“ Gmail doesn't recognize periods as characters in addresses -- we just ignore them. For example, you could tell people your address was hikingfan@gmail.com, hiking.fan@gmail.com or hi.kin.g.fan@gmail.com. (We understand that there has been some confusion about this in the past, but to settle it once and for all, you can indeed receive mail at all the variations with dots.)”
https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-mo...
No it wouldn't. The problem is that people believe they have addresses they don't. They don't have firstmlast@gmail.com any more than they have firt.m.last@gmail.com.
I have a surname@ address, and I receive similar mails all the time. People just simply assume they have my email address. No dots involved.