Americans are drowning in spam text messages parading as acquaintances, job opportunities and even government officials.
Many iPhone users have expressed their frustrations about the unwanted messages, with some claiming to have received more than 400 this month alone.
While users can reply with ‘Stop’ to remove themselves from the list, Apple has a little-known hack to prevent unknown senders from texting them directly.
Users can filter the messages to another folder, which means they will not get a notification upon the text’s arrival.
Americans are drowning in political campaign text messages as the November 2024 election approaches
‘Scammers send fake text messages to trick you into giving them your personal information -things like your password, account number, or Social Security number, the Federal Trade Commission shared.
‘If they get that information, they could gain access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Or they could sell your information to other scammers.
Apple already has a system in place for such times – and it lives in Settings.
Users go to Settings, then select Messages and scroll down to Message Filtering where you can turn on ‘Filter Unknown Senders.’
Once the option is toggled on the ‘Filters’ option will appear in iMessage at the top left where all the unwanted text messages will be sent – and users will not receive a notification when they come in.
Another option is to block the sender of the text message, but the individual or bot can spam you from a different number.
Many iPhone users have expressed their frustrations about the unwanted messages, with some claiming to have received more than 400 this month alone
While many of spam messages are trying to trick Americans into handing over their information or money, there is a flood of political messages urging them to vote and pick a side.
One user on X wrote: ‘I fear I will look back on my life from my death bed and regret the sheer amount of time I spent typing ‘stop’ to political text messages.’
The flood of messages is likely due to the Supreme Court loosening requirements in 2021 about getting permission to send mass text messages, Axios reported.
Data has shown that in 2020, the Republican National Convention sent over 225 million texts to drive voters to the polls.
‘Text messages are an important tool but of course, like many people, I am annoyed by how many of them I get and how often I have to send a STOP message,’ Melissa Michelson, a dean at Menlo College, told Time Magazine.
For this year, Republicans again are in the lead over the Democrats when it comes to shooting out campaign messages – the political group has sent double so far.
While users can reply with ‘Stop’ to remove themselves from the list, Apple has a little-known hack to prevent unknown senders from texting them directly
Political messages are not the only ones bothering Americans as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reported that illegal and spoofed robot calls have been top consumer complaints.
‘These include complaints from consumers whose numbers are being spoofed or whose calls are being mistakenly blocked or labeled as a possible scam call by a robocall blocking app or service,’ shared the FCC.
‘Scammers make robocalls that call about your Social Security number, taxes, or Medicare.
‘They say that if you don’t pay or you refuse to give them your personal information, something bad will happen or you’ll miss out on some government benefit. It’s a scam.’
The agency has urged the public not to respond to unknown senders and contact their phone company to help block those calls.