According to a recent repot from the Arizona PIRG Education Fund, robotexts are the next generation of scams. The FCC received over 15,000 consumer complaints about unwanted text messages. Meanwhile, data from other sources reaffirm evidence of the problem. For example, RoboKiller estimated consumer received over 12 billion spam texts were in June 2022.
Spam texts have surged over the past year, jumping from 1 billion sent per month in July 2021, to more than 12 billion as of June, according to RoboKiller, a service specializing in blocking unwanted calls and texts.
Last year, acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed new rules requiring wireless carriers to block illegal texts. In a statement released last October, the agency said complaints about unwanted text messages in 2020 more than doubled from the year before.
Consumers who have filed complaints with the FCC say some of the texts resemble email spam, with links to unwanted and unsolicited products. But many of the texts appear to be ploys to steal valuable personal or financial information. Some recipients have been pressured to “login” to a fake bank web site to verify a purchase or unlock a credit card that was frozen. Others use package delivery updates as phishing bait.
