How to Block Text Messages? Say Goodbye to Spam

At a Glance

UGH! Spam text messages, drunk texts from your ex, robospam, phishing texts, “lucky winner” texts, “sorry, wrong number” texts, it’s enough to make you turn off your smartphone! Luckily, there are ways to never see these messages ever again by blocking them.

What Are Spam Text Messages?

Spam text messages are text messages from numbers you don’t recognize. Nowadays, if you receive a text message from a number that you (or your phone) don’t recognize, there is a very good chance that the message is a spam message.

Besides not recognizing the number, the most obvious trait of spam messages is that they include a link. These links usually lead to a phishing site, where bad actors will try to get you to buy into a financial or other type of scam.

Another popular use for spam texts is a link to a site that contains malware, which can infect your device, allowing the scammers to have access to your phone’s treasure trove of information. It could also contain spyware, which can monitor your device’s keyboard, sending everything you type to the scammers, including your login information for your banking and other accounts.

Why Is Blocking Spam Text Messages Important?

Blocking spam messages can help protect your privacy by keeping your personal and financial information out of the hands of the bad actors of the world. The less the bad guys know about you, the tougher it is to steal your money or valuable personal info.

Spam texts are usually from scammers looking to infect your device with viruses and malware, in an attempt to gain access to your personally identifiable information, including your Social Security number, your credit card or bank account numbers, your date of birth, and more.

Why Am I Receiving Spam Messages?

There are several reasons that scammers can get their grubby paws on your phone number providing a way to send spam texts.

You could be receiving spam messages because:

• Your cell phone number is listed on your social media accounts.
• You may have previously replied to spam messages.
• You initiated a call to a toll-free number in the past.
• A website or app where you have entered your cell phone number has suffered a data breach.
• Data brokers have gotten their hands on your personal info and are now selling it.

Okay, so now that I know how scammers may have obtained my information, how do I block a text message?

How to Block, Filter, and Report Spam Texts on Your iPhone

You can easily block, filter, and report spam texts in the iPhone Messages app. (This also works on your iPad.) This is how to stop spam, or at least it’s a good start.

Block Messages From a Person or Number on Your iPhone

1. In the Messages conversation, tap the number or name at the top of the conversation.
2. Tap the info button (it looks like a circle with a silhouette in it), scroll down, and then tap “Block This Caller.”

You can view and manage your list of blocked names and numbers by going to “Settings” -> “Messages” -> “Blocked Contacts.”

Filter Messages From Unknown Senders on Your iPhone

You can also filter messages from unknown senders, so you won’t receive notifications from them.

Go to “Settings” -> “Messages,” then scroll down to “Message Filtering,” then turn on “Filter Unknown Senders.”

When this setting is enabled, you will only see messages from people who are not listed in your contacts by going to “Filters” -> “Unknown Senders.”

One happy side effect of doing this is you won’t be able to open any links in a message from an unknown sender until the sender is added to your contacts or if you send a reply to the message.

Report Spam or Junk Messages on Your iPhone

You can easily report spam messages to Apple, which definitely helps to block spam texts.

In the Messages app, view your messages list, then touch and hold on the spam message and then tap on “Report Junk.” If you’re already viewing the message, scroll to the bottom of the message, then tap “Report Junk,” then tap “Delete and Report Junk.”

This sends the sender’s information and the message directly to Apple. The message is then permanently deleted from your iPhone.

Keep in mind that reporting spam or junk does not prevent the other party from sending you messages, so you’ll also want to block the number or sender to prevent this.

How to Unblock a Number on Your iPhone?

Apple allows iPhone users to easily manage their blocked phone numbers and contacts, there is more than one way to unblock a number on your iPhone.

Using the Settings App to Unblock a Number on Your iPhone

You can unblock a number with just a few taps.

1. Open the Settings app. (It’s the gray icon with a gear on it.)
2. Tap “Messages.”
3. Tap “Blocked Contacts.”
4. In the upper-right-hand corner, you’ll see the “Edit” button. Tap it.
5. You’ll see a red “-” icon appear to the left of the blocked contacts.
6. Tap the red “-” icon on the number you want to unblock.
7. A red “Unblock” button will appear on the right side of the number. Tap it and the number will be unblocked.

Using the Messages App to Unblock a Number on Your iPhone

1. Open the Messages app.
2. Scroll down until you see the conversation with the person or number you want to unblock.
3. Tap that conversation.
4. Tap that person’s contact photo or gray person icon.
5. Tap the “Info” icon under the person’s name or number.
6. In the menu that appears, tap “Unblock this Caller.”

The number will be unblocked, and you’ll once again begin receiving messages from this number.

How to Block Spam Texts on Android-Operated Phones?

There are also multiple ways to block spam texts on your Android phone. (These instructions are for Android 10, the process may vary slightly when using older or earlier Android versions.)

Blocking Text Messages Through Google Messages

1. On your Android device, open the Messages app.
2. Touch and hold down on the conversation you wish to report.
3. Tap “Block” -> “Report Spam” -> “OK.”

Blocking Text Messages Through the Contacts App

1. On your Android device, open the Contacts app.
2. Tap the contact you wish to block.
3. On the contact’s screen, tap the three vertical dots in the upper-right-hand corner.
4. In the menu that appears, tap “BlockNumbers.”
5. On the screen that appears, first make sure that the “Report as Spam” checkbox is checked, then tap “Block.”

In both cases, the contact will be reported as spam and the message is moved to your “Spam & blocked” folder, thereby blocking text messages from this number.

How to Unblock a Number on Your Android Phone

1. On your Android phone, open the Phone app.
2. Tap the three vertical dots in the upper-right-hand corner.
3. Tap “Settings” -> “Blocked numbers.”
4. Tap the “X” next to the number you want to unblock.
5. Tap “Unblock” on the dialog that appears.

While you’re on the “Blocked numbers” screen, you can tap the “Unknown” toggle to enable blocking of calls from unidentified callers.

How Do I Block Texts Using My Carrier?

In this section, we’ll cover only the top three U.S. carriers, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. If you use another carrier, visit the carrier’s website or contact the carrier’s customer support folks for information on how to block texts and phone numbers.

Also, Apple has links to various carriers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and India.

AT&T

Download and install the “AT&T ActiveArmor” app, which is available through the Google Play Store on Android devices or the App Store on the iPhone.

T-Mobile

Visit the T-Mobile website and log into your account, or download and install the “T-Life” app (formerly “My T-Mobile”) from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

Verizon

Visit the Verizon website, or install the “Verizon Smart Family” app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

Dealing with Spam and Unwanted Text Messages

How Do I Identify a Spam Text Message?

You likely send and receive several text messages per day. My family uses text messages to stay in touch with each other, usually several times a day. You also likely receive text messages from unknown senders. If you do, there is a very good chance that those messages were sent by scammers.

Scammers will often try to get you to click on links in text messages by telling you that you’ve won a prize, free gift cards, that they want to give you coupons, offer low or no-interest loans, and other attractive lures. These links will usually try to install viruses or malware on your device, allowing scammers to steal the data you enter and receive on your device.

Scammers will also send messages saying they have important information about your account or a transaction that has appeared on your account. They’ll say they noticed suspicious activity on your account, claim there was a problem with your payment, send fake package delivery notices, and other messages that have a sense of urgency.

Should I Respond to Suspicious-Looking Text Messages?

If you receive a suspicious-looking text message, NEVER respond to it, and never ever click any links that may be in the body of the message.

Even if you think the message might be legitimate, such as appearing to be from your bank, Amazon, or your credit card issuer, do not click the link or reply. Instead, contact a known-good email address or phone number for the organization’s customer service. If there are actually questions or issues about your account, customer service will know and be able to lend genuine assistance.

How Do I Keep My Cell Number Private?

While much of the damage is likely done when it comes to your phone number being out there, you can keep it more private by following the steps in this section.

Use a Burner Phone or Burner Phone App

A burner phone is a cheap flip phone or smartphone that uses a phone number other than your primary smartphone. You can usually pick these up at drug stores, grocery stores, and convenience stores. You can then use the burner to make calls and send texts that you do not want connected to your primary number. Do not give the number out to anyone, then you can reasonably expect that any text message that comes to the burner phone is not someone you want to communicate with.

There are also several burner apps available on both Android phones and the iPhone. Perhaps the best known of these apps is Google Voice, which is a free service that you can use to make calls and send and receive texts on your primary smartphone, but which are not actually coming to your primary number. All you need is a Google account, which you likely have already. Google is hardly ever used in the same sentence with privacy, but that’s for an article on another day.

Remove Your Cell Phone Number From Social Media Accounts

Social media accounts are a favorite place for scammers to harvest personal information about potential victims. While Facebook is generally the place to go for scammers looking for phone numbers, other social media sites are also scanned for info. This includes Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, or any other social network where you may have included your phone number as part of your profile.

Also, make sure to lock down your data-sharing settings on sites like Facebook. Without locking down your privacy settings, social media sites can share your personal information with advertisers and other nosy types.

Don’t Post Your Phone Number in Public Forums

There are several public forums on the internet, and they are admittedly fun to participate in and are great places to share and learn information about nearly any subject under the sun.

However, public forums are never a good place to share personal information, especially your phone number. Scammers frequently hang out on public forums, looking for all the personal information they can find.

Never post your contact information on public forums. In fact, use a burner number or a disposable email address to sign up if you’re required to enter the information.

Use a VPN

Wait, what does using a VPN have to do with keeping your cell phone number private? There are times when you may be forced to use an unsecured public WiFi hotspot, like those found in airports, hotels, and coffee shops, and may need to willingly share your information with someone online.

If you’re not encrypting your device’s internet connection with a VPN, you run the risk of hackers monitoring the hotspot, where they can intercept or monitor your online activities and glean any information you share online.

Remove Your Personal Information From Data Brokers

No matter how much care you take to protect your personal information, it is still out there for anyone with enough cash to purchase it. Data brokers base their business on collecting all of the information about you that they can get their hands on, and then sell it or even trade it for more information.

Unfortunately, this means that in addition to data brokers selling your info, there is also a very good chance that it may get stolen by bad actors, usually through a data breach.

There are hundreds, nay thousands of data brokers out there, and it’s not out of line to believe that they have your personal information on file. While you can certainly contact them all yourself, it’s going to take a long time before you get all of your information removed. And much like the window washer on the Empire State Building, once you’re finished you’ll need to start all over again. That’s because even though data brokers will usually remove data at your request, there is nothing to stop them from collecting it and selling it again at a later date.

This is why you should consider using a content removal service, like Incogni.

Incogni

Incogni will work to remove your personal information from multiple data brokers’ databases without the need for you to individually contact each broker. While Incogni does charge a fee, its rates are some of the cheapest around. As long as you stay subscribed to Incogni, it will continue to look for new data brokers, while periodically checking in on the older brokers to make sure they do not add your data back to their servers.

You will need to provide a certain amount of personal information to Incogni, but that’s just so they can confirm which data broker has your data. Don’t worry though, Incogni does not share your info with anyone. They use the information (like your full name, your Social Security number, email and home address, and other info), only for data removal purposes.

Incogni charges a monthly or annual subscription fee. As long as you pay the fee, the service will continue to monitor known data brokers for your personal information.

Incogni sends data removal requests to brokers on a regular basis, ensuring that your information will not make an encore appearance on their servers. Incogni also keeps an eye out for new data brokers, immediately contacting them with a data removal request.

Okay, how much is this going to cost you? Actually, Incogni’s pricing is quite reasonable. A monthly payment plan is $12.99 per month (plus tax). However, you can save quite a bit of money by opting for an annual subscription, which is $6.49 per month when you pay $77.88, plus tax annually. This scores a full year of no-worries removal from data brokers’ lists.

Incogni on a regular basis collects information about data brokers, both new and old, tracking them while they collect your personal information. This information can include your Social Security number, home address, email address, phone number, and more.

The data collected by brokers are generally used by marketers, job recruiters, banks and loan companies, insurers, and others to send you text messages, emails, snail mail, targeted advertising, and other types of spammy communications.

Unfortunately, the bad guys also use this information, as they attempt to separate you from your hard-earned money or to pry additional information from you. They do this via phishing attempts, by creating credit card accounts in your name, and anything else they can try to make a quick buck.

After subscribing to Incogni, you will then need to authorize the company to contact data brokers to request that they remove your information from their servers. You will need to supply certain personal information so Incogni can confirm who you are. This is when the company begins working to get your info removed from data brokers’ databases.

Incogni then takes the first step in removing your info from the data brokers’ servers by determining which of the many data brokers around the globe are storing your personal information on their servers.

Many data brokers only collect information about residents in specific areas of the world. This means that if a broker doesn’t collect information in your area, it will be ignored. Incogni only contacts the data brokers that are most likely to have their hands on your information.

Incogni stays on the lookout for new data brokers, and will automatically contact them with a data removal request on your behalf if it looks like they may have your info.

The service also repeats its removal requests to data brokers on a regular basis. This helps ensure that your information doesn’t show up on the brokers’ servers for a second (or third, or fourth…) time.

Once Incogni gets to work, you may receive requests for additional information if a data broker requires it before deleting your information. Some data brokers have even asked for a copy of a client’s government-issued ID before removing their information.

Keep in mind that data brokers do have 30 to 45 days to remove your information (depending on where they are located), and many of them will put off removing your data until the very last minute, as this allows them to milk the last penny from the sale of your data.

Incogni is owned by VPN provider Surfshark, meaning it is quite privacy-centric and does not sell your personal data to third parties. You can also view, correct, update, or delete any of your personal data that is stored on Incogni’s servers.

Keep in mind that Incogni can only work with residents of Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. It should also be noted that privacy laws can vary from state to state in the U.S., so your removal options may vary, depending on the state you live in.

Incogni’s handy dashboard feature allows users to monitor their progress at a glance, thanks to a handy pie chart and removal scoreboard. On the dashboard, you’ll see the number of data brokers that likely have your information, the number of removal requests that have been sent, and how many removal requests have been completed.

In Conclusion

As we’ve covered, unwanted text messages can be irritating, as well as dangerous. Luckily, there are ways to stop spam texts, or to at least reduce the number of spam text messages you’ll receive. By taking care to reduce your digital footprint, using safeguards to protect you, and eliminating your data footprint on data brokers’ servers, you can avoid malicious text messages.