We recently encountered a Google problem. We got an email from Google at random, saying that our account’s main email address had been successfully updated – with a Gmail address that wasn’t ours.

The trouble with Google accounts is that if your account’s email address ends in @gmail.com, you won’t be able to modify it.

What causes this to happen? What, more significantly, can you do if your Google account is associated with an invalid Gmail address?

We went online to look for a solution to our dilemma, and this is what we discovered…

THERE ARE TWO OPTIONS FOR YOU: delete your Gmail address or delete your complete Google Account.

You can delete the Gmail address from your Google account if you don’t use it or need it. You can deactivate a Gmail address associated with your Google account without also deleting your Google account.

What happens if you erase your Gmail address is as follows:

• Once you’ve destroyed your Gmail account, neither you nor anybody else will be able to use it again.
• Your emails will be removed from the system.
• Your Google Account will not be destroyed, including your Google Play purchases and search history.

Here’s how to get rid of your Gmail account:

• To delete a service or your account, go to the Delete a service or your account page.
• Select Delete a service from the drop-down menu. It’s possible that you’ll have to sign in to your account again.
• Click Delete next to Gmail (trash icon).
  Follow the directions on the screen.
• You can remove your Google account entirely if you don’t use it.

To remove your entire Google Account, follow these steps:

• To delete a service or your account, go to the Delete a service or your account page.
• Select Delete your Google account from the drop-down menu. It’s possible that you’ll have to sign in to your account again.
• Scroll to the bottom of the page and check the boxes next to both acknowledgements.
• Select Delete Account from the drop-down menu.

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WARNING: This will remove your whole Google account, not just your Gmail account. If you have any outstanding financial transactions, you will be held liable for them. You’ll have a limited time to recover your Google account after it’s been destroyed, but you won’t be able to do it again because Google does not recycle deleted accounts – once a gmail address has been used, it can never be used again.