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Phishing and spam SMS getting out of hand

Hmm
I'm a reliable contributor

A few days back, I got an SMS (text message for you millenials and Gen Y & Z) claiming to be from Rogers Bank, and it came with a link: (removed link) It looked pretty official, but I decided to play it safe and peeked at the website in a sandbox environment. Despite having several malware protection tools, including Malwarebytes, none of them spotted any wrongdoing, although it was clearly a fake.

 

I often get 3-5 SMS spam messages a day and often 3 in succession from the same number. Blocking them is pointless as they change the number every day.

 

Given Canada's reputation for being too cozy with network device "hacking," it's high time cellular providers took some aggressive steps. For starters, blocking all SMS messages with URLs from unknown senders, including those seemingly innocent ones from places like Amazon? It could really shake things up in a good way. We should never receive an SMS with a URL. Period.

 

Forwarding them to number 7726 is dangerous as you might accidentally tap the link which is what these spammers want you to do and then they can take control of your phone. 

 

While the Rogers link and here are kindergarten level starting points,  it's outdated , the info hasn't can't kept up with AI, and the cunning spammers and ransomware specialist. Let's not even start with the National Do Not Call Registry; it's a joke. Reporting them is a farce because all this does is retains the details for statistical purposes. 

 

If we really want to make a dent in spam, we've got to go deeper, right to the source – the carriers themselves.  However, we know the carriers (in Canada) won't do anything unless mandated by the Federal Government,

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Re: Phishing and spam SMS getting out of hand

RogersJermaine
Moderator
Moderator

Thank you for your continued participation in the Rogers Community Forums! As spam and different phishing techniques evolve, we too are constantly looking for ways to improve on methods to deter it and will continue to do so. We appreciate your feedback and thank you for taking the time to join in the conversation.

 

Regards

RogersJermaine

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3 REPLIES 3

Re: Phishing and spam SMS getting out of hand

RogersJermaine
Moderator
Moderator

Thank you for your continued participation in the Rogers Community Forums! As spam and different phishing techniques evolve, we too are constantly looking for ways to improve on methods to deter it and will continue to do so. We appreciate your feedback and thank you for taking the time to join in the conversation.

 

Regards

RogersJermaine

Re: Phishing and spam SMS getting out of hand

I have been reporting my scam/phishing texts to 7726 for close to a year now.  I have NEVER received any response except for the ‘auto-junket’; « Thank you for reporting spam. We'll take it from here.
Merci de nous avoir signalé des pourriels. Nous nous en occupons.

 

To this end, I am looking for more concrete response, as this does not appease me. Below are two SS’ of what continues to irk me.

  1. continues.IMG_7935.jpegIMG_7936.jpeg

Re: Phishing and spam SMS getting out of hand

Hello, @Baggy-Pants.

 

I appreciate you joining the conversation, and welcome to our Community!

 

Thank you for continuously reporting smishing texts to 7726. This is an issue that we take very seriously. To protect you from SMS spam, we use scanning software to constantly hunt for, identify, and filter out unwanted messages before they get to your device.

 

Please remember that only message content is considered for blocking, not the sender’s telephone number, as they often change.

 

You can also consider blocking such smishing texts at the device level:

iOS Devices: Block, filter, and report messages on iPhone - Apple Support

Android Devices: Block senders & report spam in Google Messages

 

On my Samsung device, similar smishing texts got filtered as shown below:

 

 

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

 

Regards,

RogersMoin

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