When I read this email – and I read it from start to finish – I was both incredulous and incredibly sad.

Incredulous that anyone would believe the Rev. Margret Orphan and incredibly sad that anyone would believe the Rev. Margret Orphan.

Hello, Beloved One,
I do sincerely apologise for my intrusion of your privacy since we haven’t met physically before. I am Rev. Margret Orphan I am 73 years old now and suffering from a long time Breast cancer. I was born an orphan and decided to serve mankind to the best of my ability. I have lived with the memories, fighting effortlessly to live a normal life but all to no avail. I suffered mentally and psychologically and was shortly diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. I lived with the scourge praying earnestly for divine intervention but Just this morning my doctor informed me that I have a few months to live I was not shocked, I accepted the news in good faith because I already noticed my condition was not improving but rather getting worse all day.

However, I have decided to use my saved funds to contribute to Charity Organizations, Sick people, the Less-privileged, Widows, and Motherless, development of the churches in America, Asia, Europe and other needful countries.
I SELECTED YOU WHILE VISITING THE INTERNET AFTER SEVERAL PRAYERS. I am willing to donate the sum of {$2,000.000 } Two Million United States dollars to you for the above-stated reasons. I would like to use 20% of this money for yourself and your family & the remaining 80% for charity use.
Send me in your return mail Your Real Names…Home Address…..Age…..Religion….Phone and a PHOTO of you so I could know who I’m dealing with as I also will give my information in my next email.

Once I receive your response, I shall update you on how these donation funds successfully come to you. All I need from you is Truthfulness, Honesty and Sincerity assuring me that you can in all honesty and obedience utilize these funds as I instruct you. In any case, a quick response from you will be highly appreciated as I am already on a countdown. I took this decision upon myself because I understand that wealth acquisition without CHRIST is Vanity upon Vanity. I Pray May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you and your family.

Yours in CHRIST

Rev. Marget Orphan
St. Peters Orphanage Home

Granted, the Rev. Marget can spell or knows how to use spellcheck, which sets her message apart from the usual such drivel I receive.

I’ve often wondered why scammers don’t use spell check. A quick search found a reply on Quora from Harlie Locke:

Scammers often send texts or emails with numerous typos, grammatical errors, and other language issues for several strategic reasons:

1. Filter Evasion: Many email and text filtering systems use various algorithms to detect and flag potential spam or phishing messages. By including typos and grammatical errors, scammers attempt to bypass these filters, making it more likely that their messages reach the intended recipients’ inboxes.
2. Targeting the Gullible: Scammers intentionally create messages with errors to target individuals who are less attentive or who may be more likely to fall for scams. They believe that people who overlook such errors may also be less skeptical and more susceptible to fraudulent schemes.
3. Psychological Manipulation: Scammers may use typos and errors to create a sense of urgency, confusion, or panic in recipients. This can pressure individuals into taking hasty actions, such as clicking on malicious links or providing personal information without careful scrutiny.
4. Weeding Out Savvy Recipients: Some scammers use poorly written messages as a form of “pre-qualification.” If someone responds to a message riddled with errors, the scammer may identify them as a potential victim who is less likely to question the legitimacy of the scam.
5. Impersonation: Typos and grammatical errors can make it more difficult for recipients to recognize that the message is fraudulent, especially when scammers attempt to impersonate legitimate organizations or businesses. This increases the chances of the scam being successful.
6. Creating a Sense of Authenticity: Paradoxically, some scammers intentionally include errors to make their messages appear more authentic. They may assume that genuine organizations or individuals are less likely to send perfectly worded, error-free messages, so recipients might not immediately suspect a scam.
7. Targeting Non-Native Speakers: Scammers often target individuals who may not have English as their first language. By sending messages with errors, they may appear more relatable and less suspicious to non-native speakers who themselves might not be proficient in English.

Yet, even the smartest people fall for scams, according to psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, Kendra Cherry. It’s about manipulation and vulnerability. If the scam appears when we’re at our most vulnerable, we’re more likely to fall for it.

The sheer ludicrousness of it all has me baffled.

Who would fall for this?

In 2023, an emailer threatened to release upon an unsuspecting world videos of me enjoying porn videos. Ye gads! Perhaps there is someone out there who might react to such a threat, that I get. Sort of.

But back to the Rev. Margret Orphan? Who would believe this?

One of the Big4 financial consultancies, PwC, posted this a while back:

The marriage of psychology and technology in the realm of social engineering presents a formidable challenge. As the line between the real and the digital continues to blur, so does the line between trust and deception. The onus is on us to remain vigilant, to question the too-good-to-be-true, and to foster a culture of cybersecurity awareness that can withstand the psychological onslaught of social engineering. Do remember that you don’t just win without doing anything and hardly anything comes for free. Be especially careful with links and downloads.

Truthfulness, honesty, sincerity? Tick. Tick. Tick.

What about you, Rev? What about you?

Jason Statham’s 2024 movie The Beekeeper shows the scale of some of these scams. It’s not based on any one incident, but, according to the FBI’s 2022 annual report:

Call centers overwhelmingly target the elderly, with devastating effects. Almost half the victims report to be over 60 (46%), and experience 69% of the losses (over $724 million).

I can see some trusting soul falling for a phone scam like the one in the movie, but Rev. Margret’s email?

It’s simply another, more socially conscious version of the Nigerian Prince letter – and that, even in 2019, was raking in over $700k a year. Not bad money. Not bad at all.

Incredulous.

Incredibly sad.

And seriously grateful that (touch wood) I’ve escaped so far because my guardian angels work 24/7

Note – image is ChatGPT’s answer to what Rev. Margret looks like 🙂