Spoofing
How to tell a spoofed e-mail address from a legitimate e-mail address
Explanation :: Detection :: Solution :: Prevention
It is extremely difficult to detect a spoofed e-mail address, at first glance. It is possible to identify a spoofed e-mail by carefully analyzing e-mail headers but generally, spoofed e-mail is not immediately detected as such.
Typically, spoofed e-mails will appear to come from a legitimate source and it is often only the content of the e-mail itself that can give the spoofer away. Banks and other financial orgaizations do not request personal information via e-mail - that is one of the most important things you can remember regarding all e-mail fraud (spoofing, spamming and phishing included).
Like spammers, spoofers use various ploys to trick users into opening their e-mails, anything from placing "Dear friend" or "Remember me" in the subject line - implying that the e-mail is from someone the user knows, to more generic subjects like, "Your money has been refunded" or "About your Web site."
Be wary of e-mail that appears to be from a legitimate source (like your bank) that asks you to update your personal information - it is almost certainly a phishing attempt and the official looking e-mail address will be spoofed.
How to tell if your e-mail address is being spoofed- You receive (sometimes angry) replies to e-mail you know you did not send.
- You receive multiple bounced e-mail that you know you did not send.
- Your ISP challenges you about violating its anti-spam policy.
It can be a real problem, choosing an alias. Why not use our alias generator to find yourself a new one.