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What are the odds?

Bradford

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I just accidentally reset someone's password at llbean.com
devil.gif


It wasn't intentional - I thought I already had a log-in under Bradford, but when it didn't accept my password, I went to the "forgot your password" option and answered the security question - apparently both our mothers had the same maiden name.

I changed the password and - bam - I'm looking at information for some guy in Texas named J.W. Bradford.

Luckily, the system deletes credit card information when this happens, so I feel secure about my stuff. But, boy, this guy is going to wonder what happened the next time he tries to buy something from the site.
 

Matt

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i think you should probably email him Brad, let him know.

Or call him. Or drop by for a visit. Hell, youve got all the details.
 

EL72

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What do you buy from LLBean?
 

Bradford

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Thomas

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A similar thing happened with a Blackberry my wife bought for me from ebay. I got e-mails for a user with the same first initial and surname. None of the messages registered with me until a female (no relation, apparently) in his life spilled her guts out to him in what appeared to be a very lengthy message, and I decided I had better get the cellular company involved to fix the situation.
 

Quirk

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Originally Posted by Bradford
I just accidentally reset someone's password at llbean.com
devil.gif


It wasn't intentional - I thought I already had a log-in under Bradford, but when it didn't accept my password, I went to the "forgot your password" option and answered the security question - apparently both our mothers had the same maiden name.

I changed the password and - bam - I'm looking at information for some guy in Texas named J.W. Bradford.

Luckily, the system deletes credit card information when this happens, so I feel secure about my stuff. But, boy, this guy is going to wonder what happened the next time he tries to buy something from the site.


I dunno... I'd get LLBean to look into it. The odds of two people with the same login name having mothers with identical maiden names...? I wouldn't be too sure something funky didn't happen with their password database.
 

ATM

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Are you sure you're not leading a double life?

fight-club-rules-4004519.jpg
 

JBZ

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Originally Posted by Quirk
I dunno... I'd get LLBean to look into it. The odds of two people with the same login name having mothers with identical maiden names...? I wouldn't be too sure something funky didn't happen with their password database.

I think what Bradford is saying is that he mistakenly used the wrong login (he thought his Bean login was "Bradford" when, instead, it's something else). Thus, he tried to use the login name "Bradford" combined with his password, was told his password was incorrect, and was asked to supply his mother's maiden name to get his correct password. It turns out that his mother's maiden name is the same as the person with the LL Bean login of "Bradford", which is how he got access to "Bradford's" account.

Am I right? Do I win?
 

Quirk

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Originally Posted by JBZ
I think what Bradford is saying is that he mistakenly used the wrong login (he thought his Bean login was "Bradford" when, instead, it's something else). Thus, he tried to use the login name "Bradford" combined with his password, was told his password was incorrect, and was asked to supply his mother's maiden name to get his correct password. It turns out that his mother's maiden name is the same as the person with the LL Bean login of "Bradford", which is how he got access to "Bradford's" account.

Am I right? Do I win?


Then it's even more bizarre. It's conceivable that two people in the AOL database might happen to share both a first name AND identical mother's maiden names, because that's a huge database. But the llbean.com database?

On the other hand, Prob/Stats was the bane of my existence in college, so it's quite possible I'm underestimating the likelihood.
tounge.gif
 

Dakota rube

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I had the identical experience once while on eBay. I had mistakenly logged in using an _underscore_ in my user name rather than a -dash-. When my password wouldn't work, I answered the favorite sports team question and BAM!! I was in. It wasn't until after I'd made the purchase and noticed the shipping address was in Minneapolis that I realized what had happened. I tracked the guy down (I think using the phone number tied to his shipping address IIRC) and explained the situation to him. He was very, very weirded out. Made perfect sense to me as it happened, but when I stopped to think about it for a bit, it weirded me out as well.

But you should track him down Bradford.
 

Quirk

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Originally Posted by Dakota rube
I had the identical experience once while on eBay. I had mistakenly logged in using an _underscore_ in my user name rather than a -dash-. When my password wouldn't work, I answered the favorite sports team question and BAM!! I was in.

Well, that's not surprising at all. Anyone in their right mind is a Yankees fan. How can any system seriously use that question as part of their security mechanism?
rolleyes.gif
 

JBZ

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Originally Posted by Quirk
Well, that's not surprising at all. Anyone in their right mind is a Yankees fan. How can any system seriously use that question as part of their security mechanism?
rolleyes.gif


Yankees fan, huh? You've seemed so nice up until now.
smile.gif
 

Bradford

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Originally Posted by JBZ
I think what Bradford is saying is that he mistakenly used the wrong login (he thought his Bean login was "Bradford" when, instead, it's something else). Thus, he tried to use the login name "Bradford" combined with his password, was told his password was incorrect, and was asked to supply his mother's maiden name to get his correct password. It turns out that his mother's maiden name is the same as the person with the LL Bean login of "Bradford", which is how he got access to "Bradford's" account.

Am I right? Do I win?


Yes - you have it exactly correct.

And I should point out that while Bradford is actually my first name, in his case it was his last name. And - yes, apparently our mother's had the same maiden name - which, while not Smith or Jones, is not all that uncommon a name either.
 

alflauren

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Weird. I've also had an interesting experience with LLBean. My grandfather and I have the exact same name - first, middle, and last. I order stuff online, and he buys stuff over the telephone.

One day, I started receiving emails with all of his order information. Some CS rep probably added my email to his account when they saw that he didn't have an email address.
 

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