Bad Grammar is Good in Emails

Yes, it’s true, in some of the best ‘commercial’ scam emails bad grammar and spelling is in fact a good thing. Did you know that this is the first customer filtering process for some email scammers? The process is that we wouldn’t fall for it because of the bad use of English but the sought after, gullible targets fall for it.

Some reasons:

• To filter out smart users who would immediately recognise the scam, thus ensuring that only the most gullible users respond.
• To read in a way that an American with money might imagine a Nigerian would write (for the multimillion-dollar transfer scams)
• To get past spam filters
• To fool the victim into believing the scammer is not very sophisticated and can be tricked by the victim
• Because many scam emails are written by people who speak English as a second language and so do not catch the idiomatic English and grammar mistakes
• Because the spam script is recycled from previously successful scripts and the errors don’t get fixed
• Many phishing scams do not have typos at all in order to fool the largest number of people

See the full explanation on Quora.

Kevin Harrington

I’m a UK-based B2B marketing consultant, specialising in strategic advice for SME business owners. I bring extensive hands-on expertise to every client engagement. Senior leadership roles across technology, media, payments, and publishing have shaped my practical approach. Highlights include serving as Chief Marketing Officer at The Panoply plc (now TPXimpact), Chief Commercial Officer at Tungsten Network, and Global Marketing Director at BBC Worldwide. Over the years, I’ve guided numerous SMEs through transformation and value creation. Helping businesses evolve and thrive is a genuine passion. Practical marketing insights and succession planning strategies are at the heart of what I do, as I believe growing a business’s asset value should be a rewarding and positive journey for every entrepreneur.

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