Possible to remove a stranger's photo attached to my fastmail email (shown in gmail)?

psychopomp1 · 26 Aug 2023, 02:01 PM

Hi,

I recently took out a new paid subscription for a fastmail email account. The issue I have is that if I send any email to any gmail account, a profile photo appears of some unknown person attached to my fastmail email. Fastmail support have told me to create a gravatar account and select/remove a different photo. But this makes no difference and it looks like Fastmail support can't fix this.

I'm guessing its a google related issue?

https://support.google.com/mail/thre...edirected=true

Any suggestions how to get the photo removed? I cannot use my fastmail in its current state...

Thanks!

hadaso · 26 Aug 2023, 09:26 PM

Probably the first thing to check is the URL of the image displayed in Gmail: it may be in a Google domain, and it may be somewhere else.
If it's somewhere else it might provide a clue about where to start. If it is in a Google domain then Google is able to do something about it (that doesn't mean they are willing to do something about it).

BritTim · 27 Aug 2023, 03:35 AM

It feels very much as though Google has picked up a Gravatar image and assumed it is you. I wonder if Fastmail's advice to create your own Gravatar profile is the solution, but that it will only work after a time delay. Google would almost certainly cache such images on its own servers, and probably only check for updates infrequently.

Have you tried doing an image search to see if the photo you see on your email in Google shows up somewhere on the web?

psychopomp1 · 27 Aug 2023, 05:03 PM

ok, things are a bit clearer.

It seems the photo of this unknown person (who shares the same first name as me) is the previous user of my fastmail email account, i believe he only took out the fastmail account as a free account (trial) and then didn't bother renewing, hence why it was still available to purchase. After a bit of Googling, I also found out his gmail account id which surprise surprise shows exactly the same profile picture as that which is attached to mine (and his ex) fastmail address.

Armed with this information, I got in touch with Google support. They have advised me that his old fastmail email is still linked to his gmail/google account and my fastmail account has access to his google profile photo, hence why it shows up in gmail messages. They advised me to email him asking him to unlink my fastmail account to his gmail/google account. I did this but unfortunately haven't received any reply.

As a last resort, i tried to login into google using my fastmail account and then chose 'forgot my password' at password entry stage. After entering my fastmail address as account recovery email, I will now get a google account recovery link sent to my fastmail account after 30 days. Whether this works or not, I've got no idea....

26 Aug 2023, 02:01 PM	#1
psychopomp1 Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2023 Posts: 2	Possible to remove a stranger's photo attached to my fastmail email (shown in gmail)? Hi, I recently took out a new paid subscription for a fastmail email account. The issue I have is that if I send any email to any gmail account, a profile photo appears of some unknown person attached to my fastmail email. Fastmail support have told me to create a gravatar account and select/remove a different photo. But this makes no difference and it looks like Fastmail support can't fix this. I'm guessing its a google related issue? https://support.google.com/mail/thre...edirected=true Any suggestions how to get the photo removed? I cannot use my fastmail in its current state... Thanks!

26 Aug 2023, 09:26 PM	#2
hadaso The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 4,853	Probably the first thing to check is the URL of the image displayed in Gmail: it may be in a Google domain, and it may be somewhere else. If it's somewhere else it might provide a clue about where to start. If it is in a Google domain then Google is able to do something about it (that doesn't mean they are willing to do something about it).

27 Aug 2023, 03:35 AM	#3
BritTim The "e" in e-mail Join Date: May 2003 Location: mostly in Thailand Posts: 3,095	It feels very much as though Google has picked up a Gravatar image and assumed it is you. I wonder if Fastmail's advice to create your own Gravatar profile is the solution, but that it will only work after a time delay. Google would almost certainly cache such images on its own servers, and probably only check for updates infrequently. Have you tried doing an image search to see if the photo you see on your email in Google shows up somewhere on the web?

27 Aug 2023, 05:03 PM	#4
psychopomp1 Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2023 Posts: 2	ok, things are a bit clearer. It seems the photo of this unknown person (who shares the same first name as me) is the previous user of my fastmail email account, i believe he only took out the fastmail account as a free account (trial) and then didn't bother renewing, hence why it was still available to purchase. After a bit of Googling, I also found out his gmail account id which surprise surprise shows exactly the same profile picture as that which is attached to mine (and his ex) fastmail address. Armed with this information, I got in touch with Google support. They have advised me that his old fastmail email is still linked to his gmail/google account and my fastmail account has access to his google profile photo, hence why it shows up in gmail messages. They advised me to email him asking him to unlink my fastmail account to his gmail/google account. I did this but unfortunately haven't received any reply. As a last resort, i tried to login into google using my fastmail account and then chose 'forgot my password' at password entry stage. After entering my fastmail address as account recovery email, I will now get a google account recovery link sent to my fastmail account after 30 days. Whether this works or not, I've got no idea....