Greensboro Reporter

Authorities are warning Guildford County residents to be wary of a text message that's been going viral recently.

According to WFMY News 2, many people have been getting a text with a picture of an unknown woman from an unknown number, and law enforcement recommends that the best action is to delete it immediately, as responding to it may give spammers your phone number.

Some residents are concerned that if you reply, your location can be tracked by scammers, but this is untrue.

"It's a spam text message," President of Trinity Solutions Ron Pierce told WFMY 2. "It's kind of one of those social myths; it gets circulated every now and then. This one has been going around since at least 2020, and maybe even a little before. Then it used to be just the whole sex trafficking angle, but now it's, 'Watch out, they could track you.' It's a lie. They can't track you by responding to the text or clicking anything like that."

Pierce says if you get messages from unknown numbers or unknown people, his advice is to never give out personal information or just delete the message and don't respond at all.

Some recipients think the picture may be attached to a sex trafficking ploy, but area law enforcement agencies couldn't confirm that theory.