Do normal people write like this?

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 06 Feb 2011 Posts: 10

I am having some trouble trying to weed out real people from fake ones. We all know that there are some legitimate people living in the US, etc. that may have moved from another country and can't speak the language or write properly, but when there are so many people doing this you have to wonder.

So I want to be sure once and for all. If someone writes with improper spacing with their commas, not once by mistake, but a bunch of times, can I pretty much be about 99% sure they are a scammer?

Here is an example:

Quote:

I am a vibrant, unique 24 year old who enjoys getting out. I enjoy listening to music,(mostly country and pop)and I love to go to concerts. I also enjoy bowling,eating out,going to the mall,and watching DVD's. My ideal guy will be hard working,able to drive,kind,with a good sense of humor.I just moved to Florida from Upstate New York and am looking to make friends here. I have never been married and I don't have children. I am not sure about a long term relationship at this point, but who knows if the right guy were to come along.

Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 9:07 pm

I would put more stock in their use of language than in their punctuation. Non-native English speakers are more likely to phrase things awkwardly or use words in an unusual way. What I see in the selection you quoted is a lazy typist. There are lots of other, more reliable, telltales of scammers, too. See the stickies for examples.

Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 9:42 pm

Googled the text (parts) and there are no copies around on the WWW, guess do the right thing and move on to others

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:13 am

Spacing around commas can be an indicator (people in some countries do seem to believe that a comma replaces a space) but it could also be as simple as typing the profile on a phone, using a font that makes it difficult to identify whether there is a space. It's one of those signs that can only be considered in conjunction with other factors. You have to look at it in the context of the entire profile.

For example, some searching on that verbiage led me to this profile: http://www.plentyoffish.com/viewprofile.aspx?profile_id=1393064

Looking at the profile, the photos are not professional or particularly sexy (Scammer is more likely to have at least one sexy photo--e.g. swimsuit or lingerie), the age range (20-30) she is looking for is appropriate for her age (a scammer would have a much higher upper limit), and she doesn't claim to be searching for a long-term relationship (a scammer would either be looking for a long-term relationship, or would be very willing to do anything...)

Based on this overall look, this does not appear to be a fake profile.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 18 May 2011 Posts: 17

It looks like the person has a native command of American dialect, but simply has poor writing/typing mechanics. That is actually fairly well written, compared to a lot of the "real" people you see on dating sites.

Non-native speakers tend to mess up subject/verb agreement, verb tenses, pluralization, and usage of articles and personal pronouns.

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 7:01 pm

googled again
www.plentyoffish.com/member1393064.htm ?

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