What Is Brand Impersonation?

What is brand impersonation?

Brand impersonation occurs when cybercriminals send fraudulent emails or create fake websites that imitate a trusted organization’s branding, domain, or communication style. The goal is to deceive recipients into sharing sensitive information, making payments, or clicking malicious links. It is one of the most common forms of phishing and is responsible for significant financial and reputational damage across industries.

Attackers often replicate official logos, templates, and tone of voice to make their emails appear legitimate. By spoofing a company’s domain or using a visually similar one, they can bypass user suspicion and trick recipients into engaging with malicious content.

How Brand Impersonation Works

Brand impersonation typically involves:

• Registering lookalike domains that closely resemble the target’s legitimate domain
• Forging the “From” address in the message header
• Sending phishing messages that prompt users to enter credentials or approve fake invoices
• Using social engineering techniques to increase credibility

Example:

In this example, “paypa1.com” is designed to look like “paypal.com.” Even minor visual differences can mislead recipients into believing the message is legitimate.

Preventing Brand Impersonation

Organizations can protect their brand and users by implementing the following:

• DMARC, SPF, and DKIM authentication
• Strict domain monitoring for unauthorized or similar registrations
• Use of BIMI to display verified logos in inboxes
• Security awareness training for employees and customers

Brand Impersonation and DMARCeye

DMARCeye helps organizations detect and prevent brand impersonation by continuously monitoring authentication results and identifying unauthorized sources that send on behalf of their domain. The platform also highlights similar or spoofed domains attempting to impersonate a brand across the email ecosystem.

By enforcing authentication policies and providing detailed visibility into impersonation attempts, DMARCeye enables businesses to protect their reputation, customers, and digital trust.

• AI-powered monitoring, analysis, and troubleshooting recommendations
• Smart, configurable alerts
• Overview dashboard makes managing multiple domains easy

Sign up for a free trial of DMARCeye today and secure your email domain.

To learn more about DMARC and DMARC-related terms, explore the DMARCeye Glossary.