diff --git a/drupal/sites/default/boinc/modules/boincuser/boincuser.module b/drupal/sites/default/boinc/modules/boincuser/boincuser.module
index fcfe08bc6b..0a68e9a33a 100644
--- a/drupal/sites/default/boinc/modules/boincuser/boincuser.module
+++ b/drupal/sites/default/boinc/modules/boincuser/boincuser.module
@@ -2047,11 +2047,16 @@ function boincuser_apachesolr_index_documents_alter(array &$documents, $entity,
 function boincuser_privatemsg_name_lookup($string) {
   //Get the BOINC ID from the name string, and lookup the
   //corresponding drupal user.
+  $boincname = substr($string, 0, strrpos($string, '_'));
   $boincid = substr($string, strrpos($string, '_') + 1);
   $drupalid = get_drupal_id($boincid);
-  dpm($drupalid, 'drupalid');
-  if ($recipient = user_load(array('uid' => $drupalid))) {
-    dpm($recipient, 'recipient in hook boincuser_privatemsg_name_lookup');
-    return $recipient;
+  if ($drupalid>0) {
+    if ($recipient = user_load(array('uid' => $drupalid))) {
+      // Double-check that the loaded user matches both boincuser_id
+      // and boincuser_name.
+      if ( ($boincid == $recipient->boincuser_id) AND ($boincname == $recipient->boincuser_name) ) {
+        return $recipient;
+      }
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/drupal/sites/default/boinc/modules/contrib/privatemsg/privatemsg.module b/drupal/sites/default/boinc/modules/contrib/privatemsg/privatemsg.module
index 2f8c436e76..58f23d6bca 100644
--- a/drupal/sites/default/boinc/modules/contrib/privatemsg/privatemsg.module
+++ b/drupal/sites/default/boinc/modules/contrib/privatemsg/privatemsg.module
@@ -877,8 +877,9 @@ function privatemsg_new(&$form_state, $recipients = array(), $subject = '', $thr
         // Skip putting author in the recipients list for now.
         continue;
       }
-      $to[] = $recipient->boincuser_name;
-      $to_themed[$recipient->uid] = $recipient->boincuser_name;
+      $myuser = user_load(array('uid' => $recipient->uid));
+      $to[] = $myuser->boincuser_name . "_" . $myuser->boincuser_id;
+      $to_themed[$recipient->uid] = $myuser->boincuser_name;
     }
     else {
       // Recipient list contains blocked users.
@@ -888,10 +889,10 @@ function privatemsg_new(&$form_state, $recipients = array(), $subject = '', $thr
 
   if (empty($to) && $usercount >= 1 && !$blocked) {
     // Assume the user sent message to own account as if the usercount is one or less, then the user sent a message but not to self.
-    $to[] = $user->boincuser_name;
-    $to_themed[$user->uid] = $user->boincuser_name;
+    $myuser = user_load(array('uid' => $user->uid));
+    $to[] = $myuser->boincuser_name . "_" . $myuser->boincuser_id;
+    $to_themed[$user->uid] = $myuser->boincuser_name;
   }
-
   if (!empty($to)) {
     $recipients_string = implode(', ', $to);
   }
@@ -932,7 +933,7 @@ function privatemsg_new(&$form_state, $recipients = array(), $subject = '', $thr
     $form['privatemsg']['recipient'] = array(
       '#type'               => 'textfield',
       '#title'              => t('To'),
-      '#description'        => t('Separate multiple names with commas.'),
+      '#description'        => t('Separate multiple names with commas. The number appearing in the suffix is the BOINC id. You can find a user\'s BOINC id on their user profile page.'),
       '#default_value'      => $recipients_string,
       '#required'           => TRUE,
       '#weight'             => -10,
@@ -1434,7 +1435,7 @@ function privatemsg_user_name_autocomplete($string) {
     $prefix = count($names) ? implode(", ", $names) .", " : '';
     // 3: Build proper suggestions and print.
     while ($user = db_fetch_object($result)) {
-      $matches[$prefix . $user->name . "_" . $user->id . ", "] = $user->name . ' - BOINC id = ' . $user->id;
+      $matches[$prefix . $user->name . "_" . $user->id . ", "] = $user->name . '(' . $user->id . ')';
     }
   }
   // convert to object to prevent drupal bug, see http://drupal.org/node/175361