![]() ![]() This is a universal reporting system, so it works with all of the U.S. One thing that we can all do collectively to fight this growing problem is to report bad messages to our carriers by forwarding the message to 7726 (which spells SPAM). If you can’t determine who is behind the short code, the safest approach would be to block it in your messaging app and delete the message. Short Code Directory will help you determine who is behind the message.Īnother option is to do a Google search using the short code such as “text from 93733” which in this case would provide links that show it’s a code used by Wells Fargo. Unlike regular phone numbers, short codes are much more difficult to spoof, so looking them up in the U.S. If the message came from what is known as a short code (five to six digits) instead of a standard 10-digit phone number, there are ways to search for the owner of that short code. Since there is no bulletproof method to determine if a text message is legitimately from someone you’re doing business with just by reading it, when you aren’t sure you’ll need to do a little investigating before deciding what to do. It’s very much like the junk email unsubscribe scams that I’ve written about in the past. This will lead to your number getting placed on an active list that is sold and resold countless times amongst the bad actors. When they get the “STOP” response from you, they will know that your phone number is both active and responsive. Scammers are mimicking legitimate marketing verbiage in hopes of tricking you into responding. If the message is clearly a scam or an attempt to “phish” information from you, replying with “STOP” is not only ineffective, it’s an invitation to be bombarded by lots of junk messages in the future. If you know you signed up for the service through your pharmacy or bank for instance, replying with “STOP” will work. In many cases, the message may include instructions to reply with “STOP” to stop getting messages from them in the future. This data is encouraging both legitimate companies and scammers to step up their texting activities. ![]()
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