Seven Grammar and Language Red Flags to Help You Spot Scam Emails and Text Messages
One of the increasingly inescapable facts of modern life is the endless attempts to deceive you : to obtain your financial details, fake your identity, or even lure you into an incredible love scam. Scam messages and emails are so common that they have become almost invisible.
This is a problem because you’re most vulnerable when your guard is down—one reason why 15% of Americans say someone in their family has fallen for a scam (and 8% admit to falling for one themselves). Scam texts and emails are often fairly easy to spot , but scammers can be extremely good at replicating the appearance of bank or government emails, and in other cases making their attempts to rip you off look official and believable.
But no matter how well they fake graphics, spoof emails, and disguise hyperlinks, there are often obvious signs that you’re being scammed. Here are seven grammatical “messages” common in scam communications, from text messages to emails.
Overall poor grammar
The most obvious “clue” in many scam emails and texts is simply bad grammar: official corporate or government messages are usually written in grammatically correct English, so everything is supposedly “official” which reads as if it was rendered using Google Translate , automatically red flag.
In some cases, poor grammar may be a deliberate technique. There is speculation that poor grammar is used to weed out people who are paying attention to you . If you notice bad grammar, then you are too smart for scammers to bother with. But that’s not always the case: sometimes scam emails are poorly written for the most obvious reason : the people who write them simply aren’t very good at writing coherent English. Either way, if you’re having trouble understanding what’s being said in a text or email, it’s probably a sign that you’re dealing with someone who isn’t who they say they are.
The phrase “Would you be so kind”
The word “kindly” in an email or text asking you to perform an action or click a link is a common sign that you are dealing with a scammer, as it is a sign that the person behind the text lives abroad . ” Kindly ” is often used in other regions of the world (such as India) in sentences where Americans would use the word “please”. Although “kindly” in itself is not grammatically incorrect , it is unusual for an American to do so, especially when combined with a phrase such as ” do the needful “. Of course, just because an email or text was written by someone who speaks English in another country and uses different colloquialisms doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a scam – unless they’re trying to convince you the message is from an American companies. government agency or compatriot.
Incorrect punctuation and capitalization
Another grammatical clue that gives away cheating is punctuation and capitalization. Incorrectly capitalized words are a common sign that the text was taken from a scam template that was circulated and redesigned to fit the specific details of that particular scam. And punctuation (commas, periods, quotation marks, etc.) that appears in the wrong places or is missing altogether is another red flag indicating that you may be reading a fraudulent message or email. While it’s true that people sometimes confuse punctuation and capitalization when typing in a hurry, ask yourself whether it’s plausible that an IRS agent telling you to send the US government $500 worth of Apple gift cards to pay a fine would be in such a hurry .
Another sign of a fraudulent message? We put the dollar sign in the wrong place . In the US, it’s common to put a dollar sign before the numbers, but in many countries it’s common to put a currency symbol after the numbers, so seeing $500 instead of $500 is a clue that you should at least dig a little deeper before buying those numbers. gift cards.
Calling you “darling” in a formal email.
Scam texts and emails often use a generic phrase instead of your real name because they are only pretending to be your bank or other organization that should really know who you are. They also often use the word “darling” in endearing phrases , such as “My dear”, instead of your name. This is often used to create a sense of intimacy (especially if it’s a romance scam ), but is also often a sign that the writer speaks English as a second language. It’s not wrong (your grandma probably calls you “my dear” sometimes), but it’s contextually inappropriate in an email that’s supposed to be a serious matter.
Say “diary” instead of “calendar.”
Other words that are often confused that are a good sign that the email or text was composed by someone living abroad (and therefore they are unlikely to be sending you an email from the local police department demanding you pay fines for breaking the rules traffic using Bitcoins ) include “calendar” and “schedule”. » Some countries use words like “diary” or “diary” instead of calendar, but this is unusual in the US, so it is a sign that you should re-read the email or text and look for more clues that it is a scam.
Missing words
Many scam messages are sent by people who don’t actually speak or understand English well, so missing words are easy to miss, especially those known as “function words.” Function words link other words, giving sentences structure and meaning, and scam messages often leave them out in important places that can easily be missed, creating phrases like “Contact Headquarters” (missing “the”) that can sound normal if you read quickly, but if you stop for a moment, it starts to sound strange.
Religious references
A trick that many scammers use in a variety of situations is to play on people’s faith and piety by adding references to God and specific religions in their messages. As with using words like “darling,” this is intended to bypass your defenses by establishing that he must be a “good person” if he shares your beliefs or is performatively spiritual.
Again, mentioning religion or faith in an email is not in itself a red flag – it depends on the context. A letter from your pastor that mentions God is completely normal. An email from your local lottery commission informing you that Bill Gates has selected your email address to win $10 million probably shouldn’t include references to a church in every other sentence.