A message from Senator Charles E. Schumer

[BAndrew]

No. If I had, it would be pretty obvious for me, wouldn't it?

Wow... Sorry... I was just trying to help.

I didn't mean this in a bad way.

[Paddy™]

No. If I had, it would be pretty obvious for me, wouldn't it?

For a man who thinks Charles E. Schumer actually emailed him personally, it seems that the obvious isn't one of your strong points

From where did you receive the email? If it's from a server other than Gmail you can trace the IP address (it'll be in the X-Originating-IP part of the email's source code). If it turns out to be Pakistan it's probably safe to chalk it up to a spam bot/phisher.

Phishing or not, how they got your details in the first place is a mystery. I'd guess that a website where you use that username/email has had its database harvested for user info, which was then used to spam-sign a petition or something, as Ashtoreth suggested, resulting in this generic "dear [insert name]" email response. Activist spam bots are a thing now, used as a means of inflating figures for various causes (which is especially ironic in this case). Automated democracy; it's a brave new world!

Check your email address here to see if it's been "pwned" (i.e. stolen & misused):

https://www.pwnedlist.com/query

If you get a hit, you'd best change your passwords.

[BAndrew]

For a man who thinks Charles E. Schumer actually emailed him personally, it seems that the obvious isn't one of your strong points

From where did you receive the email? If it's from a server other than Gmail you can trace the IP address (it'll be in the X-Originating-IP part of the email's source code). If it turns out to be Pakistan it's probably safe to chalk it up to a spam bot/phisher.

Phishing or not, how they got your details in the first place is a mystery. I'd guess that a website where you use that username/email has had its database harvested for user info, which was then used to spam-sign a petition or something, as Ashtoreth suggested, resulting in this generic "dear [insert name]" email response. Activist spam bots are a thing now, used as a means of inflating figures for various causes (which is especially ironic in this case). Automated democracy; it's a brave new world!

Check your email address here to see if it's been "pwned" (i.e. stolen & misused):

https://www.pwnedlist.com/query

If you get a hit, you'd best change your passwords.

I guess nothing is obvious in this case
WOW people can actually get your user info and just sign an online petition without you even knowing. What's next?
Anyway:
I just found out that gmail hides the true IP of the sender. However the e-mail address is "senator@schumer.senate.gov". It also mentions in the end (I forgot to write this):

Please do not respond to this email. To send another message please visit my website at https://www.schumer.senate.gov/Contact/c..._chuck.cfm . Thank you.

I also checked the website you sent me and I got this:

Yes.

Unfortunately we have found your email in the data leaks we've collected thus far. Here's a little more information:

• We have found this account at least 1 times since July of 2011
  
• It was last discovered approximately 8 months ago, on 2013-11-11.
  

So I guess I should change my passwords.

Thanks for your help .

---

No wait, it doesn't hide the IP, I am just stupid. I found it:

Received: from unknown (HELO schumer-it01.senate.ussenate.us) ([156.33.63.232])
by MXP.SCHUMER.SENATE.GOV with ESMTP; 11 Jul 2014 18:47:33 -0400

By googling it:
Owner Address: 2 Massachusetts Avenue, N.e. 6Th Floor, Washington Dc, DC, 20510, US

http://myip.ms/view/ip_addresses/2619424....33.63.255

[MrBehemoth]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you're concerned, just change your passwords and don't reply. Politicians were bound to learn how to spam eventually.

I wouldn't be concerned about it knowing your nick - it's easily scraped. I would have been more concerned if it used your real name.

I am, likewise, not in the US, but in the last US general election Obama himself sent me a personal email. We're now best buddies.

[BAndrew]

Well that's reassuring. I changed my passwords just in case. I didn't worry about it that much, but I felt lost by the fact that he was able to find my nickname. Anyway, I probably take it way too seriously.

Thanks, everyone for the help.