Are YOU being bombarded with spam texts? Little-known iPhone hack to stop unwanted messages

Americans are being inundated with spam emails advertising acquaintances, job openings, and even government officials.

Many iPhone users are expressing their frustration over the unwanted messages, with some claiming to have received over 400 this month alone.

Users can reply “Stop” to remove themselves from the list, but Apple has a little-known trick to prevent unknown senders from messaging them directly.

Users can filter the messages and send them to another folder. This means that they will not be notified when the message arrives.

“Scammers send fake text messages designed to trick you into giving up your personal information, such as your password, bank account number or social security number,” the Federal Trade Commission said.

‘If they get that information, they can gain access to your email, bank or other accounts. Or they can sell your information to other scammers.

Apple has already developed a system for this, which you can find in Settings.

Users go to Settings, select Messages, and scroll down to Message Filtering, where they can enable “Filter unknown senders.”

Once enabled, a Filters option will appear in iMessage at the top left. This is where all unwanted text messages will be sent. Users will not be notified when they arrive.

Another option is to block the sender of the text message, but the person or bot can then spam you from a different number.

Many iPhone users have expressed their frustration over the unwanted messages, with some claiming to have received over 400 this month alone.

While many spam messages try to trick Americans into handing over their data or money, there are also many political messages urging them to vote and choose a side.

A user on X wrote: ‘I’m afraid I’ll look back on my life from my deathbed and regret the amount of time I spent typing ‘stop’ into political text messages.’

The flood of messages is likely the result of the Supreme Court relaxing requirements in 2021 for obtaining consent to send mass text messages, Axios reports.

Data shows that the 2020 Republican National Convention sent more than 225 million text messages to get voters to the polls.

“Texting is an important tool, but like many people, I also get irritated by how many texts I get and how often I have to send a STOP message,” Melissa Michelson, dean of Menlo College, told Time Magazine.

Once again this year, Republicans have the upper hand over Democrats when it comes to sending campaign messages, with the political group sending twice as many so far.

While users can reply “Stop” to remove themselves from the list, Apple has a little-known hack to prevent unknown senders from texting them directly

Political messages aren’t the only thing Americans are concerned about. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), illegal and spoofed robocalls are the top consumer complaints.

“This includes complaints from consumers whose numbers are spoofed or whose calls are incorrectly blocked or identified as possible scam calls by an app or service that blocks robocalls,” the FCC said.

Scammers are making robocalls asking about your Social Security number, taxes, or Medicare.

“They say that if you don’t pay or refuse to give your personal information, something bad will happen or you will miss out on government benefits. It’s a scam.”

The agency has urged the public not to respond to unknown senders and to contact their phone company to block such calls.