TRADECRAFT: Clumsy French spy sends text message to the radical Islamist he was keeping tabs on.

Anyone who has accidently sent a text message to the wrong person might have some sympathy with a member of the French intelligent services who landed himself in trouble with his bosses this week.

The man, who works for the central territorial intelligence services (SCRT) had been keeping tabs on a suspected Islamist extremist.

He wanted to send a text containing important intelligence on his target to a colleague.

But the spy got all his phone numbers mixed up and accidentally sent it to the very suspect he had been closely monitoring.

The “target” was reportedly quick to respond to the message, reminding the spy of how incompetent he had been. And to make matters worse he was able to warn those he had been contact with that they too were probably being listened to.

You might find that just adding headshots to your contacts prevents sending messages to the wrong people, but you’re probably not in the spy biz.