Check who really sent that email.

Paste a suspicious email. You get a straight answer on whether the sender is who they claim to be, and the reason why.

No email yet? Try a real one: , ,

Free. It runs in your browser, so nothing is sent anywhere or stored.

It compares the sending address against a built-in list of 88 real company domains, in your browser. It looks at where an email came from, not how well it is written.

The problem

The scams got fluent. The tell is still the sender.

AI writes a flawless, personalised pitch and puts a real person's name on it. Your spam filter waves it through because the words look clean. The big-company filters do not cover you. You're on your own, until you check who actually sent it.

Fake recruiter

"Dentsu is hiring you"

Glossy role, your name on it. Reply-to: a throwaway domain that isn't Dentsu.

Fake media

"BBC Radio 4 invites you"

A real broadcaster's name and photo. Sent from a Gmail address. The BBC never books from Gmail.

Fake partner

"Official Book Club curator"

A real group's name, borrowed. A look-alike agency domain one letter off the real firm.

How it works

Verify the sender, not the prose.

Trying to spot "AI-written text" is guesswork, and it is getting worse. Proof of Sender ignores the writing and checks the things that are hardest to fake.

01

Where it was really sent from

Does the address belong to the company named in the email? Or is it one letter off, or a free Gmail account?

Reply-To: careers@applyprospectplus.com ✕ ≠ dentsu.com
02

Is the person real

Is the named person, role or group real and checkable, or a well-known name borrowed to borrow trust?

From: free webmail claiming to be a national broadcaster
03

Did they send it to lots of people

If the same message reached more than one of your addresses, that is a list, not a person. Compare the two and the wording matches.

Tell: identical wording, two different addresses

What a verdict looks like

Every verdict comes with its reasons.

A score is never shown on its own. This is a real fake that reached my inbox, and the actual output the checker gives for it.

Scam99 / 100
"Interview Invitation: BBC Radio 4 Bookclub"
From: jamesnaughtie.bookclub@gmail.com
✗ Claims to be BBC RADIO 4 but the sending domain (gmail.com) is not bbc.co.uk.
✗ Uses free webmail (gmail.com) while presenting as an organisation.
✗ Contains fee or funnel language: "what you and your book will gain", "media kit".
This impersonates a real BBC broadcaster. The BBC uses its own domain, not Gmail. Do not reply.
Real output from the checker above, on an email I received

Who it's for

The people scammers target and enterprise tools ignore.

Authors Jobseekers Founders Freelancers Anyone with a public inbox