ByWhat’s Up With WhatsApp Spam Text Messages? Stop Them and Get Revenge
Spam texts are a common occurrence on messaging apps like WhatsApp. They’re texts that try to trick you into believing that they’re sent by someone you know or by someone you should trust. They aim to get your personal or financial information by deception. Avoiding spam text messages isn’t simple, and they can pop up again, even after you’ve blocked dozens of senders.
DoNotPay has recognized this threat and come up with a solution that goes a step further than just blocking the spam texts. Have a look at our guide for recognizing and getting rid of WhatsApp spam text messages.
What Are Spam Texts Anyway?
Spam texts are messages that try to scam you out of your money or personal information. They pretend to be one of your friends or acquaintances and try to get you to click on malicious links. Some will try to impersonate WhatsApp officials or customer support to add legitimacy to their messages.
You’ve probably come across countless spam emails and texts by now. Tech-savvy folk might think that they can avoid spam text scams, but the scammers are getting cleverer every day. Today’s spam texts are a lot harder to discern from legitimate messages.
How Do I Recognize WhatsApp Spam Texts?
While spam text senders try their best to create authentic-sounding texts, they fall short of this goal more often than not. When you receive a message that seems to come from a friend, coworker, or WhatsApp official, but doesn’t sound right, you can be sure that it’s a spam or hoax text.
There are a few recognizable signs that the message you’ve received isn’t what it seems:
|
Text Language | The language will always be slightly off, as spam senders aren’t always proficient in English. Fake messages from familiar numbers won’t have the same syntax or sentence form that you’re used to seeing from them |
| Text Content |
There is lots of urgency in these messages, which will try to get you to reveal information or click on links as soon as possible. They might pose as family emergency texts to get you to act fast. |
|
Sender Numbers |
Spam text numbers tend to be unusually long compared to normal sender numbers. An unidentified 11-digit number is most certainly a sign of a spam message |
How Do I Avoid WhatsApp Spam Texts?
The most straightforward way to get rid of spam texts sent from a particular sender is to block them in WhatsApp. The process doesn’t take longer than a minute. Here’s how you block spam texts on Android devices:
- Open WhatsApp
- Press the spam text message
- Navigate to the menu icon and press Block
You can also report a spam message by pressing Report Spam from the same menu.
To stop spam texts on iPhone, you have to go through the contact list and find the sender. At the bottom of the screen, you can choose to Block or Report Spam.
There’s no guarantee that you’ll be free of spam after following these steps. The sender might change numbers and continue to send spam text messages to your number. Other spam senders will also send messages, but blocking them can provide temporary relief from spam.
Other common scams include WhatsApp group spam text messages. Random numbers can add you to these groups as long as your settings allow it. You can visit the Privacy>Group tab and change the setting to avoid being added by strangers.
Are WhatsApp Spam Texts Illegal?
Sending bulk messages on WhatsApp isn’t illegal, but using them for malicious purposes is. False or misleading information is forbidden under the CAN-SPAM act. If a spam text sender tries to steal your financial information or use your credit card without your permission, you can take action. While it may be difficult to track down a spam text sender, there are ways to reveal their identity.
DoNotPay Will Help You Get Revenge for WhatsApp Text Spam
Blocking a spam text sender doesn’t provide any closure, and the sender won’t suffer any consequences for their actions. This is where DoNotPay comes in. Our handy AI assistant offers a way to get back at the people sending you spam texts.
Scammers are mostly looking to steal your money, but they can’t do that without using your credit card for a transaction. You could find out some information about them once they make a transaction, but who wants to risk giving away their real credit card?
You can use DoNotPay’s free virtual credit card instead. Here’s how it works:
- Follow through with the spam text and wait for the sender to ask for your credit card details
- When this happens, open DoNotPay in your
- Choose Robo Revenge tab
- Press Create Your Card on the right side of the screen and send the scammer the credit card details that our app generates
- Once they make a transaction, you’ll be able to access information about them
You can then use this information to file a claim against them and demand compensation. You’ll have plenty of evidence available—like the spam texts and transaction attempts—to bolster your case. DoNotPay can even send a letter automatically to demand compensation for the attempted scam.
What Are the Most Common Types of WhatsApp Text Spam?
What most WhatsApp spam messages have in common is that they try to get you to:
- Forward a message
- Click on a malicious link
- Reveal personal or financial information
Scammers use lots of different methods to mask their goals and trick people into following their instructions.
Messages that urge you to forward them could just be ads or political posts that people want to propagate, but they can also contain malicious links.
Here are a few examples of common WhatsApp spam texts:
| Text |
What It Means |
|
A message that’s been forwarded multiple times (indicated by a double-arrow forward icon) | A form of spam or fake news that someone is trying to push |
| WhatsApp Gold links |
Malicious links trying to get you to pay for a fake WhatsApp service |
|
WhatsApp Expiration | Malicious links trying to get you to pay to extend your WhatsApp service |
| Shopping Voucher offers |
Attempts to get your personal information through a survey |
|
Two Factor Authentication messages | Messages trying to mimic legitimate 2FA messages, which you will only receive through direct SMS |
| Messages from unrecognized numbers |
Either an acquaintance that changed their number or a spam message |
Some Other Administrative Tasks DoNotPay Can Help You With
DoNotPay is a versatile virtual assistant that can help you with more than just getting rid of spam texts. We offer a wide variety of services online and offline. Want to claim compensation for delayed flights? We’ll help you learn a thing or two about your airline passenger rights and get you the compensation you deserve. Thinking of disputing a parking ticket, but don’t know how? Our AI Consumer Champion app will show you how it works.
Whether you need help with lowering your bills or getting chargebacks on Cash App, we can jump in and solve the issue in a jiffy.
You can access our app from your and start using the dozens of features that DoNotPay offers. Here’s a handy list of tasks we can simplify:
- Contesting parking tickets
- Dealing with bills you are unable to pay
- Protecting yourself from stalking and harassment
- Getting refunds from any company
- Dealing with issues with credit cards
- Canceling subscriptions or memberships
- Disputing traffic tickets
- Jumping the phone queue when getting in touch with customer service reps
- Fighting speeding tickets
- Getting revenge on robocalls
- Suing people and companies in small claims court
- Scheduling a DMV appointment fast and easy
- Getting refunds and compensation for delayed or canceled flights
- Freeing yourself from spam mail forever
- Signing up for free trials risk-free
- Getting rid of spam text messages
- Applying for clinical trials
- Protecting your work against copyright infringement