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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?

#71

Post by rdtsc »

hdx wrote: post #32
danny_taco wrote: post #9

In my experience it doesn't do much. For example, I made the mistake of contributing to the campaign of a politician. Now I get texts from candidates all over the country. If I reply STOP to one, I just get sent more texts from another number, for another candidate in another state. I just got tired of replying with STOP after the 20th time. This just guarantees I'm never giving any money to any candidate ever again.

Same happened to me, I replied saying I'd vote for Trump if I got another message ... never heard from them again ;)

Ha! Worked for me, too. Heck it’s a minor request from a future president ready to run a country. Next week though “Hi I am Tim. I need that $40”. Well played, I only made the deal with Kamala, after all, ;-)

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

#72

Post by smcin »

exabrial wrote: post #34

Carriers in the US will block further texts from the number. The problem is it’s easy to get more numbers to spam from. This unfortunately makes it super hard for legit businesses to send transactional texts. (And Google is leading the charge in marketing ‘new features’ as a ‘transactional’ emails and push notifications) The undeniable way to stop spam texts is to litigate. You’re put onto special lists at “number re…

> The undeniable way to stop spam texts is to litigate

People here are saying that doesn't work on political orgs, does it?

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

#73

Post by donpott »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #38

Don’t reply - that can be used to confirm your number is real. That info is used and resold to spam you even more. Also the STOP keyword works only on some source phone numbers technically. In the US you can report the spam texts by forwarding the message to 7726 (“SPAM” on your keypad) at which point your carrier will text you back and ask for the source number. This doesn’t report the message to the government agen…

Just want to add that 7726 works in the UK too.

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

#74

Post by slu »

solardev wrote: post #23
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+…

> 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? My understanding is that they will pretend it's a wrong number, but then make a joke or talk about some innocuous hobby and try to build up trust over weeks/months to eventually phish or scam you. I forget where I read i…

John Oliver explained it (Pig Butchering) very well: https://youtu.be/pLPpl2ISKTg?si=yHwqzMX0r2h4mKl-

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

#75

Post by vezycash »

Phone numbers and emails are bought and sold. Some entities sell premium lists filtered by unresponsive numbers. Texting "STOP" or answering calls can signal activity and lead to more spam.

Enable "Do Not Disturb" or its equivalent with your provider to make contacting you costlier and reduce spam. Then, manually block every number that contacts you.

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

#76

Post by al_borland »

danny_taco wrote: post #9

In my experience it doesn't do much. For example, I made the mistake of contributing to the campaign of a politician. Now I get texts from candidates all over the country. If I reply STOP to one, I just get sent more texts from another number, for another candidate in another state. I just got tired of replying with STOP after the 20th time. This just guarantees I'm never giving any money to any candidate ever again.

I donated $20 in 2016 and have regretted it ever since.

In the 2020 election cycle it seemed some of the texts had people behind them, so I’d reply and told them if they kept texting me I’d vote for the opponent out of pure spite. That was actually quite effective, but did have to say it to a half dozen people.

This time around, I keep getting texts asking for $40. Most I report as spam, others I say stop. But it seems these lists are distributed out far and wide, so removing the name from one, or 10, doesn’t do much.

Like you, I will never again donate to a politician and will encourage everyone else to save their money. No one should pay money to be harassed. I’m not sure how they think this is a good idea or will win people over.

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

#77

Post by immibis »

latency-guy2 wrote: post #59
blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that US law has carve outs for politicians and their campaigns. They are exempt on both email and phone spam as I recall.

These people are terrorists to my email filters, what can I do to make their behavior really hurt?

Nothing legal.

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

#78

Post by toastau »

In Aus with Telstra there is a filter but they also recommend it, so they may enforce a block upon STOP?

"The SMS scam filter will not block unsolicited or unwanted commercial messages or ‘spam’. To unsubscribe to legitimate business spam or marketing SMS, you can reply STOP."

https://www.telstra.com.au/cyber-security-and-safety/active-...

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

#79

Post by al_borland »

left-struck wrote: post #29
sseagull wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been interested in donating before, but this is actually the main thing holding me back. I get so little spam and unwanted messages (email and text), and I am trying extremely hard to keep it that way. So thanks for validating my decision :)

Use a email alias service like simple login, duck duck go’s private duck address etc You can disable that email alias and never receive emails sent to that address again I wish we had something similar for phone numbers

It’s not worth it. Politicians have shown they can’t be trusted with our contact info. No one should be jumping through hoops to hide their identity to donate money.

Maybe if donations go to 0 they’ll finally get the message that citizens don’t want to be harassed for donations.

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

#80

Post by al_borland »

nkrisc wrote: post #11

I 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 it or report it as spam, and the person never knows they didn’t reach their friend.

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