There was no email address to reply to - it says this email was sent automatically and not to reply to it.
I just rang the prefecture to explain and I was asked “what is the email address from which the email was sent”, which is 'pref-sve-sejour@charente-maritime.gouv.fr’. He said that it was authentic.
I’ll send an email to this address and see what happens!
well, that’s good news…
Odd that the email address does not appear in any of the gouv.fr sites… but perhaps it is uniquely for CdS Brexit stuff and not for outside useage.
Also, Rochellle would have highlighted in red as misspelt… when this email was first put together… yet no-one noticed… but probably due to covid/shortage of staff… 
We keep getting emails which turn out to be spam… yet the @…com bit is correct for the site from which they purport to come…
some are so sneaky as to put the correct customer service email address, with just one additional letter (that sort of thing) and the layout of the content, looks so authentic (presumabaly a screenshot from the authentic site.
It’s becoming too easy to be fooled into “push the button”/whatever … without appreciating that this is the last thing one should do…
Which is why close examination of the headers (which are not generally displayed by most email clients) can make it obvious whether email is a scam.
Nowadays, we always look at the headers before doing anything else… which is how we pick up the slight difference between the good and the bad…
Is that the headers you can see (typically subject sender and date) or the headers you can’t see which look more like this:
I’ve sent you a message
Don’t understand much about headers etc but found who I think originally typed the email…Return-Path: karine.chevalier@charente-maritime.gouv.fr …and the reply address…Reply-To: pref-sve-sejour@charente-maritime.gouv.fr. Think the email is authentic.
This is the rest of the info from email…
Return-Path: karine.chevalier@charente-maritime.gouv.fr
Received: from msfrf2610.sfr.fr (msfrf2610.priv.atos.fr [10.18.203.24])
by msfrb1501 with LMTPA;
Wed, 27 Jan 2021 15:15:02 +0100
X-Cyrus-Session-Id: cyrus-224891-1611756902-1-17662149342959252136
X-Sieve: CMU Sieve 3.0
X-Bcc: bruce.weir@sfr.fr
Received: from fimad.interieur.gouv.fr (tigre1-sir.interieur.gouv.fr [92.103.164.16])
by msfrf2610.sfr.fr (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id AAC851C00060B
for n9f000000000000000038454327@back15-mail01-01.sfrmc.priv.atos.fr; Wed, 27 Jan 2021 15:15:02 +0100 (CET)
X-mail-filterd: 1.0.0
X-sfr-mailing: LEGIT
X-sfr-spamrating: 40
X-sfr-spam: not-spam
Authentication-Results: sfr.fr;
spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=karine.chevalier@charente-maritime.gouv.fr smtp.helo=fimad.interieur.gouv.fr;
dkim=none;
dmarc=none reason=“No policy found”
X-sfr-spamcause: OK, (0)(0000)gggruggvucftvghtrhhoucdtuddrgeduledrvdekgdeitdcutefuodetggdotefrodftvfcurfhrohhfihhlvgemucfuhfftiffrpdevhhgvtghkvefgpdggtffipffkpdggtfgfnhhsuhgsshgtrhhisggvnecuuegrihhlohhuthemuceftddunecunecujfgurhepggfhrhfutgfkvfffsegrtderredttdejnecuhfhrohhmpefrrhmnvkhfucevhhgrrhgvnhhtvgdqofgrrhhithhimhgvuccuoehprhgvfhdqshhvvgdqshgvjhhouhhrsegthhgrrhgvnhhtvgdqmhgrrhhithhimhgvrdhgohhuvhdrfhhrqeenucggtffrrghtthgvrhhnpeduuedvveffffellefhieevtefhleefueelffdujeehgeefudegjeetfeetgeehtdenucfkphepledvrddutdefrdduieegrdduieenucevlhhushhtvghrufhiiigvpedtnecurfgrrhgrmhephhgvlhhopehfihhmrggurdhinhhtvghrihgvuhhrrdhgohhuvhdrfhhrpdhinhgvthepledvrddutdefrdduieegrdduiedpmhgrihhlfhhrohhmpehkrghrihhnvgdrtghhvghvrghlihgvrhestghhrghrvghnthgvqdhmrghrihhtihhmvgdrghhouhhvrdhfrhdprhgtphhtthhopegsrhhutggvrdifvghirhesshhfrhdrfhhr
Received: from fimad.interieur.gouv.fr (tigre1-sir.interieur.gouv.fr [92.103.164.16])
(using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits))
(No client certificate requested)
by msfrf2610.sfr.fr (SMTP Server) with ESMTPS id 8EB271C000603
for bruce.weir@sfr.fr; Wed, 27 Jan 2021 15:15:02 +0100 (CET)
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: Préf Charente-Maritime pref-sve-sejour@charente-maritime.gouv.fr
Reply-To: pref-sve-sejour@charente-maritime.gouv.fr
Subject: Réponse à votre courrier du 16-12-2020
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="=_e3d7e959b85252a373fe80847572e55d"
Message-ID: <qnljl1.cf7cgk@>
To: bruce.weir@sfr.fr
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2021 15:15:01 +0100 (CET)
I can’t tell you how many official emails we’ve received with spelling mistakes. One of OH’s hobbies is spotting them!
Don’t forget, these people are SO flat out trying to get not only the WA CDS but all the other ones too (which in many cases are of far larger number than the WAs). I am careful at work but yeah sometimes I look back at a mail and think ‘oops typo there’! We are all only human.
In this case it looks like it.
Delving into headers is interesting as they reveal (amongst other stuff) the path taken through the internet. The headers are often forged by the spammers with the result that they just look wrong, or the originator is clearly wrong for the supposed sender.
You probably need to be an email geek to want to gow digging though.
regarding the typos… I would think the email content is a standard format… used for mail shots… which is why I would have expected the fixed content (ie Prefecture address/town) to be written correctly… (but we’re all human…)
The only inputting for each email would be the recipient’s name and info…
Unless someone truly is typing out 250,000 individual emails (or whatever the correct figure is… )
Perhaps they are…
ours is quite different
Madame, Monsieur KITE,
Je vous informe qu’afin de pouvoir faire produire vos titres de séjour, nous devons impérativement procéder à la prise d’empreintes biométrique.
En conséquence, merci de bien vouloir vous présenter ensemble à la préfecture le :
Mardi 1er Décembre 2020 à 09h40 (Cité administrative DUPERRE – 5, place des Cordeliers à La Rochelle)
Vous voudrez bien vous munir impérativement :
de la présente lettre
de votre passeport
de 3 photos d’identités
Consignes sanitaires particulières d’accès du public à la Cité administrative DUPERRE
Vous vous présenterez, avec votre convocation, au plus 5 minutes avant l’horaire prévu afin de réduire leur temps d’attente à l’extérieur des locaux, en raison de la limitation de la capacité du hall d’accueil à 10 personnes . Il vous est demandé de venir avec un masque de protection et vous munir de votre propre stylo NOIR.
Je vous prie d’agréer, Madame, Monsieur KITE, l’expression de ma considération distinguée.
What a lovely, traditional-style letter! I do like those closing sentences…
I believe that was at the root of the Challenger disaster - a mixture of metric and imperial measurements.
yes they all seem very different! i have now seen request for 1 photo (here in Dordogne), 2 and now 3!!!
1 here in Herault (34).
Ha ha… that is definitely suspect… asking for 3 photos… ??? 
Perigueux Prefecture only asked for 1 photo… from what I have heard.
Frankly, I reckon Bruce was right to think carefully about the email…
especially since all the major players are warning us folk to look out for “oddities” in the content of any email we receive … and incorrect spelling is one of the things they say to look out for…
However, all’s well that ends well… 
Perhaps there are so few Brits in that Department that things can be handled more personally… sounds a nice idea… individual emails and individual chats on the phones to reorganize appointments or query the validity of the email… …
The Dordogne Prefecture offered “xxxxx” email address to use in case of query etc… which I am give to understand has worked very well, for those souls who needed to make contact to change/cancel the offered appointment.
There are obviously discrepancies between Departments, but so long as we all get the CdS we need… that’s the main thing. phew…
[quote=“smw, post:42, topic:32763”]
but probably due to covid/shortage of staff
[/quote]