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Time and again, spammers and scammers use text messages to send annoying advertising or dangerous messages. If you have received a suspicious message, you can report the text message. Where is the best place to do this?
Who you report a text message to depends on the content. Depending on whether it is “just” annoying advertising or a fake text message with phishing intentions, you should contact a different department. Telekom customers with an iPhone will have a convenient option to report spam text messages at the end of 2023.
Report dangerous fake text messages to the police
No matter who the text message comes from, if the sender is unknown or the content seems strange, you should not follow any links or call back. There is no danger in simply reading the message, but as soon as you respond to it, it can become dangerous and expensive. How to report fake text messages:
- If you have received a text message from DHL, Amazon, the tax office, or another well-known company or organization, you can contact the relevant customer service. Do not use the number from the text message, but the known hotline numbers or other official contact channels.
This way, you can make sure whether it is a genuine message or whether fraudsters are misusing a well-known name. If you report the text message to a known company, you can help curb fraud attempts. For example, customer service can alert other users to current fraud attempts via social channels.
Via SMS & emails: Fraudsters pretend to be FinanzOnline
If it turns out to be a fake text message, contact the police. This is particularly important if you have already fallen for the scam and have logged into a phishing site or entered credit card details on a fake site, for example.
You can also file a complaint with the police online.
Note: If you have followed links from fake text messages, you should not only report the messages but also take measures to protect yourself, your data and your bank account. You can find out exactly what to do in our guide. Fake text messages opened—what to do?
To protect yourself from unwanted messages in the future, you can block certain users from receiving text messages.
Report annoying advertising SMS
If you receive unwanted advertising on your smartphone via text message, there is not much point in reporting it to the police. The Federal Network Agency is responsible for advertising text messages. You can complain to them about the advertising nuisance.
The Federal Network Agency can take action against the advertising operators and, for example, issue the companies with a warning or impose more drastic penalties. A complaint can be made directly online using a corresponding form. This applies to text messages as well as advertising via WhatsApp and other messenger services.
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