Bug causing Gmail to send messages to wrong unintended recipients

People who use Gmail's autocomplete while sending out emails, should note that a new Gmail bug is on the prowl, causing  embarrassment to users who are much too dependent on the feature.

Many Gmail users type in an alphabet or two expecting Google to find out the most used id matches so they could be saved the trouble of typing in each and every letter. Usually ids show up in a format wherein the most used one comes up at the top.

But with Google's popular mail service hit by a bug, Gmail is acting in a strange way, altogether - it caused Gmail to sift through users' id base and bring out the one the user had least hoped for. The result was that it suggested the most unlikely people among one's contacts rather than the intended recipient.

Also people had reported getting emails out of the blue, and not spam messages. Venture capitalist Fred Wilson, a victim of Gmail's new bug, says he received a bunch of messages from Gmail users that were clearly not intended for him.

He said Gmail was auto-suggesting the wrong people to a large swath of its users. He said he was struggling with the same problem but had not realised it was a service-wide issue.

Gmail's autocomplete is apparently suggesting incorrect email addresses after being affected by a new bug.

Meanwhile, PC World reported that journalists and venture capitalists had taken to Twitter to complain about both sending emails containing sensitive information to the wrong person and receiving emails meant for others.

However, not all users had been affected by the bug.

Acknowledging the issue, Google said it was working to fix the problem.