Possibly the code-like characters are to get past Spam filters and entice humans.

As empty content is a little suspicious and might get an email blocked, they may be putting random characters into the text to fool the machine.

More. One way of detecting spam is to score suspicious words in the text, sending email to the spam folder whenever some total is exceeded. Spam word examples: dollars, prize, earn, guaranteed, promise, free, bonus, money, extra, promotion, deal, special etc, and phrases like 'once in a lifetime'.

Reading random characters, a computer spam filter won't find any words that add to the spam score, and the weirdness might intrigue a human enough to follow the link.

Dave

My advice would be to avoid like the plague.

Delete, and then delete from the Trash box.

Some of these "Become a millionaire in a month" sites are there to tempt the greedy and unwary.

Some of the obvious scam messages received have had Russian suffixes. ALWAYS, in my view, dodgy.

Howard

You and I can't easily change our sender addresses, but it's trivial for an expert to set up an email server that can, or to write a special client. So the senders address on an email can be whatever the sender wants it to be. As there's no central directory of valid email addresses that can be checked the fake address only needs to be in the correct format, viz: name@domain

When the sting is an internet link, the bad-guys change the sender address to avoid blacklists. But they have to use a real email address when the scam involves replying to the email.

Computer security is analogous to what house-breakers do. They check the street out for secluded houses with no alarm and a reasonable escape route. Empty houses are preferred because occupants and dogs are mean trouble. Open windows and keys hidden in flower pots etc. are helpful. Wooden frames and older double glazing units are easier to penetrate than modern. If the front is too public, try the back and exploit anything the owner has left lying about: garden forks and spades are handy. All these methods have a computer equivalent.

It's not dead easy to hack a computer or fool the owner though. Quite difficult to craft a completely convincing fake email and reading them carefully is usually enough to spot a wrong 'un. However, they rely on coincidence: if you happen to be sorting out a problem with Amazon, your Bank, HRMC or Pharmacy and an apparently related email arrives you might well fall for it. As millions of fake emails can be sent very cheaply, it's only necessary for criminals to catch a tiny percentage off guard to make a profit. About a third of UK crime by value is fraud. Be alert! (Britain needs Lerts.)

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 28/10/2021 11:24:51

Get loads of these at work (yes 79 years old and still working) sometime ago there were a lot of what looked like random extracts from medical research reports.

Bill D.