Have you received spam texts? Poll discussion

Former_MSE_Lee

Poll started 14 June 2011, click here to vote

Have you received spam texts?

Have you had an unsolicited spam text trying to flog you a financial service? If so, have you acted on it?

Which of these spam texts have you received in the last six months?

Tick all that apply

Got them and DIDN'T reply/call:

Payment Protection Insurance reclaiming
So called 'Legal way' to write off credit card debts
Accident compensation
Payday loans at high APRs
Tax rebate reclaiming
Insurance policies
Other
None

Got them and DID reply/call:

Payment Protection Insurance reclaiming
So called 'Legal way' to write off credit card debts
Accident compensation
Payday loans at high APRs
Tax rebate reclaiming
Insurance policies
Other
None

welshbookworm

Got them and DIDN'T reply/call:

Payment Protection Insurance reclaiming ✓
So called 'Legal way' to write off credit card debts ✓
Accident compensation ✓
Payday loans at high APRs ✓
Tax rebate reclaiming ✓
Insurance policies ✓
Other ✓
None

andymc29

I don't reply for the same reason I don't reply to emails. Because I think it would just mean more texts coming through.

dan909

I said the same to myself thinking that if I replied then they'd just send me more spam.

Instead, I kept a log of all the numbers that were sending me SPAM and after a month and a rather long list of numbers, I emailed T-Mobile and asked them to block the numbers.

I had a rather nice phonecall barely 5 minutes later from a T-Mobile representative to tell me that it's perfectly fine to reply 'STOP' as the companies have a legal obligation to remove you from their database. I didn't want to get into the whole 'but they're using pay as you go sim cards and they don't care about the law' debate so I thanked her for her advice and went on my way!

getting-sorted-sarah

Nice to see that (currently) 92% of people are savvy enough not to reply to cold call text messages!

pjsmiffy

I hope this is a prelude to a push to force mobile companies to introduce spam filters.

minerva_windsong

I've had a few of these, mostly accident claim ones but since the PPI ruling came through a few of those as well. I have a sneaking suspicion O2 sold off loads of numbers a while back which is why I get them in the first place, but they just get deleted.

schnide

Whoever's been sending these are scum. I've had about 30 of them in the past three months. I've tried replying as STOP, ignoring them, even taking one of their calls and asking where they got my number from. They said they bought it from a list from a company which, when I searched, doesn't even seem to exist. There doesn't seem to be any way to stop it - I expect it on my email, but not on my phone. I very much there's anything at all that the regulator will do either. It's a very, very sad precedent that I'm sure will only get worse.

PleaseDont

I just returned to the UK after a year in the US, where I got a lot of these spam texts on my US phone. I was really looking forward to no longer getting them here in the UK, but I got one two days ago. Very annoying.

phebe3

I didn't reply for ages, thinking if I just ignored them they would stop, but the texts kept on coming at least twice a week or more so in the end I texted stop ((or whatever it said to stop them) and they have.

Barneysmom

I got one from car accident claims, I never replied.