I wrote a post three weeks ago about the barrage of spam emails I’ve been getting from scammy publicists, bogus book marketers, and various other con-persons — sometimes 100 a day. I’m still getting them, but luckily a good chunk are captured by my anti-spam elves, now they know what to look for.

I thought I was getting them because I’m a fairly high profile blogger. But this week brought a bunch of new ones that mentioned nothing about appearing on this blog.

I noticed something else that was different about them. They were more detailed. Several mentioned my novels about the island of Guernsey. Others mentioned my books on the Weimar Republic. One welcomed me to the Paris show of designer eyewear, and another praised my talents as a real estate salesperson.

Thing is, I’ve never written novels about Guernsey, don’t know a thing about the Weimar Republic, and have never sold eyewear or real estate.

But you know who has? British author Anne Allen, retired history professor Dr. Ann T. Allen, Ann Allen, realtor, in Sarasota FL, Anne Allen, a realtor in WA (who needs to brush up on her people skills, according to Yelp), Ann Allen, eyecare specialist in TX, and many other strangers whose names resemble mine. (Dr. Ann T. Allen isn’t a stranger — she’s actually a cousin — but she certainly doesn’t get email at my address.)