Have you been receiving unsolicited political texts lately?

[Annie_M]

I have! In the last two days I have received at least one political text per day. This is driving me crazy. It’s bad enough that people are receiving spam calls on our cell phones, on our landline‘s, spam emails, and now they’re texting us. I have no idea how they got my number but I wanted to stop so I’ve done some sleuthing on how to make that happen.

Since I am on AT&T I started with them first. “To report a spam SMS message received on your iPhone, you can forward the text to the number SPAM (7726). AT&T will reply with a text asking for the phone number of the person who sent the spam text message. Reply with the phone number and that's it.”

This works!

Edited to Add: After reading further, this seems to work for Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint as well!

 

[nikkisharif]

I have! In the last two days I have received at least one political text per day. This is driving me crazy. It’s bad enough that people are receiving spam calls on our cell phones, on our landline‘s, spam emails, and now they’re texting us. I have no idea how they got my number but I wanted to stop so I’ve done some sleuthing on how to make that happen.

Since I am on AT&T I started with them first. “To report a spam SMS message received on your iPhone, you can forward the text to the number SPAM (7726). AT&T will reply with a text asking for the phone number of the person who sent the spam text message. Reply with the phone number and that's it.”

This works! More later...

I just received my first one today, and it’s quite annoying....especially since I haven’t lived in that state for years.

 

[Just_Me_D]

I haven’t gotten any yet, but I get a ton of spam phone calls (health insurance) mostly via my work number, but since I have the Vonage Business app on my iPhone, those calls also go to it. A few of the calls are to my personal number. The robocallers are spoofing numbers from everywhere.

 

[Lee_Bo]

Go to https://www.donotcall.gov/ and make sure your cell phone is registered. Then you can start reporting the calls and text messages.

Will it make a difference? I don't think so. Been reporting them for years and it still happens.

 

[Dgray2712]

Luckily, no. Also have been avoiding the robocalls. But, I do have RoboKiller, so, they won’t get through anyway.

 

[MasterDarque]

I haven’t gotten any yet, but I get a ton of spam phone calls (health insurance)...

I’ve gotten one once or twice regarding health care, but the majority of the ones that I have gotten are for refinancing student loans (those days are WAY behind me), or for car warranties...
I have a dummy contact that I assign them to, and I have that contact blocked. But, of course, there’s always a new ‘local’ number that I eventually get called from again, and then I repeat the process over for that number. I did receive some random text recently asking if I would help volunteer for campaigning, it was from no one I knew, addressed to a different first name from mine...

 

[ladyc0524]

I’ve gotten at least three texts and a bunch of phone calls. This is so irritating

 

[Trees]

Received quite a few the past few weeks, some addressed to me, and others addressed to one of my daughters - but texted to my mobile number.

When they first started appearing, I think I may have made a mistake by blocking the number, and when doing so that may put the text in "read" state.

So I just started deleting them outright. Seem to have tapered off this week, none so far.

 

[Spencerdl]

I received one so far and I personally think this should be illegal.

 

[nikkisharif]

I received one so far and I personally think this should be illegal.

^THIS

 

[Annie_M]

I entered my number donotcall.gov a couple of years ago. I agree with @Lee_Bo, I don't think it does much good, but it can't hurt either. I have blocked the numbers as well.

 

[MasterDarque]

Yup, just got another text... I responded that they should go play in traffic...

 

[Trees]

I spoke too soon. Another yesterday. Deleted. Maybe they will stop after election day.

 

[Spencerdl]

Yup, just got another text... I responded that they should go play in traffic...

LMBO...definitely my next response.

 

[Ledsteplin]

I haven't received any at all. Just some fliers in the snail mail.

 

[Tpence2177]

I haven't received any at all. Just some fliers in the snail mail.

None for me either. Maybe it’s a regional thing. I know we are both in Alabama right? Not complaining though that’s for sure.

 

[Garz]

Go to https://www.donotcall.gov/ and make sure your cell phone is registered. Then you can start reporting the calls and text messages.

Will it make a difference? I don't think so. Been reporting them for years and it still happens.

This does no good these days.

 

[Dgray2712]

This does no good these days.

You’re right. According to that site, my number is listed. But, they still call. It’s best to get a call blocking app.

 

[dieseldude]

I have only received one text like that. What I mostly get are just spam text for different services or items. It’s almost like we need a spam folder for text like we have in email.

 

[Ledsteplin]

None for me either. Maybe it’s a regional thing. I know we are both in Alabama right? Not complaining though that’s for sure.

Yep. Florence, Alabama.