Chitchanok Naksawat. An ESP genre analysis of business scam emails. Master's Degree(English for Business and Industry Communication (English Program)). King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok. Central Library. : King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, 2014.
Abstract:
At the start of the 21st century and globalization, the role of English in international communication has rapidly risen. Not only does the language become a medium of communication for worldwide business professionals, but it also catches scammers eyes, being used to swindle us by means of deception or fraud. Genre analysis mainly involves examining such written documents as research articles, medical records, law documents, or business correspondence. To analyze fraudulent writings through this analysis is quite rare in the literature. Hence, the major purpose of this study is to seek out scammers real intention hidden in the scam email messages through analysis of the emails internal structure. Based on the moves and steps schematic structure model of Swales (2004), fifty Nigerian 419 scam emails were sampled to identify the rhetorical structure and the communicative purposes of the messages. A comparison was further made between the indentified genres of 419 emails and those of business English emails. A textual analysis was finally conducted for exploring persuasion strategies scam writers exploited to achieve their deceitful intentions. The study reveals five moves that contain communicative purposes of lies and deceit, establishing the genre of Nigerian 419 scam emails. Furthermore, three moves that contribute to this genres adaptations of the business email genre are unveiled. Finally, seven persuasion strategies scam writers employ as an unethical tool to gain the victims confidence in deceptive messages are also disclosed. Although a unique structure of 419 emails has been found, writing this kind of email is definitely not recommended. Instead, its identified schematic structure serves as a precaution for pre-business professionals in school and present business professionals at work. Messages in such business email look alike should be interpreted with extreme caution.