How to Stop Spam Texts and Smishing Scams

"UPS: we couldn't deliver your package due to an unpaid address fee. Update your delivery here." It's 2 p.m., you do have something coming, and the link looks plausible. That's how smishing — phishing by SMS — works: it piggybacks on a real expectation, a delivery, a bank alert, a toll charge, and turns it into a tap on a malicious link. Spam texts have surged in recent years, and they cost Americans far more than annoying calls. Here's how to shut them down.

The most common smishing texts

Recognizing the scripts does most of the work:

• Delivery problems: USPS, UPS, or FedEx texts asking for a small "redelivery" or "customs" fee. The real carriers don't collect payment by text link, and a legitimate shipping notice comes with your tracking number, not a generic payment page.
• Bank fraud alerts: "Unusual activity on your account — verify now." The goal is your online-banking login, and then the codes your bank texts you.
• Zelle and payment-app scams: a "fraud alert" that asks you to "reverse" a Zelle transfer by sending money to yourself — which actually sends it to the scammer.
• Toll and DMV texts: unpaid tolls or license issues with a payment link. Many state tolling authorities have publicly warned they don't collect tolls by SMS.
• Prizes, gift cards, and "wrong number" openings that lead into a friendly-sounding scam.

Red flags in any text message

• Urgency: "within 24 hours," "account will be closed," "final notice."
• A link that almost matches: usps-parcel-redelivery.com instead of usps.com, or a shortened URL that hides the destination.
• A request for money or personal data: SSN, card numbers, one-time codes.
• A code you didn't request: if a verification code arrives unsolicited and someone calls asking for it, that's an account takeover attempt.
• Wrong-number openers that turn flirtatious or friendly — the gateway to "pig butchering" investment scams.

When in doubt, don't tap. Go to the company's official website or app yourself and check the status there.

Filter spam texts on Android

In Google Messages:

1. Open Messages → Settings (your profile icon or three-dot menu).
2. Turn on Spam protection.

You can also Report spam from any conversation (three-dot menu), which forwards the message to Google and blocks the sender. Blocking individual numbers works too, but scammers rotate numbers constantly, so reporting matters more.

Filter spam texts on iPhone

On iOS:

1. Go to Settings → Messages.
2. Enable Filter Unknown Senders — messages from numbers not in your contacts move to a separate tab.
3. On unknown-sender messages, tap Report Junk above the message to delete it and send it to Apple and your carrier.

To block a number: open the conversation, tap the number at the top, tap ⓘ, then Block this Caller. Unknown senders stay hidden in their own list rather than cluttering your inbox.

Report, don't just delete

Deleting a spam text protects only you. Reporting protects everyone:

• Forward the text to 7726 (SPAM) — free on all major US carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon). Your carrier uses it to block the sender at the network level.
• Report the scam to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Complaints drive investigations and enforcement.
• If the text impersonates a specific company, report it through that company's fraud or phishing page as well.

Deleting versus reporting — and why it matters

The delete button feels productive, but it removes your only evidence and leaves the scammer's infrastructure intact. Reporting takes ten seconds and feeds the same network-level filters and carrier blocking that make spam harder and more expensive to send. The best habit: report, then delete.

If you already tapped the link: if you entered card details, call your bank immediately, freeze the card, and dispute the charges. If you entered account credentials, change the password right away and turn on two-factor authentication. If you sent money through Zelle or a gift card, report it to the payment service or the gift-card issuer as fast as you can — recovery odds drop by the hour.

Stack your defenses

Built-in filtering plus 7726 reporting handles a lot. For texts designed to evade filters — new senders, spoofed brand names, keyword-stuffed messages — a dedicated blocker like NoCall adds another layer by identifying known scam numbers and messages before you open them. Combined with a healthy "no link, go to the app instead" reflex, spam texts become a minor nuisance instead of a bank-draining threat.

One last rule worth tattooing on your thumb: no legitimate company asks for payment or codes by text link. When the message pushes urgency, slow down — that's exactly the reaction it's engineered to prevent.