Just when you thought you couldn’t possibly get any more robocalls, you start receiving spam text messages. Yes, this can be frustrating and feel like a true invasion of privacy. According to us.norton.com, while most spam text messages are coming from computers, they’re all likely trying to trick you. “They show up as unwanted and unexpected text messages on our phone screens. That’s aggravating enough, but it gets worse. Whoever is sending you a spam text message is likely trying to defraud you.” With that said, there are steps that you can take to ensure that you are protected against these fraudulent messages.
In this article, we cover:
- The details of spam text messages
- Why spam text messages are harmful
- How to block spam texts on your smartphone
The details of spam text messages
Spam text messages are sneaky and can look confusing on the surface. It’s a sad reality that scammers access your cell phone number in scary ways. Tomsguide.com asserts that “spam messages usually originate from a spammer’s getting hold of your cell number, often via data leaks, the sale of personal data or even simply by random number generation.” Kaspersky.com posits that spam texts are unsolicited, cheap forms of contact since they are generated and sent online. Usually they are sent in bulk and only require a few replies to legitimate their efforts. Not only can they put you at risk of malware on your phone, they are also looking to steal your identity.
Why spam text messages are harmful
Spam texts are harmful for a number of reasons. Tomsguide.com notes that “not only are they annoying, they can also pose a serious security risk — plenty of fishy characters want you to click links or call the numbers they send via scammy text messages in the hopes that they’ll be able to steal your money or personal information (or both).” Ultimately, these scammers are trying to deceive and extract money from you. With that said, it’s important to take careful measures in order to protect yourself from risky behavior.
How to block spam texts on your smartphone
It’s not all that complicated to stop, or rather filter, spam texts on your phone. By following a few basic steps, you can significantly reduce security risk, protect your identity, and get back to doing the things you love.
While YouMail is unable to block spam text messages from being received, we are able to filter them so they do not clutter your Messages app. The YouMail iPhone app would need to be installed on your device for the option to be available. Once installed, please follow the steps here to enable the setting. You can also filter spam texts in the Google Messages app on Android.
In our blog entitled Stop Robotexts: You Don’t Want That Smoke, we noted that you shouldn’t “even bother texting “STOP” to opt out when you don’t recognize the source. A robotexting campaign can be successful simply by eliciting any response. Now they know your number is active and available to pray on by more sophisticated means later. Don’t answer and in fact block the number, whether on iPhone or Android device.”
Ultimately, you’ll want to get yourself a highly effective robocall-blocking app like YouMail to help block and filter spam texts.
