It’s becoming so common to receive iPhone scam texts and phone calls that many of us just prepare ourselves to field a few each day. What’s most alarming: these scammers come off as pretty convincing. They may identify a place you’ve shopped recently (or take a wild guess at it based on your demographic) and send you a message letting you know you owe money or that something is wrong with your order. They can also be simple and conversational — a “Hi, how are you?” that piques your curiosity and makes you want to respond and find out who is sending you such a lovely message.
But that’s how scammers hook you in. They quickly swap pleasantries for questions that aim to get your person information and data so that they can use it against you.
One such scam that is making headlines these days is nothing more than a three-word text you might get. “It’s a red flag, Tim Bajarin, a 40-year veteran technology analyst told Reader’s Digest.
Be aware when you see these words in your next text.
“Would You Kindly”
It sounds innocent and even “kind,” but receiving a text that starts off with or includes the phrase “Would you kindly” is a sign that something is amiss on the other end of your phone.
According to Bajarin, “You’ll often hear it used in countries with British influence, perhaps once a colonial country, where English isn’t their mother tongue [such as Nigeria, India and Pakistan].” Because this word is common in other places, it could be a sign that the message is being sent from an overseas “boiler room” with the purpose of scamming you.
Any unsolicited text, robocall, or social media message should raise the flags for you, but when these messages include words not commonly used in the U.S. or that have spelling and lots of grammatical mistakes, this is a strong sign that the person or company the sender claims they are or are from is not the truth. Never click on a link sent to you via an unsolicited email or text and always delete and/or report these messages — don’t write back.
