A SALUTARY TALE

My cell phone signalled that I had received a text message.  The message invited me to claim a sum of money for my car accident.   There was the usual guidance to text  'yes' or 'no'.  I asked my insurance company if they had passed on my details to accident chasers.  Was the text, I was asked, suggesting I could obtain X number of pounds sterling if I claimed?  To my surprise, the question mirrored my message .  This person had received the same text, she said.  I was advised to delete it and not reply, as there was no knowing from where messages emanated; it could be a costly reply.   I was profoundly disturbed by this news as I had already replied, with a 'No'.  It was the very first time I had received a scam text and I fell for it because of the lack of experience and because it fitted circumstances that were not so distant in the past.  

On my bill were three calls outwith the cell phone package charges. One I recognised the other two were expensive  0870 phone  numbers, and I puzzled over them.   A bit of research showed, to my amazement, that these numbers were based in France!  I had been charged for receiving a text and I was charged a higher  amount for transmitting a response saying, 'No'.  

Your cell phone tells you there is a text message to open, so, that's what you normally do.  I have received yet another one of the text messages, and unfortunately, I opened it, though, this time I immediately deleted it.  In all probability I will be charged for receiving the message.  I now feel I can no longer freely open any text message I receive.  In future, I will have to treat all text messages as suspicious.