Hello! Hope you are doing well. I read one of your papers while browsing Academia.edu and was very impressed by your unique perspective and clear and rigorous arguments in this research. I am also very interested in this research direction, so I sent you an email, hoping to discuss it with you in detail.
Thank you for taking the time to read this email, and I look forward to your reply.
With best regards
Svia
I’ve many research papers on various subjects on Academia.edu, but this respondent omits to mention which one they’re referring to. I don’t think that’s a human error, so assume it’s some sort of bot.
I’ll probably eventually send a short courteous reply just in case it’s actually a slightly stupid human, but in the meantime, I’d be grateful for any thoughts or insights
As you suggest, this sounds like a Bot… says just enough to get your interest but not enough (ie no detail) to be for real.
If you reply, it shows you are responding to their vague approach… hmmm.
You might appear as “an easy mark” for future dodgy stuff.
A real person, might wonder why no reply is received, check what they had sent (curse inwardly) and send a follow-up email with proper details, identifying themselves and the papers which have interested them… etc…
EDIT: Good point @NotALot
by responding to the “vague email” you are confirming that the Email Address is correct for the person who is linked to Academia etc etc etc ie YOU
I’ve been talking with OH about your email and just tapped on Spam to see if we’ve had any odd emails…
Lo and behold the mail shown below came in on 20th May and my computer put it straight in Spam !! So I never even saw it arrive.
Have I missed my chance to be a Winner ???
No idea, but I’m happy with my life as it is, so not taking any chances…
"
My name is, Mrs. Mavis Wanczyk, the mega winner of Seven Hundred Fifty-Eight Million in Mega Millions Jackpot, I am donating to 5 random individuals if you get this email then your email was selected after a spin ball. I have spread most of my wealth over a number of charities and organizations. I have voluntarily decided to donate the Sum of Three Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars to you as one of the selected 5.
THIS IS YOUR DONATION CODE: XY249
Reply back with your donation code
Best Regards,
Mrs. Mavis L. Wanczyk
"
EDIT having done a little digging, this email actually comes from Bangladesh
@DrMarkH You might want to remove "Svia"s email address from your post, just in case any of us are tempted to reply to her on your behalf.
I make it a rule to ignore any email that purports to be from a professional but which has a generic GMail or similar address.
Especially where the first names don’t match (Svia / Sophia).
Lazy scammer I suspect.
Nope you’ve missed your chance to get scammed. Had you replied, the lovely Mavis would probably ask you to send a couple of hundred dollars for “courier fees” in order to send your “winnings” to you.
Stick your email address into haveibeenpwned.com if you want to know if your email has been in a data breach - but, be warned, it’s rather depressing reading.
Thanks for that - just checked and nothing is amiss.
I assume I was contacted through the academia.edu messaging facility. If someone downloads a paper, they can send a message to the author explaining their interest. Suspect someone/thing in Phnom Penh
I hope this email finds you well. This is [a generic name], a researcher from Journal Developing Consulting Co.Ltd.
I am writing to ask whether you are interested in publication collaborations. I came across your academic publications, and I was impressed with the quality of your work. I believe that we share similar research interests, so I would like to explore the possibility of collaborating with you on some upcoming publication needs.
Our team has been working on the publication of academic papers, and we are looking for someone with your expertise to help suggest some high-impact journals for publication and also follow the review process until acceptance. We understand that this process can be time-consuming and demanding, and we would like to offer you remuneration for your work and time on this. We believe that your input would be invaluable in improving the quality of our publications and increasing their chances of acceptance.
If you are interested in collaborating with us, please let me know, and we can discuss the details further. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to hearing back from you soon.
I have a couple of co-authorships on Academia.edu but thankfully used an old Yahoo email address that I only use now as a kind of burner email when I expect lots of spam. I log on every few weeks, mainly to clear the junk, the vast majority of which is relating to Academia.edu. Often semi-genuine - informing me of new work from previous co-authors but if I do click anything on the few occasions I have been interested I get invited to subscribe. I should really delete this account.
I get a lot of messages urging me to return to Premium, but it’s relatively expensive and I no longer need it. OTOH I want to keep my free account as I have a lot of publications on there and I want to see who’s been reading what and ,r checking out my profile
