Literacies of Spam

Savvy western internet users are aware of the language of spam and the often broken English indicative of ESL composers so much so that it has become a trope of “419” scam and its original rise from Nigeria where scammers were once free of international extortion laws. Most famously, this is associated with the Nigerian Prince scam that attempts to ply on users' greed and ignorance of Nigerian politics. As Schaffer notes, this trope became a staple of these early scams as a way to make the user feel superior to the sender (164). She also notes the heavy usage of other words used to increase the credibility of the sender: “urgent,” “business,” “please,” and various forms of “assistance,” among others (165). This diction works to have an effect of trust upon the user, as they see the mistakes the scammers are making and consider their humanity. This literacy was one that early scammers used to their advantage, but it eventually also became a clear indication of a scammer as users developed their own literacies out of recognition when these scams became more circulated.

As Viswamohan et al. note, a newer strategy of scammers is to combine formal language with “emotive and dramatic rhetorical devices” (3) so that Western users will look past the ESL issues and not recognize the tropes they've learned to associate with “419” scams. They also point out the technique of placing the onus of building trust upon the user by establishing a curiosity in the reader to respond to the message (8). This shows another advancement in the literacies that scammers and users engage in, as it has built upon the previous knowledges users have learned about typical “419” scams.