-malware.aspx choose Malicious Software Removal Tool from that list and download it. It's a one-time scan, you don't save it as it changes to match current threats and it will scan your computer and report any problems and it also comes in your regular updates every month. No problems? Good-but forearmed is forewarned and that's not a complete guarantee that it will get everything so use your program of choice and set it to run correctly and update automatically or at the recommended intervals...and yes, there are still people trapped with slow connections and even dialup that must disable automatic updates to work but install them when notified and scan at the beginning or end of the day or when you are not going to use it awhile if that is the case.

-36 year computer user (TRS-80 in school 1978)

Um dude, what are you talking about?   The issue myself and Gail are having (and no doubt many others) has nothing to do with "clicking on any link" in any email we received.  

I set up the particular hotmail email acct 2 weeks ago and within a half hour I was receiving a lot of emails addressed to "Gretchen".   Emails to this individual were the first emails I'd ever received in my inbox to that new account.  In fact, I'd never even sent out an email from that account at that point.

If I go into the search box on Facebook  and type in my email address (that was obviously this woman's previous email address), it takes me directly to her Facebook profile.   The very first email I sent from this hotmail acct had some strange picture of a woman holding a little boy, that was foreign to me (I don't even have kids).  As it turns out, that is her main FB profile picture.

The emails I'm receiving are not all spam.   Many of them contain her person info, they come from one of her banks which show her current balances (mortgage, savings) and credit card debt balances.   This woman works as an Human Resources professional as per her FB profile (University Degree in same).   80% of the emails I'm receiving are from her professional career associations, university alumni correspondence, professional-related conferences and workshops.  I'm even receiving email notifications each time someone tags her in a message on Facebook.

What I'm dealing with has nothing whatsoever to do with phishing, clicking on links.  I have never clicked on any link because I know better than that.   Sorry buddy but you're off the mark here.  

From what I've seen this is pretty similar to several other questions asked here, perhaps searching them and reading through the answers you can find the answer. I don't have Facebook, that's not relevant...if Outlook is using some social avatar as a default you can change that in settings. If you're getting email for a Facebook member perhaps you should look to see if there is a problem realted to a Facebook issue or an exploit.

Most of us are users and we do the best we can to help. This has been the norm since the late nineties on many websites and at least this one has some actual input from Microsoft reps.

I realize that you are frustratred by this but have you ever considered that your account might just be HACKED? Explore your options, do what you need to and if you ask questions of other please try to avoid being condescending. All of us are guessing at some point, that's where problem solving ideas come from.

I wasn't aware questions asked here on a Microsoft Question Forum were answered merely by non-Microsoft people who were essentially just "guessing."  

It is very relevant about the connection in my case between Facebook and this occurrence and given that you don't even have a FB account, perhaps you should stick with things you actually know about.   This has nothing to do with being hacked....it is a matter of me creating a hotmail account with an email address that someone had previously used (and had connected to their FB account) but either disabled or let go dormant.   It's clear that you're not really understanding my issue or Gail's and thus you're continuing on with the 'hacking' stance.   I'm not looking for someone to "guess"......was looking for others who are experiencing this and what they were able to do to resolve it.   Please don't bother offering me any further "help" because I simply don't have time or the patience to deal with useless responses made up of ignorant "guesses" and clearly not taking into consideration all of the particular details I provided.  

It's definitely frustrating.   Clearly Hotmail screwed up and should never have allowed a previously used email address to be used again by someone else if this is what happens.   I have not tried this yet and don't know if it will work but this seems to be a phone # to reach Hotmail.   Clearly they rely on people like us to answer each other's questions which is useless when we have the same problem.   Maybe give them a call too?  In your case, it's possible he has an old outdated website somewhere with his old/outdated email address still posted?   Maybe you could try emailing some of these people back and asking them where they got the email address from/what website?

http://gethuman.com/phone-number/Hotmail/

Eileendover, i'm still frustrated. Received another email meant for " Jessica ", boy oh boy will it ever end?