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What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

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Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#11

Post by Teever »

CharlesW wrote: post #6
johnklos wrote: post #2

Simple: it's time to stop using phone numbers. I use Apple's Messages. If someone spams me, I report them. They're blocked and have to go through the extra work of setting up a new account to try again. Compare this with, say, Google. Gmail lets spammers / scammers have limitless accounts and they don't do shit when an account is reported for spam. You can block and report Gmail spammers all day long and you'll get n…

I don’t know how effective it is, but I report all SMS spam to my carrier (for T-Mobile, send content to 7726). Does anyone here have inside knowledge about whether this does any good?

Well you're still getting spam, so probably not?

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#12

Post by jthrowsitaway »

johnklos wrote: post #2

Simple: it's time to stop using phone numbers. I use Apple's Messages. If someone spams me, I report them. They're blocked and have to go through the extra work of setting up a new account to try again. Compare this with, say, Google. Gmail lets spammers / scammers have limitless accounts and they don't do shit when an account is reported for spam. You can block and report Gmail spammers all day long and you'll get n…

Assuming you're talking about iMessage, comparing that to E-mail (GMail) is literally apples and oranges.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#15

Post by kube-system »

ntoskrnl wrote: post #3
johnklos wrote: post #2

Simple: it's time to stop using phone numbers. I use Apple's Messages. If someone spams me, I report them. They're blocked and have to go through the extra work of setting up a new account to try again. Compare this with, say, Google. Gmail lets spammers / scammers have limitless accounts and they don't do shit when an account is reported for spam. You can block and report Gmail spammers all day long and you'll get n…

I'd give anything to get rid of my phone, but almost everyone you do business with (DMV, electric/gas/water company, etc) expects you to have one. Same thing with USPS and their paper spam. At this point they're little more than government-mandated spam delivery channels. Private companies are handling the spam situation infinitely better.

I don't think I agree with that. I rarely get scams via USPS, never get explicit or potentially damaging content, the senders are all in my legal jurisdiction, and the spam arrives once per day in a manageable format. Almost all of the content is from businesses in my local area, businesses that I have previously shopped at, or political ads.

Electronically from private companies I frequently get a larger volume of spam, malware, scams, explicit content, and most of them originate outside of my legal jurisdiction to evade the law. And it's a steady stream all day, on multiple mediums.

I'd take 10x the amount of spam in my mailbox if I could get rid of all of the rest of the garbage I'm bombarded with. I obviously would rather not have any of it, but the hoops you have to jump through to send snail-mail inherently filters out most of the worst garbage.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#16

Post by CharlesW »

Teever wrote: post #11
CharlesW wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how effective it is, but I report all SMS spam to my carrier (for T-Mobile, send content to 7726). Does anyone here have inside knowledge about whether this does any good?

Well you're still getting spam, so probably not?

Turns out there’s more than one spammer.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#17

Post by the_only_law »

ntoskrnl wrote: post #10
0des wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't mandated to have mail or phone. Edit: Noting a lot of downvotes on this comment, which is odd. I can only conclude one thing- don't be Amish on HN. Perhaps this could be an opportunity to explore a different way of life, and a different community structure. It is not all horse buggies and barns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6SlJZk5guI&list=PLEyPgwIPkH...

Sure, I could move to the woods and live off wild berries for the rest of my days. But if you want to be part of modern society, your bank will mail you your credit card, and your water company will text you a code to login and pay. Realistically, what choice do you have?

> Sure, I could move to the woods and live off wild berries for the rest of my days

You'd probably just be removed from someones property eventually.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#18

Post by Apocryphon »

bee_rider wrote: post #8

Ah, about 20 years ago I think a relative responded to a, I think it was, an "I'm here at the airport, don't see you anywhere" kind of email. This was before spam filters got good, so that email address was basically kaput.

I often do respond to such messages pretending I am the person they're trying to reach. It confuses them and they stumble over their script.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#19

Post by pessimizer »

0des wrote: post #5
ntoskrnl wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd give anything to get rid of my phone, but almost everyone you do business with (DMV, electric/gas/water company, etc) expects you to have one. Same thing with USPS and their paper spam. At this point they're little more than government-mandated spam delivery channels. Private companies are handling the spam situation infinitely better.

You aren't mandated to have mail or phone. Edit: Noting a lot of downvotes on this comment, which is odd. I can only conclude one thing- don't be Amish on HN. Perhaps this could be an opportunity to explore a different way of life, and a different community structure. It is not all horse buggies and barns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6SlJZk5guI&list=PLEyPgwIPkH...

I'm pretty sure you are mandated to have mail in the US, or rather the mails are mandated to deliver to you. IIRC it's constitutional.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#20

Post by woodruffw »

Animats wrote: post #7

In this case, the victim deposited the money into a fake crypto platform that told him his investments were performing well, presumably to entice him to deposit even more. Of course, once he tried to withdraw the money, he found he was unable to. That sounds just like the "binary option" business which used to be run out of Israel. The Times of Israel blew that apart with "The Wolves of Tel Aviv" investigation series…

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, and the cryptocurrency ecosystem is not bereft of imitation.
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