Co-author on a paper I have never seen

I recently was informed by a journal (that shall remain unnammed) that I am co-author on a recently submitted paper. My supervisor got the same email, but neither of us had seen (or heard of) this paper before we got the email. It turns out that the author had used data from one of our recent papers (after asking my permission, which wasn't really necessary, since it was publicly available). He had asked me if it would be OK to include us in the manuscript (mind you, this was a completely different paper, which was rejected). It seems that a second and completely separate manuscript was prepared and submitted completely without our knowledge. Has this ever happened to anyone else? What would you do if this happened to you?

This actually just happened to me about a month ago as well. Except I actually did some of the work in the paper. I left the lab and about a year later I found my name as a co-author on a paper i never knew about. I wrote the first author and the last (my old boss) and never got a response. I also wrote the journal and received no response either. I have never even read the paper yet it is published with my name as co-author. Other authors have always sent me a form to verify I have read and approved the paper. I would think all journals should have some system like this in place in order to prevent embarrassing things like retractions if the data is incorrect.

I think it happens much more often that people do the work and DON'T get any credit as authors...

Don't most journals require ALL the authors to sign the publication license before the paper is published in which they agree that all the authors are aware of the article's content and agree to its the publication in that journal?

Maybe some signatures were forged. You can always email the journal and ask about the signature page.

Omai

In my case, the paper never went to print (I pulled the plug). The first author apologized and explained that it was the result of a miscommunication (which, I guess, means complete lack of communication). But I agree with other people. How does a paper get into press without a signature from every author? That is not supposed to happen, but for some journals, it seems just the senior/corresponding author has to sign "on behalf of" all other authors.

That's highly unethical! I would notify the institution and the journal.

Now there are options to submit the paper for many journals online, where no paper signatures are done.

hi some journals are even accepting scanned signature. so some time our signature may be scanned and used, it truely ours only but without our permission. These are all ok, but in some cases if they interested they are adding names during the proof time, journals also accepting that. this is bad situation for the student who worked really. a person who is not doing any work, during publication,  the guide's including names of favourite student or his relative or wife's name (if the person in the same subject) in the article.

These things are difficult to control. The cyber frauds are increasing day by day. I think everyone might have come across the fraudualnt emails about their lottery wininng, many people have even lost big chunks of money in this process. A close friend of mine lost a good amount of money this way. So be careful with your money and writings.

That is worrying, especially if it's a growing threat like people have commented... I know that I would certainly be upset to have my name on a document that I had no part in, and even worse one that I haven't read, as not only is it dishonest, but could also ruin your credibility, making any future work of yours questionable...