Email Spoofing Explained: How to Spot and Protect Yourself
If you could use a time machine and travel back to the early days of email you would see that phishing scams were laughably obvious and cybercriminals hadn’t yet mastered the art of deception. Back then, a spoofed email might say, “Click here to claim your $1,000,000 prize,” complete with glaring typos and suspicious links. Fast forward to today, and the landscape looks dramatically different. Email spoofing has evolved into a sophisticated threat, fooling even the savviest users. Modern spoofed emails come dressed as trusted brands, colleagues, or even friends, skillfully bypassing filters and luring victims into dangerous traps. What makes this cyber threat even more alarming is its ability to adapt over time — just like a cunning spy learning new tricks with each new mission. In this article, we’ll take you on a journey through the history of email spoofing, showing how it has progressed from basic phishing attempts to advanced schemes that blend technology and psychological manipulations, and explain how to stay protected these days.