Aliases in MacMail

[frostygirl]

Hi All,
We have been users of Apple for about 18+ years now. When we first started we established a Apple ID. After that we had created a few aliases. Up to this date we still use the aliases instead of the original Apple ID. Example: [email protected], also [email protected], also [email protected]. Anyhow, we have been using our name @me.com for many years. This morning we received an email from an unlimited Car Wash subscription in Michigan with the same aliases but it is being used with @iCloud.com. I hope this is clear because sometimes I ramble on and it does not make sense .
Is this something I need to worry about. Same first name, same last name using @iCloud.com?
Thank you

 

[MacInWin]

All of those are the same. That is, mac.com, me.com, iCloud.com are all the same Apple server.

So, given they are all the same, what is worrying you about spam coming to iCloud.com? I don't know what you mean by this sentence:

This morning we received an email from an unlimited Car Wash subscription in Michigan with the same aliases but it is being used with @iCloud.com.

That is exactly what I would expect. Can you explain a bit more why you think that is unusual?

 

[IWT]

Hi @frostygirl,

Your situation is very much like my own. Like you, I go back a long way and also have similar email addresses and like you, get the occasional dodgy email.

So far - more info might become available - I don't see a problem other than inconvenience.

Please do confide in us as we are here to help you.

Ian

 

[frostygirl]

I have screen shot the email. We have an alias with same email for all these years and when I search the phone number it is another gentlemen with the same name living in Michigan.
We are in NY.

 

[MacInWin]

Was his email originally there, but you blocked it? I see it in the address area, but not in the actual message where it does list email.

I have a couple of thoughts on what may be going on. If the gentleman in Michigan signed up at AppleID and was given that email address, then Apple messed up and gave two people the same address. You can contact Apple to have them explore that for you. Just go to Apple.com and click on Support and follow the instructions to get a phone call from them. It is, however, highly unlikely that Apple's server would permit that to happen. But it may be worth a call just to give you some peace about it, if it worries you.

On the other hand, the carwash company may have entered his email wrong and ended up with yours. That happens sometimes. In that case, just ignore it. The MI gentleman will eventually ask why he never was sent an email, and the company will correct the email address.

And finally, it may be just a fishing exercise, to try to get you to respond somehow to verify that the email is active and to see if they can convince you to buy something from them. I think that is also unlikely.

By the way, you left a telephone number in the screen shot. If it's yours, you can expect a sharp increase in spam. If it's the gentleman in Michigan, he will get the spam. In general, never post your email, or telephone, or address, in a public forum. Bots harvest that information almost immediately.

 

[Rod]

What you have are not exactly aliases assuming the name remains the same it doesnt matter what server you use; @mac.com, @me.com, @icloud.com they are all the same address.
An alias is where the "name" is different but linked to your Apple email address.
For example [email protected] has an alias [email protected]. All email addressed to [email protected] arrive in Brian's [email protected] inbox. Brian can send emails, signup for services, and subscribe to sites with the [email protected] address and those sites will never know Brian's real email address.
Apple provides an option to create up to three such aliases with whatever name you like (if available) and they can be deleted just as easily. I use one for online shopping.