The Dalai Llama has said that his religion is very simple – it is kindness.  And certainly we all could use a bit more kindness in our lives, however, when the word “kindly” appears in an email or text message that you receive, it can be a tip off that you are being contacted by a scammer or identity thief based in a country other than the United States, particularly countries that were once part of the British Empire where they have adopted the use of British speech patterns.  According to Tim Bajarin, the chairman of the market research company Creative Strategies in an interview with Reader’s Digest, ‘You’ll often hear it used in countries with British influence, perhaps once a colonial country, where English isn’t their mother tongue.” Nigeria, for instance, a hub of international scams was a British colony from 1900 until 1960 and the British influence is still strong there.

So when you get an email or a text message that appears to be from a governmental agency such as the IRS or a company such as Amazon that uses the word “kindly” in a communication requesting a payment, personal information or asking you to click on a link or download an attachment under any pretense, you should immediately remember BS, be skeptical.

TIPS

It is a simple matter for a scammer to use spoofing to manipulate your Caller ID and make a phone call appear to come from a legitimate source.  Similarly  phishing emails and text messages can also appear to be sent by legitimate sources when the source is a criminal.  Therefore you should never make a payment, click on a link, download an attachment or make a payment in response to any communication unless you have absolutely confirmed that the communication was legitimate.

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