I learned something that apparently has been a thing for at least four years. If you get those spam texts, you can report them to your service provider by forwarding the spam messages to 7726, which spells “spam”. Depending on your provider, what happens after that may vary, but pretty much any North American provider seems to have this spam-reporting mechanism available. Here is what Rogers says they do.
Should a spam message still get through, you can report it to 7726 (SPAM). Doing so helps us to identify new types of spam messages and improve our filters for all users.
What should I do if I receive SMS spam?
First, don’t click on any links (URLs) in the message. Doing so may expose your device to malicious web pages or cause apps containing viruses/malware to be installed on your device.
Next, report the suspicious or unsolicited message for investigation by forwarding it via text message (SMS) to 7726 (SPAM). Keep in mind that only message content is considered for blocking, not the sender’s telephone number, as they tend to change often.
To forward a message on an Android device:
1. If you haven’t already, tap the message to open the conversation view.
2. Once you’re in the conversation view, press and hold the message content you want to forward, then tap the forward arrow when it appears in the top menu.
3. Tap New Message on the next screen.
4. Enter 7726 in the To: field and tap the checkmark to accept. Tap SMS to send the forwarded message.
To forward a message from iOS:
1. If you haven’t already, tap the message to open the conversation view.
2. In the conversation view, press and hold the message until More… appears, then press it.
3. The message you pressed and held will be selected. If applicable, check off any additional messages in the conversation that you want to forward. Tap the forward arrow to continue.
4. Enter 7726 in the To: field and press the send button.
I had accumulated quite a stack of spam messages, so I sent them all in. It felt good to put them to some kind of use. Hopefully it means more spam texts get filtered out. And hopefully I wasn’t the last to find out about this.