E-mail address spoofing is a type of phishing attack where victims usually receive e-mails from forged e-mail addresses. It used to be that spoofed e-mail addresses were easier to identify. However, times have changed.  

Work has become increasingly fast-paced and demanding. As people work towards completing the tasks they have before the end of the day, most of them may forget to check and clarify certain e-mails. 

Imagine this scenario. Alex receives an e-mail from a business partner ABC. ABC e-mails Alex to request payment with regards to an invoice sent. As Alex’s company has been doing business with ABC very often, he did not give it much thought and proceeded to have the finance team wire the money.  

What if it turns out that ABC did not send the e-mail? 

Upon second look, Alex realises that the e-mail address that was supposed to be from ABC contains a misspelling.  

This is an example of a spoofed e-mail address. 

According to a Straits Times article posted on 21st May 2022, at least 149 people fell victim and believed that these spoof work e-mails were legitimate (Woon, 2022). This led to a loss of at least $70.8 million since the start of 2022. 

The victims would have received e-mails telling them of a change in bank account number, thus requesting for payment to be made to other bank accounts. 

However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The people behind these e-mail address spoofing are getting smarter and are finding ways to make spoofed e-mail addresses look the same as the original e-mail addresses. The best thing to do when one is unsure is to clarify with the other party who supposedly sent the e-mail.