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Articles · Spoofing · 2 min read
What is spoofing?
Spoofing is faking the sender — the number, name, address, or website you see is forged to look like someone you trust. It shows up in four forms:
What it is
The sender details are forged
The little clues you use to decide who a message is from — the phone number, the sender name, the email address, the web address — are all easy to fake. Any of them can be set to say whatever the sender wants.
Calls and texts
Your bank's name on screen
Your phone can show your bank's real number, or its name at the top of a text thread, when the call or message is coming from someone else entirely. A faked number can even land in the same thread as genuine messages from the real company.
Emails and websites
A near-identical address
A scam email arrives from an address that is almost right — a tiny misspelling, an extra word, a swapped letter. A link leads to a look-alike page built to match the real one, on a web address that reads correctly at a glance but isn't.
Why it works
It borrows trust you gave
You already trust the real name, so the moment it appears you lower your guard — which is exactly the reaction a forged label is designed to trigger. The display itself can never be your proof. The name on screen is a claim, not proof — verify through a channel you chose.
Before you act on a call, text, or email, reach the company yourself using a number or address you looked up. Let what you know beat what the screen shows you.
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