Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this...

Months ago, I emailed a friend at someonesname@gmail.com (example address) and apparently my friend doesn't own that address because he told me it was slightly different than the one I sent the email to. Then yesterday I got a reply from what seemed to be that email, but it was actually some.ones.name@gmail.com. So they replied to my email but from a similar looking address. I am just wondering how they could have gotten my email message if I sent it to a different address. I knew by their reply that they got my email message since they were talking about it specifically. The reply itself sounds fishy too: "Heyla,
     I lost track of my email for a few months.  Forgive me that I'm not sure who you are.  I've been going through a lot of medical stuff lately.  In a later email from you, you sent a song.  I've downloaded it to listen to.  I hope you are well."


Clearly this is someone phishing. And if I get a request for money wired to Nigeria, I will know for sure it's bs, but until then I am just trying to figure out how they could have gotten my message.

That's a feature in Gmail. They ignore '.' in a username as well as capitalization, so s.o.m.e.o.n.e@gmail.com is the exact same as some.one@gmail.com and someone@gmail.com.

You can read more at:

http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=10313#

Glad to be of service....