If you’ve ever received a spam email that looks like it came from your own email address, you’re not alone and your email has not been hacked. Spammers often fake the “From” email address to trick people into opening them. This is called “email spoofing,” and it’s surprisingly easy for scammers to do. I get spoofed emails in my own Spam folder every day.
For example, I see spam emails where the From email address is Cassie Crossley. But of course I didn’t send myself emails about Microsoft software renewals, McAfee virus scanner subscriptions, or PayPal payments. Sometimes I do send emails between my email accounts, but those usually end up in my Primary email folder and I remember sending them.
Your email inbox might show your own address as the sender, but fortunately that doesn’t mean the message actually came from you. It just means someone made it look that way. Think of it like writing someone else’s name as the return address on a letter — the post office doesn’t check if that name is really yours.
The good news is this doesn’t mean your email account was hacked. But it’s smart to check your Sent folder to be sure. If nothing odd is there, you’re safe.
To protect yourself, mark suspicious messages as spam as I mention in this previous article, and turn on multi-factor authentication for extra security.
So, don’t panic — but stay alert.
