By Using Fake Email Addresses Scammers Are Trying to Fool You

Using fake email addresses in fraudulent email are part of a scammer’s ruse to fool you and steal your money. Faking an email address is also known as “spoofing.” The scammer doesn’t believe they will fool you solely because of their clever email address, but that’s where the ruse starts.

If you fall for a bogus email, you could download a virus on your computer, be tricked into giving up account passwords, share valuable personal or financial information, and, in the worst case, send a scammer money.

Make no mistake about it:

A fraudulent email is always sent by someone using a false email address. One that is not legitimate and not who you think it is from.

Fake email addresses: Let’s start at the beginning.

The scammer’s false email address gets the scheme underway. They then rely on the impact and deceitfulness at the heart of their email message. They’re sure that their deception will trick some people into opening the email and taking action as they’re directed to. However, the scammer still has to put effort into using a clever fake email address for several reasons.

1. The more plausible or realistic the email address seems, the more likely you (the recipient) will not give it a second look.
2. Their email address must be passable to the average person, who will most likely glance at it if they do anything.
3. At a minimum, the email address the scammer uses cannot look so obviously irrelevant or disconnected.

For every successful email scam, there’s sure to be an effective but fraudulent email address from the fraudster who sent it.

Please read our article on Spotting Fake and Dangerous Emails

to see the types of messages they use.

Spoofing doesn’t apply only to email addresses.

A scammer can spoof an email address, a phone number, or a website by mixing or using letters or symbols to help you think it’s legitimate. Spoofing, as far as email is concerned, is creating and using a fake or specially constructed email address in place of a legitimate one. The infographic above shows examples of spoofed email addresses posing as real ones. Here’s a little more information.

Spoofing an email address is just the beginning of a scam. 

The scammer starts with a fake email address, but they pay more attention to other parts of the email content to craft a deceptive message.  Here are all the elements that can come into play.

• The sender’s email address. Crafted well enough to slip past you.
• The subject of the email. The subject line,the one-line lead-in to the message, can be alarming and disarming.
• The logo of a well-known company. They often imitate a company’s logo and other brand-design elements, such as color schemes and fonts.
• The appropriate tone for the imitated message. Criminals are using artificial intelligence to improve their writing and sound like bankers or investment advisors.

Why don’t we spot fake email addresses?

The simple answer is that we were never taught or warned to do so. Email has been around for decades—the movie You’ve Got Mail came out more than 25 years ago! Getting email was exciting then, and getting email messages is part of our lives now.

The only thing we have ever really cared about is reading our emails. “We wonder, what is the message about?” or “What do I have to do now?”  We barely look at the email address and jump right into the email itself.

We were never taught to examine an email address closely and launch an investigation before or after opening and responding to it.

It’s time for our old habits to change. Today, most people know that scammers always send deceptive emails to us. In response, you should start opening and reading emails more cautiously. If a message seems fishy, you can backtrack and look hard at who it’s from.

The red flags of a scam message…and fake email address.

Here are examples of emails that should cause you to pause and give you a reason to examine everything more closely:

1. When you’ve never received a letter from the sender or company.
2. If the message tells you to do something you’ve never done before.
3. Anytime the message seems threatening or very urgent.
4. When the message says it’s from your bank, credit card provider, the IRS, or Social Security.
5. If the message involves money or investments with companies you rarely hear from.
6. When the message involves a problem with a transaction or delivery of any kind.

In short, start looking for anything in an email that sends up a red flag and warrants a closer look. To learn more about common scams and the clues for spotting one, read our article on the typical red flags of scams.  The simple truth is that the more you know about the tricks fraudsters use to steal from us, the better prepared you are to spot a scam when you see one.

Learn more about scams and staying safe.

Don’t let a clever but fake email address slip past you or the people you care about. Share this article and information with others. To learn more about scams and staying safe online, visit the Learning Center at WhatIsMyIPAddress.com. You’ll find many informative, original articles to help you safely navigate the online world.