SCAM texts are rife and a clever iPhone geek has come up with a way to get your own back on the fraudsters.
Whether it’s fake delivery notifications or dubious HMRC fines, spam has skyrocketed in recent years.
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Not everyone is aware that there is an official scam busting team in the UK that block numbers suspected of trying it on.
The spam reporting service has proven successful so far, helping the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) take down 153,000 dodgy sites as of May.
But you have to manually text the number, 7726, yourself, forwarding the contents of the message and the all-important number being used.
An iPhone expert has revealed on Reddit a much easier way that allows your phone to forward suspected spam onto 7726 automatically, without requiring as much faff from you.
It allows you to review text before – to make sure it’s not a mate – and then does all the sending for you.
It’s a long and slightly complicated process to set up, but once it’s done you’ll save loads of time in future.
How to automatically report scam texts
First up, you’ll need to save the 7726 number as a contact through usual way, by opening the Phone app and going to Contacts.
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After that, you’ve got to open the Shortcuts app and find Automation along the bottom.
Tap the + sign in the top right, then the Create Personal Automation button.
Scroll down and find Message from the list.
On the next screen, choose Message Contains and type “http”, then hit Done.
Tap Next.
Now, type “show alert” at the bottom and select it when the option shows up.
Change the text to, “Do you want to report spam?”
Look for Select Variable along the bottom and slide along until you see Shortcut Input at the end, and select it.
Go back to the search box at the bottom and this time search “Send Message” and tap once it appears in the list.
In the box that appears above, tap Message and scroll along the options from the bottom and select Shortcut Input again.
Tap Shortcut Input once it appears above and tick Content.
Next, tap Recipients and select the spam contact number under whatever name you chose.
Search for “Wait” below and select it.
Change the seconds to 10 seconds.
Search one last time, this time for “send message” again.
Tap the Message text and scroll along to Shortcut Input.
Tap on Shortcut Input when it appears above and change it to Sender.
Select Recipients and find your spam contact number again.
Finally, search “Stop This Shortcut” and tap it.
Tap Next in the top right, followed by Done.
Now, whenever you get a suspected spam text, a notification will appear asking you whether it’s good or bad.
If it is a scam, there’s a button to send it onto officials for checking.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
