How I Finally Stopped Spam Texts on my Android 12 Phone

I managed to avoid dreaded spam texts on my Samsung phone for years. I had received unwanted texts from time to time, but after a few days, they stopped. Then my luck ran out. I began to receive spam texts. This time they didn't stop after a few days. For weeks, they kept coming to my phone running the Android version 12 OS. I received just one text a day, but that once a day was annoying. Blocking the numbers was useless because the texts came from a different number each time.

Spam texts aren't just annoying. They are dangerous. Attackers often use SMS phishing or "smishing" attacks to trick people into divulging personal information or clicking malware-ridden links. Phishing is an attempt to acquire people's personal information like passwords, social security numbers, and credit card numbers by masquerading as trustworthy entities like banks, major retailers, delivery services, or government agencies.

Verizon advises customers to forward spam texts, particularly those claiming to be from Verizon to S-P-A-M (7726).

I used the Messages app that came as a default on my Samsung S10e phone, running the Android OS. The first thing I tried was blocking the spam texts through the Messages app, which uses Hiya. Unfortunately, enabling Spam Protection had zero impact. The spam texts kept coming. I then tried the Verizon Messages+ app, only to find out it doesn't have any spam blocking capabilities.

Don't click on spam text messages. Doing so confirms that you are a real person and a potential target to the spammers. Sometimes spammers try to trick their targets into responding by saying, "text STOP to be removed from our mailing list" or something similar.

I finally resolved the problem by installing Google Messages from the Google

Play Store. Messages is "Google's official app for texting (SMS, MMS) and chat (RCS)." Click the three dots in the right-hand corner to access Settings. Then go to Spam Protection and Enable Spam Protection in Google Messages Settings. Since I installed this app, I haven't received any unwanted texts. You can see what messages are being blocked by clicking the three dots in the right-hand corner of the app and choosing "Spam & blocked" messages. 
If Google Messages does let a spam text go through, you can report it as spam. This automatically blocks the sender and moves the message to the "Spam & blocked" folder. To block a message, go to the three dots in the right-hand corner, click Details, then choose "Block & report Spam."

Thankfully Google Messages has worked for me so far. It has been a free and easy-to-use spam protection feature. Hopefully, it will continue to block unwanted text messages in the future.