We hope you hate those annoying spam messages as much as we do.

Gone are the days when we used SMS more often; we are now on live videos FaceTime and Instagram. Yet these spam texts are still finding their way into our inboxes.

Any unwanted or uninvited messages that appear in your inboxes fall under the category of ‘spam.’ These messages are generally not sent from another individual and instantly come from a computer and then get off to you.

If you are becoming a recipient of these messages someone is trying to know about your personal information. This makes it necessary to obstruct receiving those messages and report the number sending you while ensuring you don’t respond to any of those. Well the good news is that there is an answer to how you can block spam text messages on your device.

But that’s not enough!

You know the problem has to be found and settled from the roots and we are will help you with that. You can use Surfshark Incogni and let the traces of your information vanish from many places including data brokers.

However saying all this over here can’t do all the job. The Nerd Series feels responsible for clarifying this information for its readers and that is what this blog will focus on; read this post till the end for more pictures.

Read Next: Surfshark Incogni Review: How Does It Work Pricing and More!

We are going to start by explaining why you receive spam messages:

Texts Turning Spam: How Does That Happen?

We know you are eager to learn how to block spam text messages but before that let us see why you even receive them. One of the reasons behind your getting spam messages could be that you might have responded to one of their texts earlier. This could be because someone has access to contact details. This could also be due to a website visited or a toll-free number ringed through these mediums data brokers have fetched your data. Here are more details:

1. Social Media Profiles

If your social media profiles are public there are chances that spammers fetch your contact details from there. Many sites have come to light for trading user data with third parties. After you know how to block spam text messages from your phone do not forget to remove your contact from social media profiles.

2. Online Disclosure

You might have disclosed your number online via different programs or ways. These could be adding online forms entering loyalty programs calling a toll-free number or even responding to spam numbers.

3. Data Brokers

It’s in the job profile of data brokers to assemblage data from various resources and enrich and license it to different organizations. This rises the chances of other parties owning your information who can contact you via spam. To get your information off their databases you can reach information removal services like Incogni.com. The platform will reach data brokers and request them to remove your information.

4. Data Breach

Identity theft is a common aftereffect of data breaches and can disclose anything from your contact details to banking information. There could be possibilities that one of the websites you had you had an account with has suffered a breach.

5. Automatic Number Identification

Do you know that many toll-free numbers leverage ANI to recognize and gather incoming numbers for billing needs? However you might not know how they can be used ahead.

Read Next: Get Total Control Over Your Online Privacy With Surfshark Incogni

Getting Rid of Spam Messages

1. Blocking Scammers on iPhone

Wondering how to block these spam messages? Here goes the series of steps to block spam messages:

1. Setting > Messages

Start by selecting the settings and then choosing the messages option over there.

1. Filter Unknown Senders

Explore the message filtering until you reach Filter Unknown Senders.

1. Known or Unknown Messages

After you open the messages app you will find the messages you want to see. Going on known messages senders for the contacts while Unknown Senders will include the other part banks can also be a part of it. Go to all messages to see everything.

1. Disable

The next and last step would be to deactivate notifications from different senders. This will save you from the annoyance of the other notifications on the home or lock screen.

2. Blocking Text Messages on Your Android-Operated Devices

Google Messages

Here goes the series of steps to follow if you are concerned about how to block text messages from Google Messages

1. Go to the Messages App
2. Tap and Hold the Chat if you don’t want to entertain anymore
3. Tap Block and then on Ok

If you want to block a contact go to the details option and then choose a block and report spam. You can

check the report spam box though that’s not compulsory.

Phone App

Here is how to block text messages from the phone app

1. Go to Messages
2. Tap and Hold the chat to be blocked
3. Go to three dots on your right-hand side
4. Select Block and you are done

3. Reaching Carrier

After being annoyed by the constant spam messages you would be happy knowing that your carrier offers content/spam filtering. That’s because it is their role to avoid spam messages from reaching you.

Even though you can block text messages scammers know to alter their numbers to find their way to your inboxes and you can connect with the carrier for help. They can leverage network safeguards and other tools to block your contact details directly. And after being flagged by the network provider there are possibilities for spammers of getting banned for those numbers. Your carriers might even be able to get in touch with authorities if something appears as a threat to them.

So yes feel free to reach your carrier or network provider if merely blocking the number is not helpful. We think we should help you with how you can reach your carrier.

Tips for Dealing with Spam and Unwanted Text Messages

Before you figure out how to block text messages you must know how to identify spam messages. Here are some traits you can look in them-

1. Unusually Long Contact

The numbers used for ethical or rightful SMS marketing are often six digits and if not that it could be a code of 10 digits. However if your inbox shows a message from an 11-digit number or more it has a higher chance of being a scam. Whenever you identify them don’t hesitate to block those text messages.

1. Refund

Alright! We all love to have our bank accounts loaded but that doesn’t mean messages with a refund are legit. You might receive texts stating about being overcharged for some random service such as a phone number provided. You might receive an offer for a refund but you will have to submit direct deposit data.

Scammers might use the name of a government agency to trick you into a refund. However once you have shared your banking details scammers can access your account details and might be able to make their bucks from you.

1. Family Emergency

The scam of a family emergency is the most common and can make you feel inclined to provide financial help to someone in your relations. That is what these people take advantage of! Some of them might even have the audacity to tell you that if you reach your relatives through their numbers it may harm them instead. However think for a while before sending a penny.

You can verify if that is your relative by asking for questions that no stranger might have answers to. You can even reach some trusted relatives to confirm if this story is true. Do not hesitate to reach out for help and block spam text messages.

1. Random Prizes

Aren’t these scammers getting innovative now? They can reach you and offer random prizes such as material things or even cash. They will ask for your details to claim the prize.

Even though many organizations use text sweepstakes as a form of marketing you should be cautious when it involves your information. You may also reach the brand and confirm if you have won a prize. Be a winner and not lose money!

Dealing with Scammers: More than Blocking Text Messages

Yes it is damn annoying when you mind your business and a scam message comes to your inbox. However you must not respond to these messages even when you want to ask them to stop. Your response can verify that yours is an active phone number and is open to receive messages from them. As a result you will start receiving more texts of these kinds making it necessary to block these spam texts.

You must also avoid clicking on links from spam messages. In case you tap on them you might reach a fake website set up to exploit your data or even your bucks. Your phone might face malware attacks which can come with harm of their own.

Keeping the Phone Numbers Away From Scammers

Here are some tips we want to share with you to keep your contact details away from scammers:

1. Social Media

We know the world is about social media now but you need to remove your phone number from your present and unused social media handles. Make sure you don’t put it on any forum from now onwards.

1. VPN

A VPN can conceal your online data traffic and safeguard it from being accessed by any source available externally. As anyone with network access and willingness can view unencrypted data using a VPN can keep you on the safe side. You can use the VPN services by surfshark.com it’s reliable.

1. Settings

Your device can have some answers so yes you may go for optimizing data-sharing settings.

1. Data Brokers

You might not know where else your data can be present so we suggest reaching data brokers to remove the same. We understand that it can appear complex and you might not even know how many data brokers have your details. Considering that you can use services by Surfshark Incogni a platform that serves as a mediator between data brokers and you. With such less cost incogni.com can give your maximized profit.

Surfshark Incogni: Can it Serve as a Solution?

The topics of data privacy and concerns can often make us think of tech giants like Facebook and Google. However the individuals and organizations fetching and trading your data also need attention. These data brokers can also be the culprits for sharing your information with spammers clogging your inboxes.

However you don’t need to worry about it anymore. Reaching privacy service providers such as Incogni can be one of the solutions. After learning about you they list the data brokers with the most possibility of your valuable data including your phone numbers. They contact these brokers and request them to remove your personal information.

Even after having your data removed the data brokers can still receive requests for removing your data. That is because they are likely to gather your information again. Once subscribed you can keep your data off easily and did we tell you about the most recent offer? You can get an annual subscription at 50% off- $6/49 for each month. With such reduced costs Incogni.com has solutions for you.

Conclusion

Call them smishing or spam texts but you can never ignore them. The infuriating messages often trade questionable services and are fueled by financial purposes. They can trick you into believing something that is just a false statement. Undoubtedly it is important that you get rid of them and we are here to help you with that.

In this post we have presented some measures to block and deal with spam numbers. We have also talked about Incogni.com a privacy service that can help you remove your data- including your contact details from the internet. This legit platform reached data brokers and requests them to remove your personal information. This can eventually hinder other unwanted parties from owning your data. We have also mentioned how incogni.com can give maximum output with less cost. While explaining these measures we have ensured that you can perform these measures on your own. And when it comes to reaching incogni.com all you need is a few clicks.