Americans receive a significant amount of spam text messages daily. In February 2025, Robokiller reports indicated that Americans received 19.2 billion spam texts, according to SlickText. This translates to roughly 63 spam texts per person (which is two per day, on average). I’m sure some of you feel you get far more than two a day!

Spam texts can take many forms in that they can be from scammers or blast marketing campaigns (either from a business or consumer perspective). Either way, they are unwanted disruptions.

While email spam remains a significant problem, text spam has become arguably more prevalent and problematic due to their ease of distribution and higher potential for immediate, intrusive engagement. They are harder to avoid than email spam, making them a more urgent issue for many of us.

Responding to spam texts can lead to further scams and malicious activity, potentially including malware downloads or financial theft.

What To Do?

The best advice is to rely on your Contact List. If the text is not recognized by your phone or tablet as someone in your Contact List, it will only show the phone number. Such texts should be immediately deleted.

If the text is not from someone you know, don’t let FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) control your urge to open it, read it and respond to it. Whatever you do, DO NOT reply to the text! Simply delete it. You aren’t missing out on anything good or beneficial.

In addition, we want you to be aware there are still situations where people in our Contact List have had their email or phone messaging systems hacked. Always contact (call) that person and confirm if they sent you something with a link or a file requesting you to click to open it. You might find they were indeed hacked.

In the next two Board Briefs, we will look at some examples of unwanted texts you should immediately delete. It’s that important.

Our Advice

In today’s world, securing your Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is your responsibility and the more you Stop, Think and Consider what action to take in your digital communications, the more likely you can avoid scams and protect your PII.

Whatever your financial need, we’re here to help.