Helping Stop Unsolicited Marketing Texts

Until the last few months I barely ever got any unsolicited marketing texts.  Then for no apparent reason, a few months ago, I started to received a range of odd marketing texts. The text above is the one I received today. I've no idea why I should have started receiving texts from this shower since I'm fortunate enough not to have had any loans or debts for many many years.

Determined to try and stem the trickle lest it should turn into a flow,  I spent five minutes on the iPad with my Google finger and found that there are a few things you can do.

It seems that policing these texts is the responsibility of the Information Commissioner's Office. They offer the following advice.

If you receive a marketing by text message which you think breaches the Regulations and you are able to identify the sender, you should write to or email the organisation concerned. 

If you know who the message is from, you can also try to opt out from further messages by texting ‘STOP’ to the telephone number or 5-digit short code shown in the text message. Tell the sender about the problem and allow them time to put things right.

If you continue to receive marketing by text message the ICO may be able to help.

The ICO say they're aware of an increase in people receiving unwanted marketing texts from organisations who do not to identify themselves. They advise us to tell them about it.

They also say that when you don't know who the sender is or if the message does not come from a company you are familiar with you should not respond to the message at all, including sending 'STOP' as this may confirm your number is live. 

You can also report messages to your network operator, who may be able to prevent further spam from the originating number. Unfortunately as the numbers often change, your network provider cannot guarantee to stop all unsolicited messages. You can either contact your network operator’s customer services, or forward spam text messages to 7726 (SPAM).

I guess the more of us that get reporting, the easier it will be for the ICO and network operators to deal with the problem.