Have you ever opened a letter thinking it's a personal note only to realize it's actually robot mail? This happens a lot more often than you may think. Companies are purchasing machines that can cost up to five figures to reproduce very human-looking business Christmas cards and greeting cards. The loving handwritten touch encourages people to open up the letters rather than just tossing them into the junk pile. Fortunately, there are ways to spot a real handwritten letter and a similarly crafted intruder. Here's how you can distinguish between a real letter and a fake one:

1. Letter strokes
Look at the strokes of each letter on the page. Sometimes you might come across a letter where there is less ink, possibly due to the pen being too light on the paper. With robot letters, you'll notice that the amount of ink used is even throughout each word on the paper – a clear sign of an automated press.

2. Consistently dotted "i"
Next, look at the dots on each "i." In a letter written by an actual human, you'll notice that the placement of the dots is typically irregular. A robot note, however, places the dots in the exact same spot over every "i."

3. Neat margins
The final characteristic of a robot letter is margins that appear too neat or straight. When you write a handwritten letter, the beginning of each line doesn't usually start in the exact same location (as much as you might try to make that happen). Robots, however, are programmed to space out words to achieve clean and even margins.