New FCC ruling sends mobile carriers a very real message about stopping robospam texts

In a nutshell: Earlier this week, the FCC released its first ruling to address robospam and unlawful text messaging practices. The new directive requires mobile providers to block potentially illegal messages from invalid, unallocated, unused, or blocked numbers. The ruling is designed to provide all mobile users with similar levels of protection, regardless of their chosen mobile provider.

The new rules, officially adopted on March 16th, provide explicit instructions for wireless carriers to protect consumers from fraudulent and illegal text messages. Messaging scams, also known as robotexting, have become a prevalent problem over the last several years. Unlike robocalls, robotexts can employ several strategies for exploiting unsuspecting users, from social engineering to fraudulent but authentic-looking links and information.

Sharp increases in reported cases and loss amounts prompted the FCC to take recent action on behalf of all mobile consumers. According to the Commission's statement, the number of roboscam complaints ...