Scam Texts Read Reports

[Isroll Powers]

I've been getting lots of scam texts mostly asking for david, but all of them have been saying they can send a read report. This read report system seems really flawed and shouldn't even exist truly. Even if I delete them from the text list without ever clicking on them it says "A read report will be sent" it has the options "Ok" and "Cancel" I have a sneaking suspicion that cancel doesn't actually work and they are getting these reports. My phone has been slowly getting glitchy and unpredictable, honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it had over 10 viruses. Since all it would take is a reply for someone to send a virus I feel this read report may be capable of doing the same, but instead backing you in a corner to receive viruses or forever lose every conversation you ever had because they use a random new number every single time and send almost a hundred of them per month. I'm getting very very very very annoyed by this and there is no defense for me. I would very much recommend you not only protect the last platform of texting with any privacy left but not let that be loop hole for viruses to get on my phones, I'm getting a new Android phone soon because this, but this one is the samsung J3 luna pro

 

[MoodyBlues]

Welcome to Android Forums, Isroll Powers!

I'm sorry you're having such an annoying problem. Perhaps someone will have suggestions or advice for dealing with it. I have no personal experience with blocking texts, but I've seen Textra recommended by members I trust; I believe it has spam/scam controls. You might want to try that.

I would very much recommend you not only protect the last platform of texting with any privacy left but not let that be loop hole for viruses to get on my phones

This is a user-run forum, not an official branch of Android's tree, so, unfortunately, it's unlikely that anyone involved with Android's development will see, or react to, your comments here. Google does have official channels you can go through if you're interested in that approach.

 

[Isroll Powers]

Ah well I guess I can hope

 

[mikedt]

I've been getting lots of scam texts mostly asking for david, but all of them have been saying they can send a read report. This read report system seems really flawed and shouldn't even exist truly. Even if I delete them from the text list without ever clicking on them it says "A read report will be sent" it has the options "Ok" and "Cancel" I have a sneaking suspicion that cancel doesn't actually work and they are getting these reports. My phone has been slowly getting glitchy and unpredictable, honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it had over 10 viruses. Since all it would take is a reply for someone to send a virus I feel this read report may be capable of doing the same, but instead backing you in a corner to receive viruses or forever lose every conversation you ever had because they use a random new number every single time and send almost a hundred of them per month. I'm getting very very very very annoyed by this and there is no defense for me. I would very much recommend you not only protect the last platform of texting with any privacy left but not let that be loop hole for viruses to get on my phones, I'm getting a new Android phone soon because this, but this one is the samsung J3 luna pro

That's something I've never seen before.

Are they standard SMS or MMS, or is it some other message app and/or service you're using

 

[Isroll Powers]

I use the base messaging system my phone came with, and I have Strait Talk service

 

[Hadron]

I've been getting lots of scam texts mostly asking for david, but all of them have been saying they can send a read report. This read report system seems really flawed and shouldn't even exist truly. Even if I delete them from the text list without ever clicking on them it says "A read report will be sent" it has the options "Ok" and "Cancel" I have a sneaking suspicion that cancel doesn't actually work and they are getting these reports. My phone has been slowly getting glitchy and unpredictable, honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it had over 10 viruses. Since all it would take is a reply for someone to send a virus I feel this read report may be capable of doing the same, but instead backing you in a corner to receive viruses or forever lose every conversation you ever had because they use a random new number every single time and send almost a hundred of them per month. I'm getting very very very very annoyed by this and there is no defense for me. I would very much recommend you not only protect the last platform of texting with any privacy left but not let that be loop hole for viruses to get on my phones, I'm getting a new Android phone soon because this, but this one is the samsung J3 luna pro

I'd be surprised if your phone has any viruses, because "virus" is a specific class of malware that doesn't actually exist for Android . The type of malware you need to be aware of is the "trojan", i.e. malware hidden in an app that you install. So if you want to avoid malware the top tip is to be sensible about what you install and particularly where you install apps from.

But the important point here is that you cannot send a virus to an android phone by SMS. At most an SMS could include a link which could download malware if you clicked on it, but even then you'd have to be stupid enough to then go and install the downloaded app. And a read report cannot send you anything.

But then I'm not sure that these are SMS messages. The reason is that SMS don't produce "read reports", only "delivery reports", and they are generated by the network when it delivers to the phone rather than by the SMS app when you open the message. Hence if this "read report" notification isn't some sort of joke on your carrier's part it cannot be a standard SMS app that you are using - that sounds more like the sort of system that internet-based message apps use (WhatsApp, FB Messenger, iMessage, etc), except those don't notify you that they are sending a read report or let you cancel. So any info you can provide on this unusual app you are using would be interesting.

Does your message app let you block senders? If not, install a better one from the Play Store and blacklist the number that is sending you this junk. @MoodyBlues has already named one app that can do this.

As for the phone running slow, the truth is that an old, low-end Samsung running slowly, especially one with carrier bloatware on it, is not really that surprising. There is no need to assume a malware infection to explain that.

 

[Isroll Powers]

I'm able to block numbers, it's the text message system that came with the phone, Idk why it sends "read reports" instead of anything else, or that it was uncommon. I'm not sure what's going on but the phone often.... well, I'm not so lucky with technology it seems. Things that don't even have internet connection seems to do things others deem impossible. I don't know what kind of viruses can get on my phone and what not but I've accidentally clicked while scrolling on Facebook's messanger on what is obviously not trustable links twice now as well. I think it may have been caused by my number being on my old facebook profile before removing which soon after and ever since I've had never ending scam calls. I don't click any links, and I read on google at some point sending messages could invite trojan viruses. Googles been very unreliable. I'm hoping to make my next phone at leaste not be constantly bombarded by scam callers and texts. I'll look into those apps or anything else of the same result to protect it. Something about those "read reports" disturbed me greatly. Thinking back this phone has likely had over 50 games downloaded and deleted and any wear down on tech for me is chaotic regardless for reasons I'm yet to understand. And I mean things like swiping around and clicking random things while I'm not touching it, sometimes just turing on and unlocking itself every other hour. Things to avoid next time around I hope, thanks for your helpfulness, your already more reliable than google