In the last few days I have started getting a couple of spam texts every day. They go out to about 20 numbers, it appears, and they are being sent from random gmail accounts. The address list takes the form of [email protected] and [email protected] and the text will be a simple link to some dating or similar site.
Of course I block the email account but then I just get more from different random gmail accounts.
Is there any reliable way to stop these?
Yeah, I got those for a while, and it’s super frustrating that there aren’t really any tools to detect and block text spammers like there are for email spammers. Blocking a text source takes so many clicks on iPhone, for example.
I haven’t gotten one for a while though.
I’ve had this happen a few times, what I do is block every email/phone in the group and then mute the conversation. It probably won’t stop more in the future, but it will at least stop idiots that reply in that chain, and it can’t hurt.
If you don’t normally get/need to get texts via email like this you can block all ‘texts from the web’ or ‘texts from email’ in your Verizon account settings. Sorry, I’m not logged into their site right now to give the exact path to the setting, but I believe it still exists.
Did you forget to renew your car’s extended warranty?
LOL! At least one or two of those calls a day. I have Verizon’s spam catcher but for fun I installed Robo Killer or whatever it is. I was happy with how it handled the warranty spam calls but it was too aggressive even after adjusting settings and I was missing calls from my doctor, bank, etc.
Texts from email?
Yeah, most carriers have an email address that you can use to send texts to a number.
Pretty sure that’s not a thing here (other than via paid third party services that take your email and actually text the message). Seems like an invitation to spam.
Well… kinda, as we see here :)
I’ve gotten two in WhatsApp this past week all of sudden after zero in last few years.
Wow, some actual prosecutions for text scams:
I went into my Verizon account settings and set it to block texts from email. Yet they continue to come in. Always 20 other recipients and coming from a random gmail account.
Even after going into MyVerizon and setting the option to block texts from email, I get several texts a day (and night) that go to 20 people (every time) with it looking like random Verizon phone numbers, always from a different gmail account. So the “block texts from emails” hasn’t worked at all.
There was a second setting that was block texts from the web, so I checked that one also. My concern is whether that is going to inadvertently block legit texts (what legit texts would you get from the web?)
I got a text from an unknown number last week (area code 424) that read “I’m going to San Francisco for vacation in April. Do you still live in the Bay Area?” This could be any of a number of real people, but I answered “Who is this?” and have gotten no reply. Where’s the scam?
Your phone number is now on a list of numbers that are confirmed to have a human on the other side who is willing to reply to random texts.