Don’t bother, I won’t bite

Bippity Boppity Boo (not the actual name), a prisoner, wants the ability to correspond with you. To approve this please respond with the word YES. You can stop receiving messages like this by responding with the word BLOCK.”

702-416-3212

702-931-4330

702-620-0348

702-695-4259

That is the text message I’ve been receiving since last fall and just a few of the numbers I’ve received it from.

Do these spammers honestly believe I’m going to respond with a YES or BLOCK from my phone?

If you think replying to the message will make it all go away, you should reconsider. When you reply to message like this from your cell phone, all it does is let the spammer know they’ve found a working cellphone number, and he or she can sell the number to marketers.

Probably most of us are aware of those types of people and their schemes. They are obviously spending more time trying to find a way to fraudulently take our money than they would if they were to just get an honest 40-hour a week job.

I’m not bothered by unsolicited phone calls since using an app I downloaded some time ago. I’ve got settings applied to block any phone number not already included in my contacts list.

However, should any of those actually be legitimate calls, people have the option to leave me a message and I will return their call.

If, on the other hand, they decline to leave a message, their number is blocked from my phone with me never having even heard a ring.

It’s a pretty slick app and as always, what makes it even better, it’s free.

When it comes to text messages, I’ve never had much issue in regards to junk texts or spam ... that is until prisoner “Bippity Boppity Boo,” and even that message comes in only once a month or so and always from a different number.

It’s terrible we have to live in a world where we’re always looking over our shoulders and assuming everyone is out to take something that isn’t theirs. But when it comes to any type of interaction I personally didn’t initiate with a phone call or email to a company, I’m just not going to partake.

I think it’s probably in our best interest to always keep in the lessons we’ve learned from those who’ve learned it the hard way, “if it seems too good to be true it probably is” and “ain’t nothin’ in this life free.”

Contact Dana King at
dking@shawmedia.com