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Is Someone Pretending to Be Your Agency?

Email impersonation in plain language: how forged senders get through, what it costs when a client pays a fake invoice, and a five-minute check on your own domain. Written for creative agency owners.

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Is Someone Pretending to Be Your Agency?

What this is

If your domain does not have proper email authentication in place, an attacker can send email that looks exactly like it came from you. Your clients, vendors and team have no easy way to tell the difference.

Written for creative agency owners, though the technical part applies to any business that lives in email. An attacker does not need to get into your systems. They only need to send a message that looks like it came from you, and if your domain is not locked down, most mail systems will let it through.

What is inside

  • Fake invoicesA client receives an updated invoice from your domain with new wire instructions, and pays it.
  • Wire fraud requestsA vendor gets an email from the owner asking for a quick payment. The tone is right and the signature looks right.
  • Malicious file linksA client clicks project files from your address and installs malware, with your name attached to it.
  • The five-minute checkThe three records that need to exist on your domain, and how to see whether they do.
This document is for informational purposes. Specific configurations should be reviewed by a qualified IT or cybersecurity professional based on your actual environment.

Who this is for

Agency ownersSending proposals, invoices and file links every day, which is exactly what makes it a target.
Anyone who invoices by emailThe exposure is the same whether or not you are an agency.
Whoever inherits the problemUsually the person explaining to a client why they paid the wrong account.

Want help putting this to work?

These resources are free to use on your own. If you would rather talk through what applies to your environment, we will give you a straight answer without a sales pitch.

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