I Replied to a Spam Text. What Do I Do?

Spam text messages are on the rise. From scams designed to trick recipient’s into clicking links to spoof websites, to spam about diet pills. They’re a nuisance. But what happens if you reply to them, and does this mean you can be “hacked” or scammed?

The answer depends very much on what exactly you replied with.

We should first note that you should never respond to an unsolicited spam text. Ever. Even if you’re just giving the sender a piece of your mind. That’s because up until that point, the spammer probably didn’t know if your phone number was real or if it was actively being used.

Spammers will often send out countless messages to any combination of numbers that could potentially make-up a phone number. If you reply, you’ve proven that your phone number is real and in use. The spammer will then likely sell your number to other spammers or cyber-crooks, meaning you’ll get more spam texts, many which may be designed to try and scam you.

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The text may even ask you to type STOP to stop receiving text messages. This is a ploy to lure recipients into replying and proving their number exists.

But I replied to a spam text. Now what?

But you may very well be reading this because you’ve already replied to a spam text. What then?

If you replied with STOP, or just decided to let the spammer know what you thought of their unsolicited messages (very politely, we’re sure) then you’ll probably get more spam messages as we pointed out above, but this doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to be scammed or hacked. Replying to a message doesn’t give crooks access to your phone or online accounts (unless you replied with sensitive information, more on that below.)

In which case, the best course of action is to report the spam text message by forwarding it to 7726 if you’re in the UK or USA. This forwards the text to your phone company who can investigate further or warn others. If the text was representing a particular company or organisation, then you may be able to also report the message directly with them. Check out our sister site ThatsFake to see if they have that company or organisation listed in their database.

Because you’re now potentially a target for scammers, you should read up on about scam texts work and the different tricks crooks use to scam people. ThatsFake.com has some tips here.

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You can also block the number that sent you the message in your phone’s settings. But of course scammers and spammers can easily spoof phone numbers, so unfortunately this is akin to a game of whack-a-mole. The reality is that once scammers have your number and know it is active, there isn’t a lot you can do to stop unwanted text messages in the future other than ignore them and block any future numbers they messages you from (and keep on reporting them, of course.)

I replied to a spam text with sensitive information

If you’ve replied with sensitive information, then you need to take a more pro-active approach. For example, if you’ve replied with any information relating to your bank accounts (bank account number, PIN, passwords, card number) then you need to contact your bank or credit card company immediately and let them know what has happened. (The same applies if you clicked a link and entered financial information into a spoof website.)

All banks and card issuers will have security centres designed to deal with these types of incidents, and contacting them straight away will reduce your chances of criminals stealing your money.

You should also contact law enforcement. In the UK, that is Action Fraud here. In the United States you can report it to the FBI via the Internet Crime Complaint Center here.

If you replied with sensitive information pertaining to any other type of account (eBay, PayPal etc.) then you need to contact that company and let them know what has happened. If you replied with a password (a big no-no) then you need to change that password immediately. (Again, the same applies if you entered a password into a spoof website.)

For more information on avoiding scam text messages, check out this article on ThatsFake.com.