A SYDNEY man's bid to track down an American family whose emails he had been mistakenly receiving for years has paid off.

James West has been invited to Thanksgiving dinner with the Tran family in West Palm Beach, Florida, and will fly out of Sydney tonight.

News.com.au reported yesterday on Mr West's YouTube campaign to secure an invite after secretly "perving" on the family's preparations.

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The 28-year-old had been mistaken for another James West related to one of the Trans, and had been copied into their email discussions.

After learning about the family he decided he wanted to attend the dinner and launched a YouTube campaign to attract their attention publicly.

By last night he hadn't heard anything back – so he emailed them directly and explained the situation.

"The first email I got back was from Martha saying: 'When are you getting on a plane!'," he told news.com.au today.

"Then there was a flurry of emails over several hours this morning saying 'You are very welcome to come to our Thanksgiving. Get on a plane right now, what can you bring?'"

Mr West also spoke to some of the Trans by phone today. He said they were "over the moon".

"They are so excited about this," he said.

Mr West also finally made contact with the American James West, when the US man sent his Australian counterpart an email.

"He said: 'No wonder I’ve never been asked to bring anything'," the Aussie said.

Mr West appeared on the Sunrise TV program this morning, an experience he described as "hilarious".

"I think they thought I was just a fake and a fraud, which is valid," he said.

"But for the record, I’m not."

Mr West was honest about the media coverage his exploits had received and said the Trans were on board.

"They think it’s cool," he said.

"They've notified the local TV station, who are going to be at the airport."

Mr West leaves Sydney tonight and will be met at the airport by the Trans to be taken back to their West Palm Beach home for the holiday celebration.

The 26-hour flight will get Mr West there just in time, and he stressed that the trip was not being sponsored in any way.

"I decided to totally fund myself because I didn’t want anymore YouTube accusations that I was selling canned corn," he said.