THE LANGUAGE OF SCAM SPAMS: LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF “NIGERIAN FRAUD” E-MAILS
Deborah Schaffer · ETC.: A Review of General Semantics · 2012
This article examines the general nature, history, and language features of one type of fraudulent e-mail spam, the ubiquitous Nigerian fraud (4-1-9) letter. Patterns in content include similar narratives involving vast sums of money to be transferred from the scammer's home country with outside help and common persuasive strategies frequently involving apologies, flattery, attempts to intrigue recipients, and appeals to greed, altruism, trust, and religious feelings, while patterns in writing features include use of attention-inducing buzz words like “urgent” and “secret” in subject headings as well as in the letters themselves, and obvious nonnative English grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary errors. In spite of the cruder elements of these letters and worldwide efforts to fight the con artists sending them, recipients are still drawn in to these scams in large numbers, losing millions of dollars every year. The best defense against them must still entail comprehensive public education about the nature of this scam (and others) and about the telltale characteristics of these letters that signal a con at work.