system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: I often get spam emails from people who obviously did not send the emails. How does this happen? Is someone hacking their account?

Sorry if this is a previously discussed topic.  I tried to search but the search function doesn't seem to work.

I often get obviously spam email from some random person in my contact list.  Are they hacked or am I hacked?  How can someone spoof the person and send out email from their account?
gpt
Often times, the account that appears to be sending the message did not actually send it.  The “from” address is basically being forged.  In internet parlance this is called “email spoofing.”  There is phone spoofing too (fake caller ID information) which is a freaking epidemic in the U.S. these days.  The person whose email/number is being spoofed can’t do anything to stop it.