Bad Grammar Best Clue to Bogus Offers

If you don't want your hard-earned money to fly away on the next bogus scheme for easy riches, keep a sharp eye out for messages written in poor grammar. Whether these come from faraway places like Nigeria or a remote village in the UK or just some basement near you, they are usually created by people who didn't bother to learn how to communicate well and people who use phrases that are not natural to American English.

Here is a choice example I received recently. It claims to be from Bank of America and even includes a "Click here to continue" link and a link to "sign in to Online Banking." If I were to click on either of these spots, I am sure I would be asked to provide sensitive security information that could then be used to empty my account. Before scrolling on down, see how many errors you can spot in this message:

...We are unable to active your account because we have upgraded our online services, we are sorry for that but you have to reactive your BofA online bank account to be able to send and recive money online.....Your account might be place on restricted status....To lift up this restriction, you need to login into your account (with your username or SSN and your password)....All restricted accounts have their billing information unconfirmed, meaning that you may no longer send money from your account until you have reactive your billing information on file.

How many errors or oddities did you spot? I've reprinted the same message below with the corrections in red:

...We are unable to activate your account because we have upgraded our online service. We are sorry for this inconvenience, but you must reactivate your BofA online account to be able to send and receive money online....Your account might be placed on restricted status....To cancel this restriction, you need to login to your account (with your username or SSN and your password)....All restricted accounts have their billing information unconfirmed, meaning that you may no longer send money from your account until youhave reactivated your billing information on file.

Beware the bank notice that is filled with errors like the ones above.

NOTE: If you are a regular reader of this blog, I apologize for the almost three-week hiatus in posts. I had to be away and did not have good access to the Internet. Hopefully, I can resume a regular posting schedule now.