- never signed up for anything like this,
- never donated to or signed up for emails from the DNC, et al.,
- political texts like this come all the time, and
- I hesitate to reply “stop” because I don’t want them to know this is a live number (is my instinct here outdated/inapplicable?)
Hey there we’re the krazy kaucasians for Kamala…
Wait a second, let’s just go with White dudes for Harris
You ever see the show Modern Family? I want a new show starring the husband from that show, about a wholesome totally not racist white guy who goes about life COMPLETELY oblivious to how his actions are percieved by other people.
Almost like a not racist version of Mr Magoo.
that could be any of the 4 husbands on that show, to varying degrees. you’ll have to be more specific.
The white one
Honestly, having watched it at some point, I’m fairly sure they mean the one that isn’t an old dude with a young latina trophy wife and is straight.
All those husbands are oblivious to a lot of shit, but that one is the absolute most oblivious lol
For sure don’t in any way respond, just report spam and block the number. Lots of these things are phishing attempts, trying to get you to give personal information (or even money), and aren’t connected to the things they mention.
Lots MostPretty well all of these things are phishing attempts.Follow parent’s advice.
Never, ever, ever respond, even reverse-uno.
Otherwise, you’ve helped them.There’s no “Report Junk” on iOS Messages unless it’s an email address texting you.
Every message I have received on my iPhone from someone not in my contacts has this after that latest message:
Really? I wonder why. Though I’ve always assumed the one on my phone was from Verizon, not the app or the OS.
Respond to nothing. Block everything.
I have a Pixel. I did not realize how bad this gets until work made me take an iPhone as my work phone. Holy hell. No amount of “Delete and report as junk” helps.
Your country is crazy.
I get maybe 3-4 spam messages a year and those are all scams, not ads, much less political ads (which I don’t think would even be legal)
I have never once received one of these messages. Doesn’t happen to everyone.
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Is the reason I dont ever see these because pixel hides these
Lately my Pixel cant even keep up with all of them and some are slipping through. Going into the spam folder is almost comical.
Spam features will keep me in the Pixel lineup’s cold grasp for eternity. I could never deal with OP’s notification tray.
God damn I love my Google phone. Every once in a while I check my call logs and spam text folder to see the hundreds of calls and texts it screens for me, without any notifications. It’s nice
It is easily the most important feature on my phone. The call screening and spam blocking is unparalleled. I don’t think I have had anything blocked that shouldn’t be, and it maybe messes up 5 or less times a year.
Call screening is honestly one of the best features to ever come to a phone. I really wish this could be added to every handset.
Yes! I set it to auto-screen any number that’s not in my contacts. It’s wonderful and I haven’t noticed any frustration from legitimate callers who go through the screening.
is my instinct here outdated/inapplicable?
Yes.
It’s so cheap to send SMS messages, and you don’t pay for undeliverable messages, so they can just send to random numbers.
They also receive deliverability responses for each number. So they know whether a phone received the message whether or not you reply.
Finally, if you reply STOP you’re unlikely to fit their demographic very well anyway. As in… they’re not trying to reach the type of people who will actively try to avoid receiving these messages.
That said, there’s probably no point replying STOP because most firms just wont honor it in the long term. As in they might not message you for the remainder of that particular messaging project (campaign), but they’ll just start a new campaign tomorrow with a new sender and no “STOP” requests.
It’s not like you can even use Do Not Call features on this anyway, political stuff is exempt (though if it’s fraudulent that’s still bitter tampering/intimidation etc.).
“White dudes for Harris”
Your number is on a list of real numbers with real identities associated with them that was sold to them. Data brokers sell this information daily. They already know your number is real, but in order to comply with the law, they have to provide you with a legitimate option to opt out, so you will actually stop receiving correspondence from them if you ask them to stop (it is legally required). If not, they could be subject to a fine, but you’d obviously have to file a complaint with the relevant regulatory body for that.
If you do not attempt to opt out, they cannot be fined for spam if this is part of a legitimate donation campaign. If you don’t reply, they will continue sending messages to you in the future. It costs them almost nothing to do, so even if they didn’t know your number was real, they would do it anyway. Most of the people who donate from these messages don’t reply through text message anyway. And if this were an actual scam, then there is nothing they gain from receiving a text back so long as you do not open their link. But again, in order for legal action to be taken (since these political reach outs are legal and not spam so long as there is an option to opt out), you must first try to opt out.
EDIT: Feel free to block the number after opting out. If they are legitimate (though the name is really fishy), then opting out will remove your number from all of their solicitors’ lists, so you won’t get texts or calls from different numbers working for the same campaign. Again, replying doesn’t give them anything even if it is a scam, as your number was obtained from a real list sold to them by a data broker; they already know the number is in service. Just don’t click the link in the text, and don’t reply with anything other than
stop.Pretty sure they won’t keep messaging me after I blocked their number and reported spam
True, but if you get a new phone and your blocked numbers list is reset, or they send messages from a different number, then you could get them again in the future. I see this often because there are multiple people in that campaign that will all reach out to people with their own phone numbers. Opting out prevents that for legitimate donor campaigns (you are removed from the list for all of the solicitors associated with that campaign), but obviously not for scams. There is no harm in doing both, and I would recommend that (it’s what I do).
It’s ALLLLLLWAYS new numbers and my long-curated block list already has hundreds of numbers.
In that case, you’re best off opting out and seeing if it works. If you get a text from the same group at a later date, then you can report them to the FTC. Please do not do this unless they do not honor your opt out request, as politically affiliated groups are legally allowed to market in this way so long as they provide a means to opt out of communication. Falsely reporting puts strain on the already incredibly underfunded system and prevents real scams from being caught and dealt with due to a lack of resources. I recommend you keep a list of groups you have opted out from that is easily searchable to track this. 4 years ago I got multiple of these texts per day. I have been opting out every time I receive one, and now I have not gotten one in over 2 years. Eventually you will run out of groups to opt out of, and will only be messaged by newly created groups, which will happen much more slowly than all of the groups constantly texting/calling.
Beyond that, there isn’t really much you can do. Your number is on a list, and people are buying that list. Although you could see if putting your number on the national do not call list would help (EDIT: though apparently political organizations are exempt from that on further reading). I have not done this personally, but I came across it while looking up how to report scam texts. Perhaps it could be beneficial to you (who knows?)
Why would my blocked numbers list reset?
Mine reset when I switched phones a couple months ago, and I had to manually add them to my new phone. If I hadn’t noticed, then my blocked numbers list would be empty. Not saying that is a common issue, but it doesn’t hurt to opt out before blocking; just don’t click any links or say anything other than the opt out keyword.
I thought this was the best course of action, too. It was not. New numbers, seemingly infinite, keep spamming me. They are political, seemingly real Democrat-linked entities (but I’m skeptical because this spam is obviously a brain-dead idea). After replying “STOP”, they definitely slowed.
In Australia laws like what you describe exist, but political parties are exempt. I doubt that we’re the only country where that is the case.
While I would have to find the US law and examine it more closely to tell if that is true here, these groups are not actually representatives of political parties. They are groups of self-proclaimed political advocates that try to raise money to host events that raise awareness of their causes for local voters. But they would not qualify for an exemption due to association with a political party, as they are not officially connected to or endorsed by a party.
Yeah, no.
That’s covered by political activity in the same laws. The list of exemptions here is pretty broad and goes well beyond actual officially registered political parties.
Here’s the list for the Australian Privacy Laws: https://www.alrc.gov.au/publication/for-your-information-australian-privacy-law-and-practice-alrc-report-108/41-political-exemption/exemption-for-registered-political-parties-political-acts-and-practices/
And here’s the restrictions around spam: https://www.acma.gov.au/political-calls-emails-and-text-messages
Interesting to note, though another user pointed out that this does not work the same way in the United States (political organizations still have to provide a means to opt out).
welcome to the election season in the United States.
Political messages also are allowed to circumvent the CAN-SPAM act and other messaging regulations. I have plans to just leave my phone in airplane mode until mid-November. Sure, people may think I died, but at least I’ll have peace.
They (politicos) argue it’s necessary to get the word out, one party in particular has a habit of sourcing their messaging through various vendors that may or may not follow the rules.
Legally, they must honor stop. They can be reported and fined too.
…of course in real life, it’s super hard to stop all this trash messaging nobody wants. Wonder how much carbon this spamming generates.
It’s still spam and I’ll report it and block the number every time.
Every 4 years.
First_time_?.jpeg
Remarkably, yeah. I always get a little political text spam, but since early ’24 it’s been harassment.
White dudes for Harris? This name seems a parody
I hate how everyone seems dead set on separating everyone by the color of their skin. Jesus Christ, y’all mind if I just exist as a human instead of what color I am?
Whatever happened to UNITY?
Oh that’s right, Occupy Wall St. happened.
They are a real group. They’re part of a coalition with the White Women for Harris, who raised between $2-$8 million for Kamala Harris. Pantsuit Nation is rising up and New Balance Kingdom is going to match their work.
when it started getting really bad, i started replying stop. it maybe made things a little better but i still get a fair number if these (including this one). it definitely hasn’t made it any worse.
I’ve had decent luck replying with goatse with trump’s face shopped in, gotten multiple ‘i’m just going to unsubscribe you’ messages back hahaha.
Isn’t there a risk that the number you reply to might be a premium rate number, and replying at all might land you a big charge?
I don’t get many of these types of messages, but I always just block them.
I guess I’ll find out. I have wondered if any of these are just scams.
Fingers crossed you don’t get burned!
Political organizations and non-profits are exempt from this list.
True, law needs to be updated.
