Man, I'm seeing a huge increase in texting scams. It used to be folks would text something that stated the reason for the text. You had the option to respond or not. You could also respond "STOP" or something similar to be taken off the list. Totally different now.

I just got a text that said "I'm at the coffee shop diagonally opposite the Children's Hospital. Are you nearby?" Obviously a scam.

1. It came from a 437 area code. This is not even in my state. I do realize that with cell phones now, you may or may not have the same "home" area code anymore. However, it still raises the red flag partially up the flag pole.

2. It said they are by the "Children's Hospital". In my town, we don't have a children's hospital. One of the hospitals has a children's wing in it, but that's as close as it gets.

3. I'm by the "coffee shop". The one hospital that has a children's wing has plenty of "coffee shops" by it. If you're there, you know which one you're at.

These aren't hard to pick out and we never respond. The thing is, IT'S CONSTANT! The one or two a week has turned into 10 a day or more. Real Estate Agents are THE WORST with this too. Maybe it's because of the business I'm in, so I'm targeted more by them. I'm not sure. It's certainly quite annoying though.

Anyway, my rant is over. I am off my soap box and headed to the garage to store it back where it goes. I hope yall have a good rest of your week!

PS - get signed up for convention! I'd like to have a barley pop (we call it pop here, you might call it soda. The barley portion is what sets it apart, haha!), or whatever your drink of choice may be, with folks and swap nightmare stories. I get a kick out of those!

Mark as spam and continue on with life. Takes 3 seconds.

Also, I am curious what phone and service you have. Many services are getting better about blocking this before it reaches you -- and some phones (like Google Pixels) are very good about blocking it if it does reach your phone.

John - oh, we do block it. It always seems to come from a different number however.

Yes, probably related. Also, Verizon SELLS their "Call Filter" service to block spam calls, so they have an incentive to allow those calls unless you pay them more. (Although, I'm not sure that system even blocks texts -- Verizon isn't clear on that.)

Another option would be to get a dual-SIM phone that allows two real lines -- it might have better anti-spam support that way.

Finally, you might move to a phone like the Google Pixel which seems to do a better job with their built-in call screening. Although, even then, you're going to get text scams probably.

I have gotten the EZ pass texts as well.

Easy enough to tell they were scams as I have not been thru a toll booth in years.

Blocking numbers does not work as they spoof the numbers nearly all the time. You can block that number but the legit person who owns it might try contacting you some day.

Had a tenant get a spam call from MY number. She contacted me after and told me what was going on.

I have a similar issue, but it's usually email. I get the same email from 3 different addresses..."SALE on flags!" or "pay your bridge toll now to avoid fees". We sometimes drive from Indiana to Kentucky, and there is a bridge with a camera-toll system that will automatically send you a toll notice...so that one seems real...but I always wait for the real mailed bill from them to pay.

That's the thing, they are not really calling from those numbers.

VOIP and number spoofing.