Simple, free services allow you to block cold calling and malicious text messages.
It is no longer enough to avoid calls, criminals are now using SMS to trick us. Texting scams have been on the rise for several months. You may have already received one of those messages asking you to pay a fee for a parcel stuck at the border, to click on a link to renew your Netflix subscription, or to call a number to update your account. training staff (CPF). Scammers are not lacking in imagination.
A national reporting number for texting
In general, the site to which these SMS sends you is used to extract your personal data, and the number they ask you to call back is chargeable. If it is a simple commercial canvassing SMS, without malicious intent, you generally have the option of replying “STOP” to stop all communication.
If in doubt, do not follow the instructions of the suspicious SMS, and report it by forwarding it to the number 33700. You will then be asked to transmit the number of the sender of the fraudulent SMS. It is a public and free service with most operators (Bouygues Telecom, Orange, SFR, NRJ Mobile, Crédit Mutuel Mobile, CIC Mobile, Cofidis Mobile and Auchan Telecom). Otherwise, it will cost you the price of an SMS.
A setting to block numbers
The problem will be reported to the telephone operator of the sender of the SMS, and will possibly block this line. But the effect is not immediate: it takes several reports for action to be taken.
In the meantime, you have the option to block the nuisance number in your phone settings. If it’s an Android, you need to open the unwanted SMS and go to the settings. Then select “Participants and options” then “Block”. With an iPhone, open the unwanted SMS, click on the contact icon at the top of the screen then on the acronym “i” for “info”. By clicking on the sender number you can choose to “block this correspondent”.
An anti-soliciting platform
Commercial canvassing calls have not disappeared, however. To have peace, there are two possibilities. The first is to register with the State service Bloctel, in line or by mail. Once you are registered, companies no longer have the right to call you to canvass you, under penalty of a fine. The service is effective from 30 days following your registration. If despite everything you continue to be disturbed, you can do an online report.
You also have the option of blocking correspondents. With an Android smartphone, you have to go to your call history, choose the number that approached you, and block it. With an iPhone, you must also go to your call history, select the number and then click on the “i” symbol. At the bottom of the contact card, the “block this correspondent” button appears.
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