A Reddit user discovered a brilliant way to seek revenge on a stranger who repeatedly used his email address.
The Redditor, who goes by F3nman, lives in Canada. But for years, a person he doesn’t know in Nebraska has been using his email address to sign up to different sites, thereby flooding his inbox with spam.
But this time, the stranger really messed up, using F3nman’s email address for his SiriusXM Guardian account — an app that allows people to remotely control certain car functions, which F3nman was easily able to access.
Gotcha! A Reddit user got revenge on a stranger who repeatedly used his email address by logging into his SiriusXM Guardian account and remotely controlling functions of his car
‘After years of this guy using my email as a spam account, I got my revenge,’ F3nman wrote. ‘He signed my email up for SiriusXM, which also gives me the ability to beep his horn.’
Attached, he included a photo of a SiriusXM Guardian control screen, which he has been using to mess with the stranger.
Because the stranger used his email address, F3nman was able to log into his account.
The app allows users to control certain functions of their car remotely, like starting it, locking or unlocking it, and making the lights and horn go off. It can also grant access to roadside assistance, help a person find his or her vehicle, and send directions to the vehicle’s navigation system.
Though those things might be useful to the stranger who actually signed up for the app, they also proved rather inconvenient when F3nman took control of them.
He set the stranger’s car up to honk the horn and turn on the lights, start remotely, and and lock remotely.
And in case the stranger should check the app to see what went wrong, F3nman included a message: ‘Stop using my email.’
What’s more, he wrote later, he also changed the app to metric measurements, which is likely to be confusing for his American email thief.
Other Redditors delighted in the revenge, bemoaning the frustration of receiving emails meant for someone else — especially when it happens over and over again.
Whoops! The Redditor, who lives in Canada, said he also changed the Nebraska-based stranger’s car settings to metric
‘Dude, screw this guy,’ wrote one person in approval. ‘If he’s dumb enough to use an email account that is not his, then he gets what’s coming to him.’
‘As a person with a commonly stolen email address, you are my hero,’ wrote another spam sufferer.
In fact, dozens of commenters shared similar stories, complaining of strangers using their email addresses and even phone numbers to sign up for things — either because they don’t want to use their own, or because they made a mistake.
The problem, they said, is that these people make the same ‘mistake’ over and over again.
‘Yep had that happen to me a lot, although just by people with same name who get their address wrong or other people do,’ wrote ldcroberts.
‘Drove me nuts every time he bought an Ebook and I got emails I couldn’t unsubscribe from. Barnes and Noble insisted they couldn’t unsubscribe as it was tied to his credit card and wouldn’t believe me as I didn’t know his home address.
But this user got his revenge, too.
‘Six months later they emailed a receipt with address on and bingo, I rang up and canceled. They still insisted it would wipe the ebook reader so they didn’t want to, so I told them it was destroyed in a fire. Hope that poor sucka got his ebooks back off them somehow as he had a lot. Sucked that they had to destroy his device to get me peace.’
Applause! Commenters — especially those who have faced similar problems — were delighted
Genius: Wrote one, ‘Revenge is a dish best served remotely’
Another commenter recalled a stranger who used his email address as the recovery account for his credit card. The email address holder got revenge by suspending the card.
‘LOL awesome revenge,’ wrote yet another admirer before sharing his own story.
‘Someone in New Jersey used to use my phone number as a spam account, it was annoying as s***,’ he said. ‘Finally they signed me up for Jersey Mike’s points program, which I could monitor, and they went there A LOT.
‘I would swoop in there for a free sub at least once a week. Revenge never tasted so good.’
Added another: ‘Someone did this with my wife’s phone number. Got a lot of calls for “Anita” (definitely not my wife’s name) and it started really pissing her off.
‘Ended up going somewhere and they asked for a phone number for a points program. She gave it and they confirmed “Anita?” and I could sense my wife’s butthole clench in fury.
‘But she quickly realized this was her chance. Used ALLLLLLL the points. Haven’t heard much about Anita recently.’