campaign spam texts

I understand spammers can tell when texts are opened

Not necessarily. That capability only exists if both sender and receiver are using the same advanced messaging capability or protocol such as both sender and receiver have iMessage. Plain SMS or MMS messages do not have delivery notifications and the political texts you are getting are most likely plain SMS or MMS messages. It is very unlikely the sender will know if you open those texts.

Good to know. Thanks.

Hi nmdoyle, we understand how frustrating it can be to deal with unwanted text messages, we are here to help!

Thank you to our ACE sandblaster for stepping to help. 

If you haven't already, text 'STOP' to the number you are receiving the unwanted messages from, to opt out of receiving the messages. If this doesn't help, download our AT&T ActiveArmor mobile security app for additional security protection. 

Lastly, check out other ways to report unwanted calls & texts.  

We hope this helps! Reach back out to us if you have additional questions. Thank you for posting on the AT&T Community Forums!

Rhoda, AT&T Community Specialist 

Thanks Rhoda. All the texts of course come from different numbers that are never repeated. I found a place on WinRed's website to leave a message about the problem. The response I got was that they can't do anything about it—the texts are coming from campaigns that they have no control over. No response from them when I pointed out that the URLs in every single message go directly to WinRed regardless of how they're styled or which candidate they're supposedly from.

I have begun to reply "stop," even tho' AT&T's advice about spam calls is not to reply. There were fewer texts yesterday but they may slow down on Sundays.

I did downloaded the free version of AT&T's Active Armor, but when it asked me to go to Settings to enable Cellular, it on the Cellular list to enable. So I deleted the app. I use an iPhone SE, btw. 

Reporting these to 7726 one at a time is time consuming and tedious. I haven't yet found a place on AT&T's website to report multiple texts from multiple numbers at one time. But I also wonder what's the point? They're spoofing the numbers, aren't they? So, really, what's the point of reporting and blocking? 

I do hope AT&T can look at this problem and find a better, easier way to stop this kind of thing.

nell

Got word that this issue has an "accepted solution," but I heartily disagree. The recommended software apparently doesn't work on my phone, and reporting numbers one at a time is onerous and apparently doesn't stop them.

AT&T needs to do more to enable customers to stop this kind of practice—like maybe helping us file complaints with FCC, FEC and FTC or pursuing such complaints itself on behalf of customers. Surely I'm not the only one who has had to deal with this problem.

nell

ATTHelp’s response is no longer the accepted solution. For one thing, Active Armor does nothing for texts. However, if the texts are coming from legitimate campaigns, replying “stop” should stop them.

Thx again, Sandblaster. Realize this is kind of a losing battle for me—and probably AT&T—but perhaps between replying "stop" and tackling WinRed directly, the texts will slow down or even stop eventually. Appreciate the support and advice in any event.

n

We appreciate your feedback, nmdoyle!

The benefits of reporting SPAM messages is that it is the best tool for customers to protect against spam as soon as they receive it. AT&T processes this information in near real-time and can suspend spammers.

The faster spam messages are reported, the faster the number can be suspended to prevent future messages. As you're aware, scammers can send hundreds of messages per minute so every second counts.

AT&T shares this data with all spam filtering companies to improve filters and prevent spam from getting to the customer in the first place.

We remain vigilant about protecting our customers. While AT&T has industry-leading spam filters, it is inevitable that spam will reach AT&T customers, and we need your help.

You can find additional information at Fake Text Messages, SMiShing, and other Text Scams. When it comes to spam messages including unsolicited and unwanted ads the best practice is to not reply.

We hope this information helps. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Lar, AT&T Community Specialist

Thanks, Lar. I'll continue to report these texts and the numbers they come from, but it is a aggravating, time-consuming task—forwarding first the message and then having to MANUALLY enter the phone number to send that along with the text takes several minutes, and I'm getting a dozen or more texts a day. Too bad y'all can't figure out how to capture and forward the sending phone number along with the text. I have to toggle back and forth between text and forward two or three times to enter the phone number to make sure I got all 10 digits in there. (I'm 70+, and remembering a 10-digit number for even a couple of minutes ain't all that easy.)

Any chance AT&T can contact WinRed and fuss at them about this issue? I've forwarded almost all the texts to the spam report number, and so you should be able to see that the URLs they want me to access goes directly to WinRed's website, regardless of how the URL is styled. Here's the address that all those URLs are linked to: https://winred.com/.

AT&T wants me to mark this query as having received an Accepted Solution, but I haven't. The texts keep coming, I keep reporting them, but they keep coming. Until they stop, there has been no solution. Coming to conclusion that reporting does diddly.