Hi Chuck,
I had to go to my email provider because someone hacked my email account and forwarded my email to an address they made up in Gmail. They made it very similar to mine, so no one questioned it. My email provider found this out when I complained that I wasn’t getting my email. The hacker had sent my contact list email to buy me gift cards because I was in trouble. Fortunately, my friends did not fall for the scam and actually called me on the phone.
So, if I were you, I would go to your email provider if you can and ask them for help troubleshooting the problem. You may also want to change your email address and tell your friends about what happened. This may help them to avoid the same problem. It’s a lot of work because your email address is used everywhere on all sorts of accounts. It’s a real pain in the You-Know-What. Then you have to deal with the aftermath. One of my credit cards was used by someone else, and I had to close my account and get a new card. Who knows what else they have gotten into.