These 3 words in a text message mean you’re being cheated on – here’s why you should delete it immediately

There’s a certain phrase that should be tingling your Spidey senses right now.

This three-word message is one that scammers rely on and can put you at high risk of falling for a scam text: “Kindly.”

It may seem like a friendly or harmless phrase, but your guard should be raised immediately. Even the single word “kindly” should be read as a red flag.

“The word ‘kindly’ is just something we don’t use in our common parlance in the U.S.,” Tim Bajarin, a 40-year veteran technology analyst, told Readers Digest in an interview published Saturday.

You will often hear it used in countries with British influence, perhaps once a colonial country, where English is not their first language. [such as Nigeria, India and Pakistan].â€Â

Because the word “kindly” is used more by a foreign national, it is possible that the message is sent by someone in a “boiler room” overseas to trick you.

“If you see this word or phrase, it’s a red flag, similar to poor spelling or grammar,” added Bajarin, who is also president of the San Jose, Calif.-based market research company Creative. Strategies.

Doug Shadel, founder of Fraud Prevention Strategies and a former fraud investigator and special assistant for the Washington state attorney general’s office, also warned people to be on the lookout for more than just a word, phrase or special spelling errors.

“Indeed, any“The communication you receive is unsolicited — whether it’s a text message or robocall, social media message or email — should make you very suspicious,” he told Reader’s Digest.

“If you haven’t initiated this correspondence, chances are it’s a scam.”

Shadel, who also ran AARP’s fraud watch network for 30 years, explained that these days, fraudsters know consumers are catching on faster than ever before.

But what will drive them to do? Switching tactics.

Now, a new opening message is still presented in a seemingly innocent way, something to the effect of: “Did I miss you today?” “Hello, how are you?” or “I’ll be late.” for the meeting.â€

“When you write to ask who it is or tell them they have the wrong person, they’re going to try to trick you in some way,” Shadel added.

The FTC reports that these conversation starters earn the trust and friendship of consumers. Once the scammer feels they’ve done this, they’ll ask you to invest in cryptocurrency or say they need help and ask you to send them gift cards, but it’s all just a part of fraud.

The general rule is this: Delete text or emails that are unsolicited and report them as spam.

“If it’s a ‘fraudulent’ message, like someone claiming to be from, say, Bank of America or the IRS, never click on the link or attachment,” Shadel warned.

“If you’re not sure if it is [legit]you should independently log into that account with your login and password – not the one sent to you – to see if the institution was really trying to contact you.

Another option is to call the organization at the phone number published on their website to verify that the message was legitimate.

Shadel noted that it’s important to report these fraudulent emails or texts for a reason.

“Law enforcement needs to know the extent of the issue to be able to devote more resources to stopping fraudsters.”