If you’re going to try and rip me off, at least put a little bit of effort into it - spend that extra 5 minutes and run your message through a spell check, maybe have someone who actually speaks English take a look at it, and use a return address that actually looks like it could be legit. Take some pride in your work! This is why American scammers will always be more successful - because they put in that little bit of extra effort that says “I recognize that my superior work will enable me to pull in people with IQ’s as high as 75 or 80, rather that the 60 that’s the limit on yours.”
If they have all the words spelled correctly, most spam blockers will pick it up. My guess is that anyone who would fall for a scam like that probably wouldn’t notice all the misspellings.
Lord Ashtar - I somehow doubt that words like “done,” “servers” and “address” are going to set off anyone’s spam filter. I agree that only true idiots would fall for this.
Let me confirm what Lord Ashtar said. They miss spell words and insert odd characters(like-, *, ~, Etc.) to defeat spam filters. It’s not accidental or bad spelling, just a means to an end.
No, but specific phrases might. Things like “verify your email address” would increase a email’s spam/scam score.
I don’t fall for these. I’ve already updated all my internet accounts using this excellent free service. I would urge all Dopers to use it immediately, before all your accounts close and deathrays come down your internet connection and destroy your computer.
Let’s see…I’ve had the Citibank e-mail, I’ve also had the South African diamond mine one tried on me, where the idiot ass scammer says in so many words that if you send a little money to him, he’ll let you in on his diamond mine investment. I believe I set a world record for fastest click on ‘delete’.
I got one of those “joe-job” e-mails claiming to be from a bank that I don’t bank with (and never have). I recognized it for what it was, but it looked convincing enough that I thought someone else might fall for it. I tried to report it, since it was a real doozy (asking for bank account number and PIN), but there wasn’t anyone to report it to (I live in Canada, and all the agencies I found were based in the US).