Email Spoofing: When Criminals Impersonate Your Shopify Store

What is Email Spoofing?

Email spoofing is when someone sends an email that appears to come from your domain—but doesn’t. The “From” address shows orders@yourstore.com, but the email actually originated from a scammer’s server. It’s like someone mailing letters with your return address printed on them.

How Easy It Is to Spoof Emails

Without proper protection, spoofing your domain takes minutes. Attackers don’t need access to your email server or any special skills. Free tools let anyone send emails with any “From” address they choose.

This is why email authentication (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) exists—to let receiving servers distinguish real emails from fakes.

The Business Impact of Email Spoofing

For Shopify merchants, email spoofing creates serious problems:

• Phishing attacks on your customers: Fake order confirmations lead to credential theft
• Brand reputation damage: Customers blame you when they fall for scams
• Customer support burden: Dealing with confused or angry customers
• Lost sales: Customers become wary of all emails from your domain
• Legal liability: In some cases, you could be held responsible for not protecting your domain

Signs Your Domain is Being Spoofed

• Customers report receiving suspicious emails from “you”
• Your support inbox fills with replies to emails you didn’t send
• You receive bounce-back messages for emails you never sent
• DMARC reports show unauthorized sending activity
• Customers mention promotions or offers you never made

The Email Authentication Trinity

Three technologies work together to stop email spoofing:

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

Lists which servers can send email from your domain. If an email comes from an unauthorized server, SPF fails.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

Adds a cryptographic signature to prove emails are genuine and unmodified. Spoofed emails can’t replicate this signature.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication)

Tells receiving servers what to do when SPF or DKIM fail—and sends you reports about authentication failures.

When all three are configured correctly, spoofed emails get rejected before reaching your customers.

How to Protect Your Domain

1. Set up SPF to authorize your legitimate email services
2. Configure DKIM for all services that send email on your behalf
3. Implement DMARC starting with monitoring mode
4. Review DMARC reports to catch unauthorized senders
5. Gradually tighten DMARC policy to quarantine or reject failures

How Recon Helps

Recon protects your Shopify store from email spoofing by:

• Monitoring your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration
• Alerting you if email authentication is missing or misconfigured
• Analyzing DMARC reports to detect spoofing attempts
• Providing step-by-step guidance to strengthen your email security

FAQ

Q: How do I know if someone is spoofing my domain?

A: The clearest indicator is DMARC reports showing authentication failures from unknown sources. Customer complaints about suspicious emails are another sign.

Q: Will email authentication block legitimate emails?

A: Not if configured correctly. Start DMARC with a “none” policy (monitoring only) and verify all your email services are authenticated before moving to stricter policies.

Q: Can I completely stop email spoofing?

A: With DMARC set to “reject” and proper SPF/DKIM, receiving servers will block spoofed emails. However, some older email systems don’t check authentication, so complete prevention isn’t guaranteed.