In plain English
The sender details shown on an email can be made to point to the wrong identity. When that happens, the address has been deliberately falsified so the message seems to come from another person, organization, or system. The key point is that the apparent sender and the actual sender are not the same.
In context
Here, the phrase names the sender-address issue that the address shown as the sender was forged so the message appears to come from a different person, organization, or system than the real sender.
- Situation
- Responding to phishing, suspicious activity, fraud, and compromise alerts
- What it communicates
- names the sender-address issue being described.
Meaning limits
The term by itself does not establish who the actual sender was.
Examples
“The email used a spoofed address that made it look as if the request had come from the finance office, not from the stranger who sent it.”
“Report any message with a spoofed address when the sender line claims to be a colleague you did not expect to hear from.”