Every person in Seamlss needs their own email address and their own mobile number. That includes each client, each director or trustee you’re checking for AML, and each of your staff. If two people share an email, Seamlss won’t let you add the second one: you’ll see email unavailable.
Why it’s needed. Each person logs in with their own code, verifies their own ID and signs for themselves. With a shared address you can’t tell who did what, and one person could open or sign the other’s request. myGov works the same way: each myGov account must have a unique email address.
When two people share an email #
Ask for a second address
Most people have more than one: a work address, an old personal one, or the one they use for myGov. Any address they can check is fine.
Or use a + alias of the shared address
Add a plus sign and a word before the @. For example, [email protected] still lands in [email protected], but Seamlss sees it as a separate address. This works with Gmail and Outlook.com, and with most work email.
Send a test email to the alias first
Before you add it, email the alias and ask the client to confirm it arrived. Some work email systems turn + aliases off.
Add the person with their own email and mobile
Enter the new address and that person’s own mobile number. Login codes go to the mobile, so it can’t be shared either.
Don’t use full stops to make an alias. In Outlook and Hotmail, adding or moving a full stop makes a different address, which could belong to someone else. Use the + alias instead.
More options, including for Telstra, Optus and TPG email, are in Two clients, one email: how to give each person their own address.
Something not working? #
It says “email unavailable” when I add a contact
That email already belongs to another person in your Seamlss account. Search your contacts for it: if it’s the same person, use the existing contact. If it’s someone else, give this person their own address or a + alias.
The client says they never got anything at the alias
Their email provider may not accept + aliases. Ask for a different address, then update the contact’s email.
Two people share one mobile
Each person needs their own mobile, because their login code is sent by SMS. Ask for the other person’s number.
The client won’t give a second address
Explain that it protects them: nobody else can open, sign or verify as them. Their bank and myGov already work this way.
Still stuck? Contact support and tell us what you see.
Related: Add a client, Send a client request.
