What to do about receiving spam text messages on your phone (AT&T)

Most of you know how to reduce phishing scams that come in your email inbox by reporting them or sending them to junk email.
Most of you know how to report bad calls through the national do not call registry

What do you do about text messages on your cell phone? Today I received an attempt, and thought I'd share with you how to combat and safely remove these unwanted texts. The below instructions are for AT&T customers


1. You will receive a text message from a number you don't recognize. The message text usually tries asking a question so that you feel the need to respond, and may even contain personal information (the message on my phone said, "hola Michael?")
2. DO NOT RESPOND TO THEM!!!! Responding lets them know they reached a valid number, and any information you send helps them gather information.
3. Go to 411.com and do a reverse phone lookup. It is unlikely you will get a name, but it will at least give you a city and state (my mystery texter came from Pompton Lakes, NJ. I don't know anyone in New Jersey)
4. Forward the text to AT&T by sending it to 7726 (instructions for your phone are here)
5. After forwarding, AT&T will send you an automated response asking for the phone number of the bad texter. Go ahead and forward that
6. DELETE THE BAD TEXT MESSAGE so you don't accidentally respond!!
7. Tell yourself "I pity the foo who tries gettin' all hibbity bibbity on mah cell phone"

Be safe!

 

Thanks for the info