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Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

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Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#101

Post by dotnet00 »

mikesabat wrote: post #17
solardev wrote: post #3

It kinda depends on which platform handles their bulk messages. For example, if they are messaging you through Twilio, replying with "STOP" will cause Twilio itself to opt you out of messages ( https://help.twilio.com/articles/223134027-Twilio-support-fo... ), and the sender can't disable that ( https://help.twilio.com/articles/360034798533-Getting-Starte... ). It's kinda like how Mailchimp handles unsubscriptions fo…

Speaking mostly for the US here. The STOP keyword is mandated as unsubscribe at the carrier level (Verizon, ATT, TMo) not just the vendor level. So if you reply STOP, it's very likely that you will not receive another message from that number. This will be true for any programmatic SMS vendor. There could be smaller scale & more manual approaches, but that would be rare. There has been a big effort in the last year+…

>What I want to know is, what's the purpose of those random texts that just say something like, "How's it been?" from a number that I've never communicated with? What's the angle there? Anyone know?

I inadvertently replied to one of those spam messages because the number coincidentally matched the location a relative had recently moved to (I figured it was them trying to joke around while informing me of their new number, it was something along the lines of "Can you guess who I am?"). They replied with a picture of a girl and some question trying to start a conversation. So, I figure they're just fishing for easily tricked or lonely people to manipulate into sending them money.

FWIW I didn't notice much of an uptick in scam texts/calls after that.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#102

Post by adastra22 »

ykonstant wrote: post #65

I have a related question regarding snail mail: when I lived in the US, Utah in particular, I used to get tons and tons of ad leaflets on my mail; so much that it was hard just sorting out the trash (and not throwing a bill away, which I did twice). Is there a way to tell the postal service to stop this? The volume was insane.

Yes, you can opt out of bulk mail entirely with USPS. You fill out a form, and they stop delivering it.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#103

Post by nottorp »

adastra22 wrote: post #98
nottorp wrote: post #88

It's like email. If you press unsubscribe you just confirm the email is valid. If you send STOP back you just confirm there's a human reading the messages at that number. Besides, this seems to be an US only thing so it will only work for law abiding US based spammers^H^H^Hdirect marketers. Not for spammers outside the US, US based spammers that don't care about the law or scam/phishing messages.

If the message is sent through mailchimp, pressing unsubscribe actually unsubscribes you and blocks the sender from contacting you again.

> blocks the sender from contacting you again

No, it blocks that mailchimp sender account from contacting you again. It doesn't block the sender from contacting you again through other means or through a different identity.

Would you like to buy a bridge?

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#104

Post by lincolnq »

tommiegannert wrote: post #55

I'm receiving email spam for my business ("Nice product! What does your Go-To-Market strategy look like? ..."), and they often include 'if you don't want more emails from me, just reply "remove me."'. I assume this is either to create a sunk cost, to validate that the email address works, or to avoid me hitting the Report spam button in GMail. The fact that I'm not replying even after your second attempt should be a…

It's actually because replies boost their email domain's reputation. (Mark as spam is a good response, given that it's exactly what they don't want)

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#105

Post by adastra22 »

radicality wrote: post #67
blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t mark them as spam easily. The phones don’t have built in features for that. You have to go through a bunch of manual steps that Apple and Google should really make a one click process. See my other comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41704119

What does the “Report Junk” button do then on iOS in Messages app? I use that for unknown spam sms, and was under the impression that it sends it to Apple and/or my carrier for processing / feeding some ML classification funnnel.

Its functionality is similar to the "close door" button on elevators, and the crosswalk buttons in NYC.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#106

Post by otterley »

dotancohen wrote: post #86
dragontamer wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's done with slave labor. It's called pig butchering. You kidnap people, hold them in Cambodia or whatever (lots of locations where local criminal gangs rule) so the locals don't bother checking for literally kidnapped slaves. If police stop by, pay them off and make up a story about debts and punishment. Then you use the slaves to scam others in pig butchering scams. If the slaves refuse, you beat them until they…

So reply asking if they want you to notify authorities in their city. I doubt that the kidnappers are reading every message. And even if they are, better to let the kidnappers know that they are being encroached upon.

These outfits are often working under the protection of the local authorities thanks to rampant bribery.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#108

Post by Havoc »

adastra22 wrote: post #97
jonathanstrange wrote: post #69

A Golden Rule of the internet says that you should never reply to unwanted texts on any medium: - stalkers and trolls live off reactions, both positive and negative ones - spammers will use your reply to verify there's a human at the other side - colleagues and friends will hate you because everybody thinks they're important Replying only has negative effects. Use client-side filtering, kill files, blocking functions…

Except that STOP is handled at the carrier level and isn't even returned to the sender. It's effectively a mandated block command.

For which countries is this true?

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#109

Post by lupusreal »

solardev wrote: post #63
oasisbob wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone shares lists. I have a politics label in gmail that is blue/red from 2012 onwards. All the GOP emails are from poking around Romney 2012, and nothing else. I'd say you'd be surprised on the reuse, but you shouldn't be.

It's not just the re-use and sharing of lists, but also the incredible Facebook-style targeting available to anyone for spamming. Anyone can sign up for something like ActionNetwork.org or NationBuilder and send out an email blast to registered voters in a particular zip code. NGP VAN is even more powerful. The whole industry is mature and super targeted like any other spammer, but mostly immune to spam regulations (…

Their targetting is shit. The people selling the targetting capability are scamming everybody else. I get countless spam messages from both political parties, both seemingly certain that I support them. I never donated to any of them.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#110

Post by ceejayoz »

m463 wrote: post #84
mikesabat wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking mostly for the US here. The STOP keyword is mandated as unsubscribe at the carrier level (Verizon, ATT, TMo) not just the vendor level. So if you reply STOP, it's very likely that you will not receive another message from that number. This will be true for any programmatic SMS vendor. There could be smaller scale & more manual approaches, but that would be rare. There has been a big effort in the last year+…

I've been getting presidential political messages, each from a different number. wonder if STOP will work for only the same number, or globally. I also know political messages have lots of loopholes, thanks to the politicians who create the laws.

I replied STOP to one of these. The confirmation came from a similar, different number.

Replied to that, same deal. Did it for 20+ numbers before getting bored with it.

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