Unwanted Text Messages

1,583 Views | 18 Replies | Last: 2 mo ago by eric76
TRD-Ferguson
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6:58p, 10/11/25
AG
My 95 year old mother in law is receiving 80+ unwanted text messages per day from people/organizations she doesn't know. Clearly she's put her phone number out there somehow.

Is there anyway to stop this?
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FatZilla
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7:11p, 10/11/25
AG
Reply STOP to each of them when she gets one is best advice. It likely wont stop them all but it should reduce them greatly.
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Coppell97
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In reply to TRD-Ferguson • 7:40p, 10/11/25
AG
Block the numbers.
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TRD-Ferguson
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8:10p, 10/11/25
AG
We've done all the above. It just seems to increase the amount of unwanted texts. Was hoping there was something more we could do.
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Coppell97
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In reply to TRD-Ferguson • 8:11p, 10/11/25
AG
Do you have ATT? Maybe Install something like ATT Active Armor.
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TRD-Ferguson
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In reply to Coppell97 • 8:32p, 10/11/25
AG
Yep, she has ATT. We'll give that a shot. Thanks!
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Coppell97
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In reply to TRD-Ferguson • 8:55p, 10/11/25
AG
It helped me. Can customize and set unknown stuff coming in to block.
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FatZilla
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In reply to Coppell97 • 8:59p, 10/11/25
AG
Coppell97 said:
It helped me. Can customize and set unknown stuff coming in to block.


Be very careful on this for elderly who usually have lots of doctors appointments. Those calls from offices and text reminders and such get easily blocked by these apps.
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Coppell97
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In reply to FatZilla • 8:59p, 10/11/25
AG
Good point.
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Coppell97
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9:01p, 10/11/25
AG
Another option - download the new ios26. It has new spam filters and features that may be able to help.
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Diggity
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9:39p, 10/12/25
AG
My mom gets dozens of spam texts every day from difference political groups. She obviously signed up for one (or more) and they shared/sold to the rest.

Not sure how we'll ever get them to stop.
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eric76
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6:58a, 10/13/25
AG
I generally don't trust text messages and hardly pay attention to them.

One major problem with text messages is that you really don't know who sent them. Are they real or are they spoofed. There have been a number of scams using text messages that are really difficult to identify as scams. For example, receiving a text message from your bank that is asking whether certain recent transactions are really yours.

Don't respond to any text messages that aren't from good friends.
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BrazosDog02
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12:55a, 10/14/25
AG
Just ignore them. The originating number can be changed daily so there is no real effect to blocking the number.

Spend your time making sure a 95 year old doesn't click a link. That's far more dangerous
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SJEAg
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10:19a, 10/14/25
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Whitelist only with a contact list/address book. Should be able to find text history on frequent doctor related messages. At 95 is she tracking and handling all the appointments herself anyway? If so, I am impressed. But my elderly mom never uses texts and she manages to make all her many appts - most doctors offices will call if they have to.
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TRD-Ferguson
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1:14p, 10/14/25
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She's here for lunch today. She's received 101 text messages since 11AM! Crazy

Yeah, she's pretty sharp for a 95 year old. My wife handles most of her appointments now.
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FatZilla
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1:32p, 10/14/25
AG
I mean, you also have the nuclear option, pull all her wanted contacts from phone into a contact file (phone can do this for you), get her a new number with same carrier (usually pretty painless), put new psim in phone or esim, update her contacts about the switch and same for her doctors, load in contacts back into new sim if needed.

Then tell her to stop signing up for garbage catfacts and such.
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G Martin 87
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In reply to SJEAg • 2:07p, 10/14/25
AG
SJEAg said:
Whitelist only with a contact list/address book. Should be able to find text history on frequent doctor related messages. At 95 is she tracking and handling all the appointments herself anyway? If so, I am impressed. But my elderly mom never uses texts and she manages to make all her many appts - most doctors offices will call if they have to.
This is a good suggestion.
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flakrat
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In reply to TRD-Ferguson • 3:33p, 10/14/25
AG
TRD-Ferguson said:
My 95 year old mother in law is receiving 80+ unwanted text messages per day from people/organizations she doesn't know. Clearly she's put her phone number out there somehow.

Is there anyway to stop this?

If she has an iPhone, in addition to the ATT app, you can filter text messages from unknown numbers and also filter suspected spam

See this Apple article:
https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/screen-filter-report-and-block-texts-iph203ab0be4/ios

The latest IOS update also does a good job of filtering calls.
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eric76
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3:30p, 10/15/25
AG
It might be worthwhile to just remove the text message app.

If she needs text messages from a select group of people, install Signal on the phone and get people to start using Signal messages instead.
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