topic Re: 7726 spam reporting in Mobile Services

7726 spam reporting

tmobuser — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 08:06:39 GMT

Please can you tell me if there is a problem using the 7726 spam reporting number to forward texts.

Every time I send a message it just bounces back.

The last time I was able to successfully send a message to the number was June 2021.

I have seen in another post about saving the number in contacts but this doesn't fix the issue even though it's marked as a solution

Re: 7726 spam reporting

chistery — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 08:29:56 GMT

What message do you get back? The service works, but your phone could be blocking numbers it thinks are premium rate, for example.

A screenshot of the error might be useful?

Re: 7726 spam reporting

tmobuser — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 12:11:23 GMT

The only message I get is that it could not be sent and it sits there in the message list for the 7726 number with not sent under it

This was the case on my old phone also so don't think it's a phone issue. It's just now I'm getting the chance to sit down and figure it out

I used to just get the alert in Google messages about a possible spam and clicking yes would automatically forward the details on and for some reason it just stopped

Re: 7726 spam reporting

Alex_H — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 13:30:12 GMT

Hi @tmobuser,

Welcome to the EE Community 🙂

Sorry you are having an issue with sending messages to the 7726 number. With you mentioning using Google Messages spam function in the past but it stopped working, if you go into Google Messages, tap your profile at the top right, tap Message Settings then tap Spam protection, is this still enabled?

Within the spam message itself that you want to report if you tap the 3 dots in the top right, are you able to Block and report spam from the menu there and does it then show the message sent in the 7726 message history?

Re: 7726 spam reporting

chistery — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 13:57:44 GMT

If you are flagging messages as spam in Google Messages, that should do the spam reporting for you, and there should be no need to also forward to 7726 I assume?

I seem to remember that when you do send to 7726, there's a pop up about possible charges. I wonder if it's been blocked and it remembers the selection, and then denies future messages? I can't work out where that setting may be though, so it may not be an issue.

Re: 7726 spam reporting

tmobuser — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 14:45:38 GMT

Yes the spam protection is on and I can see the history which is how I managed to see the exact date I last sent one successfully.

It shows all the messages I've tried to send\report since June 2021 with none of them sending

I tested @chistery theory about the possible charges message by unblocking a number\text and then re-reporting and I had the box come up about charges but the only options were yes or cancel no option to remember selection or anything and that message still didn't get through

Re: 7726 spam reporting

bristolian — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 14:47:34 GMT

Android has am OS-level option to give an on-screen warning of potential charges when texting a shortcode number not in 07xxx format.

Search your phone settings for "use premium".

Re: 7726 spam reporting

chistery — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 14:48:32 GMT

Thanks for testing, 😀

Are you on PAYG or Contract? My other thought would be no credit or a spend limit of £0 stops it, even though it's not charged, but again, that's just a guess.

Re: 7726 spam reporting

chistery — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 14:56:22 GMT

Thanks @bristolian That's what I was thinking before but couldn't find it. I now see it on my Samsung but not a Xiaomi (probably called something else)

Re: 7726 spam reporting

tmobuser — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 15:04:14 GMT

I have a setting called premium SMS access but that is already set to allow

Re: 7726 spam reporting

tmobuser — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 15:04:30 GMT

Contract

Re: 7726 spam reporting

Alex_H — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 15:31:55 GMT

Thanks for getting back and confirming those details @tmobuser

If you open up the message you want to report and click those 3 dots in the top right, click Block and report spam and then when the little box pops up, tick to report spam. This should have them forward the text to 7726 on your behalf from your phone, which would be visible in your 7726 message history. It may still fail to send but its worth trying this alternative method to see if it goes through.

Whenever having issues sending messages to a number I would also recommend clearing the cache for your Messages app and also deleting the conversation history for the 7726 number via the 3 dot menu and then delete.

Re: 7726 spam reporting

tmobuser — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 17:04:07 GMT

I'm not sure what's resolved it but I deleted the 7726 chat history, cleared the cache, then unblocked a previous blocked spam and re-reported it and it worked finally 🎉🎉🎉

Hopefully it stays this way but I'll come back here if it doesn't

Thanks for your help

Re: 7726 spam reporting

Alex_H — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 17:26:24 GMT

That is great, I am glad to hear the texts are now sending for you @tmobuser thanks for responding back and letting us know at least one of those steps solved it 🙂

Re: 7726 spam reporting

bjknight — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 15:22:19 GMT

Thanks, Alex.

After going around the EE and Google chat houses, this worked perfectly.

Delete all 7726 messages in Messages. Force stop the app. Clear the cache (not data as google suggested). Restart the app. Manually forward the offending SMS to 7726.

The tech support from Google on this was shockingly poor. It included as a "let's just see" telling me to "uninstall Messages". You know.. the system app "messages" that cannot be uninstalled (without rooting) and for which, even if you only uninstall the updates for the app, you lose the entire of your SMS history data.

Both EE and Google make great products and services but their tech support is just unbelievable.