disable notifications for unknown senders - ios has this hidden deep under notifications setting
There’s also “Silence unknown callers”
Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
141–150 of 386 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
#142Beware the edge case: I responded STOP to a message years ago, then was unable to receive SMS from a popular money transmission app during the signup flow to claim funds that a friend sent me. After over a month of troubleshooting, it turns out that I had sent "STOP" to that number years ago on a different device (no longer visible in chat history) and now had to send "UNSTOP" in order to receive the phone verificati…
Wouldn't that also apply if you blocked the number?
Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
#143For those in the UK you can forward to 7726 to report it [1] [1] https://www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails-websites-phishin...
Good grief, I had no idea this existed!
Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
#144It 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…
Twilio is sort of a dream for spammers, they'll just make new accounts on it and spam campaigns on those new accounts. Political organizations do it all the time, if you get on a list you're never getting off. Lookup the numbers sending to you (Twilio's own lookup tool works great for this) and it almost always comes back Twilio/Zipwhip. I only recommend responding STOP to short codes since there's more investment an…
Zipwhip is particuarly bad.
I report their spam to twilio, but twilio claima they cant do anything about spam from their sub
Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
#146Beware the edge case: I responded STOP to a message years ago, then was unable to receive SMS from a popular money transmission app during the signup flow to claim funds that a friend sent me. After over a month of troubleshooting, it turns out that I had sent "STOP" to that number years ago on a different device (no longer visible in chat history) and now had to send "UNSTOP" in order to receive the phone verificati…
A similar thing happened to me with my Amazon account with a forgotten password. I ended up just creating a new account.
Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
#147I don’t reply, and report junk and block any number that sends me what appears to be an automated text that I wasn’t expecting. I do the same with emails subscriptions that I didn’t knowingly subscribe to. If anyone legitimate gets caught up in that, I’m not sorry, blame the spammers for ruining it for everyone.
> If anyone legitimate gets caught up in that, I’m not sorry, blame the spammers for ruining it for everyone. This is what I really hate about the pig butchering scams. They start out like a wrong number text, and don’t even get into the scam. From what I understand it takes them months as they build a relationship. Now when there are legitimate wrong numbers from people making mistakes, people are likely to ignore i…
I got a voicemail recently that sounded like a mother leaving a message for a son who she hasn’t heard from in a while, saying she hopes he’s ok, she would like to talk to him, etc., all while sounding distraught.
Was it real? Did she really just call a wrong number? Or was it an emotional hook for a scam? I don’t know, because I decided it was best for me to simply ignore it.
Once upon a time I might have called back and let her know it was a wrong number instead of leaving her wondering. Not anymore though. Thanks scammers for shitting all over society with more ease than ever before.
Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
For which countries is this true?
Its true in the US; its mandated by law that they comply.
Wait. Really? I had no idea this is true. You're saying there's a US law that means replying STOP is intercepted by verizon/T-mobile/etc. and the sender never has to see it?
Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
#149I 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.
Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
That's why the initiative has to come from outside.