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