Hello, everyone! I am not sure where to get advice about this, so I came here. Just let me know if another subreddit would be a better place to get guidance on this!
For the last two weeks, when I make a purchase on my debit card, the business that I am purchasing from has been sending receipts to my sister! We do not share a last name or an address. She is not on my account at all, but I called my bank to double-check. The two places I have purchased from have been cities away from one another and unrelated (one a board game shop and the other a BBQ restaurant!).
How do businesses link cards to email accounts? Is there a way to get this to stop? I trust there was no deliberate action on her part to link these together. Two weeks ago, we went on a week-long road trip together, with both of us paying for stuff. I am wondering if somewhere along the way, my debit card got linked to her email account somehow. We do share a loan through another institution (she co-signed my auto loan back in July 2025), but this has only been a problem for the last two weeks.
Again, she has no access to my account, only receiving receipts from businesses. We have a good relationship so I am not worried about her specifically, but the thought of my privacy being breached in this way without either of us consenting to it is alarming, to understate it.
As previously stated, if this is not appropriate for this subreddit, I understand. If you have any pointers on where I should go for advice or any insight, anything at all would be appreciated!
Purchases on my debit card sending emails to my sister
byu/chicken-dragon inpersonalfinance
Posted by chicken-dragon
3 Comments
It’s probably through Square or something similar. At some business along the way, you paid, but someone put in her email address. Now Square has that email address associated with your debit card.
Is there an unsubscribe or similar link at the bottom of the emails?
Likely linked through a email address used at some point.
Highly recommend making a burner email address for using at point of sale devices or for loyalty programs so you can track it more readily
Data mining? With data mining “they” often make wrongful assumptions and connect things that have no reasonable basis for connection or association.
Yesterday I discovered that a man I knew 30 years ago is “associated” with one of my insurance policies. I have not seen or heard from him in 30 years, have never shared an account with him, and yet my bank somehow “connected” him to my account.
I frequently get emails for a business that I have never had any association with, did not even know they existed. But they have the same post office box now that I had 30 years ago ( and gave up 30 years ago ). They were not even in business 20 years ago, let alone 30 years ago.