From The Tribune staff reports
TRUSSVILLE — The Trussville Police Department (TPD) warns the public about inappropriate scammer texts and images.
According to the TPD, if you receive unwanted texts or pictures from someone you don’t know, it is best not to engage with that person as it could be a scam.
“Recently, we have seen scams containing explicit pictures, videos, and comments,” Lieutenant Clint Riner said. “The sender typically sends these images to many different numbers at once in a bulk format and is not targeting a specific individual.”
These bulk messages are a method used to generate a response.
“Not engaging with these unwanted messages may signal that they have reached an inactive number, and it might lead to the removal of your number from their bulk text messages list,” Riner said.
The unwanted texts are likely spoofed numbers which make it difficult to identify the offender. Spoofing is when a caller intentionally alters the information transmitted to your caller ID to disguise their identity. For example, spoofed numbers can appear as local numbers, a number from a company, or a government agency.
To help decrease unwanted messages, the Trussville Police Department suggests that you block persistent numbers and report them as spam, look into an anti-spam app, and turn on message filtering or spam protection on your device.