@renee very often it is a case of the spammer not speaking English as their first language so this is why the language would be unusual. It is similar to things such as stories you would hear in current affairs regarding lonely people having money stolen from these people because they think they enter into a relationship with them. They pray on the lonely and vulnerable.
A simple way to figure out if an email is a scam, is to move your cursor over the address of the sender. You will know that the address is not a legitimate one because it will look unusual and in many cases unofficial, especially if it is one that is trying to represent an organisation such as a bank.
It is important to know the little tricks in order to protect yourself. They think they are so smart but we have to be much smarter. And quite frankly their tactics are quite a bit dated!
We had a case locally, where a woman in her 60’s went all the way to a country in Africa, thinking she was going to marry this man she had been corresponding with for three years. She had her life savings stolen and most importantly, her life was taken also. It turned out to be a ring of people not just one.
This is why it is so great that a little community like ours can reach out with a simple message up the top of a page to let everyone concerned know that it was a spammer. Because it can be halted in its tracks and we can all get on with chatting without interruption from these people who just want to potentially ruin people’s lives.
