May 25, 2020

Someone changed my email address

My gmail address has been changed (not by me). I went through all of the steps in the help center documents to see if I've been hacked. My account doesn't show any devices or security events that aren't mine. When I log into my old address, it logs in as usual, but takes me to the new account. This is not an additional account that has been added. My user setting is only showing one account. I seem to have full access to this account and it seems to be continuing to function as if nothing was changed. All of my old emails are in this account. I still get emails directed to both the new and old email addresses. I looked through all of the “someone changed my email address” threads in the Community section and the answers I found was to “try recovering my username,” and to delete the false account. I followed the link to recover my user name, but it took me right back to the same changed email address. I can’t delete the false account because there’s only the one account and if I log into my original account, it takes me back to the new one. Did google change my account and if not, what should I do?
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May 25, 2020
Gmail does not count dots as part of an account name.  That is, first.last@ is the same e-mail address as firstlast@.  This applies to both account creation and usage to send e-mail; the presence of dots in the name does not make it a different e-mail address.
 
So you can log into your account using either format.  In addition, e-mail sent to either format will be delivered to your one account.
 
I don't know why the format of your e-mail address switched, but it doesn't create a sign in or e-mail delivery problem.
Original Poster casey hinkson marked this as an answer
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May 25, 2020
What exactly is the difference between the old and new e-mail address?
 
Please go to the e-mail page in your Google account settings:  https://security.google.com/settings/email 
 
What accounts are listed on that page (even without the @gmail.com part)?  Be sure to expand the Advanced section to see any alternate usernames.
 
How are they designated:  primary, alternate, etc?
May 25, 2020
My original email had a period between two words. In the new one, that period is gone. There are two emails listed. One is called "Google account" and it is the new, no-period account. The other is my yahoo account, which is listed as "recovery email." My original email with the period is not listed anywhere. This is true even when I sign out and sign back in with the original email (with the period).
Recommended Answer
May 25, 2020
Gmail does not count dots as part of an account name.  That is, first.last@ is the same e-mail address as firstlast@.  This applies to both account creation and usage to send e-mail; the presence of dots in the name does not make it a different e-mail address.
 
So you can log into your account using either format.  In addition, e-mail sent to either format will be delivered to your one account.
 
I don't know why the format of your e-mail address switched, but it doesn't create a sign in or e-mail delivery problem.
Original Poster casey hinkson marked this as an answer
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