What Are Spam Text Messages and How to Report Them?

Spam text messages are unwanted texts that land on your phone and try to sell you something, scare you, or trick you into clicking a link. 

Some are just annoying marketing messages. Others are full-on scams designed to steal money, passwords, bank details, or personal information. 

In the UK, the main reporting route is simple: suspicious scam texts can usually be forwarded to 7726 for free, and nuisance marketing texts can also be reported to the ICO.  

The reason these messages catch people out is that they rarely look dramatic. They are built to feel ordinary. A fake parcel fee. A bank alert. A “your tax refund is waiting” message. 

A text from a random number pretending to be your son or daughter. That is what makes them work. They hit when you are busy, distracted, or already expecting something.  

How to Identify Spam Text Messages? 

Spam text messages usually have one job: get you to act fast before you think properly. That is why they often include urgency, a warning, or a reward. 

You will see things like “your parcel cannot be delivered until you pay £1.45,” “your bank account has been locked,” or “you are owed a refund.” 

Sometimes they look scruffy. Sometimes they look polished enough to make you pause.  

A real example is the fake delivery text. You are waiting for a parcel, so the message lands at the perfect wrong moment. 

Another common one is the fake bank alert. It arrives late at night, says there is suspicious activity, and pushes you to click immediately. 

Then there is the “Hi Mum” or “Hi Dad” text from an unknown number, trying to start a conversation and move into a money request. The wording changes, but the pattern is the same: pressure first, thinking second.  

How To Tell if a Text is Spam? 

The quickest test is this: does the text want you to click, reply, pay, or panic? 

That is usually the giveaway. 

If the message is unexpected, asks for urgent action, includes a strange link, or sounds slightly off, treat it with suspicion. 

The same applies if the sender claims to be from a bank, delivery company, HMRC, or another official body but the message feels oddly pushy. 

Legitimate organisations do contact people by text sometimes, but scam texts rely on the fact that most of us do not stop to double-check in the moment.  

In our testing, the easiest habit is this: never trust the text itself. If it claims to be from your bank, open your banking app directly. If it claims to be about a parcel, check your delivery account or order history yourself. If it claims to be from a government department, go to the official website manually rather than using the link in the message. That one habit cuts out a lot of risk.  

How to Report Spam Text Messages? 

If the text looks like a scam, do not reply and do not tap the link. Forward it to 7726 instead. 

That short code is used by UK mobile providers so they can investigate the source and block or ban malicious senders where possible. 

The National Cyber Security Centre advices reporting suspicious texts to 7726 is free and only takes a minute.  

Here is the easiest way to deal with it: 

• If your provider asks for the sender’s number, send that too.  
• Do not click anything in the text.  
• Forward the message to 7726.  
• Delete the message once you are done.  

If the message is more of a nuisance marketing text than a scam, you can also report it through the ICO’s spam-text reporting form. 

The ICO uses those reports to investigate organisations sending unlawful marketing messages and nuisance texts. It does not reply individually to every complaint, but the reports still matter.  

Conclusion 

Spam text messages work because they catch people in everyday moments: waiting for a parcel, checking bank alerts, half-reading messages on the bus, or dealing with ten things at once. 

The safest response is also the simplest one. Do not interact with the text. 

Forward suspicious scam texts to 7726. Report nuisance marketing texts to the ICO. Then delete the message and move on.  

That said, it is worth knowing that not every spam text is trying to pull off the same trick. Some is just nuisance rubbish. Some are polished phishing attempts. 

The fix is the same either way: slow down, verify properly, and never let the text itself control the next step.