Stopping win-26[.]com text spam?
Not exactly a 'voice' issue, but closely related. I don't know if this is just "me" or if it's a larger campaign over the last month, but I have been getting hammered by text spam. I typically get 3-5 messages that make it through the Google Messages spam filter every *month*. But with this...on a slow day, I might get 5 per day. On a busy day, I'll get a text every 3-5 minutes. Sometimes multiple messages come in simultaneously. After reporting them as spam for weeks, I replied to every one of them with 'STOP' for weeks...and the flood continues. I've literally reported hundreds of them as spam, and replied to hundreds more with 'STOP'. Every message has a unique link to win-26[.]com which usually ends up redirecting to winred.com. Almost all the messages are political in nature, but...not "normal". They're all click-baity or absolutely unhinged: * An emergency mandate from President Trump: "I AM ASKING ALL REPUBLICANS" This just changed everything: * You are accounted for. A CONFIDENTIAL document singles YOU out as indispensable. Review it before access is restricted: * TERMINATION NOTICE Your MAGA membership expired! * CONFORM YOUR $2,000 Tariff Check for Aaron * From Trump: I sent a special LOVE LETTER just for Aaron! Was it stolen? I haven't heard from you. They all end with unique links to win-26[.]com. Following them usually leads to winred[.]com. Apparently someone thinks I want to get blasted by political spam. Is this some sort of legit political thing that gets to ignore laws and abuse the system in ways that would get us peasants jailed? Or is this some spam campaign that's getting ignored by Google and/or the carriers? (Or is it just me?) -A
Some additional information is needed. 1. Is this actual SMS? If so, from what Short Code or Long Code number is it being sent from? 2. If it is showing up on your iPhone in Messages, then it is an iMessage Apple problem, and you have to deal with them. If you have replied STOP, and they don't stop, please do not delete them. If they are through a 10DLC registered US Local Number, TCR will impose fines "up to $1,000 per violation" with some carriers imposing fines up to $10,000 per violation, though that is for Content Violation. If whomever is behind the campaign is recycling numbers that get banned or popping up new companies, gather the data and let's get them fined out of existence. Please reply with dates/times, source number, and content, as well as your replies with STOP. We have seen some companies claim that "something was broken so they didn't get the STOP replies" but that does not excuse them from the fines -- they are responsible for ensuring the STOP goes through or are alerted to the fact that it does not. Beckman On Thu, 19 Feb 2026, Aaron C. de Bruyn via VoiceOps wrote:
Not exactly a 'voice' issue, but closely related.
I don't know if this is just "me" or if it's a larger campaign over the last month, but I have been getting hammered by text spam.
I typically get 3-5 messages that make it through the Google Messages spam filter every *month*.
But with this...on a slow day, I might get 5 per day. On a busy day, I'll get a text every 3-5 minutes. Sometimes multiple messages come in simultaneously.
After reporting them as spam for weeks, I replied to every one of them with 'STOP' for weeks...and the flood continues. I've literally reported hundreds of them as spam, and replied to hundreds more with 'STOP'.
Every message has a unique link to win-26[.]com which usually ends up redirecting to winred.com.
Almost all the messages are political in nature, but...not "normal". They're all click-baity or absolutely unhinged:
* An emergency mandate from President Trump: "I AM ASKING ALL REPUBLICANS" This just changed everything: * You are accounted for. A CONFIDENTIAL document singles YOU out as indispensable. Review it before access is restricted: * TERMINATION NOTICE Your MAGA membership expired! * CONFORM YOUR $2,000 Tariff Check for Aaron * From Trump: I sent a special LOVE LETTER just for Aaron! Was it stolen? I haven't heard from you.
They all end with unique links to win-26[.]com. Following them usually leads to winred[.]com.
Apparently someone thinks I want to get blasted by political spam.
Is this some sort of legit political thing that gets to ignore laws and abuse the system in ways that would get us peasants jailed? Or is this some spam campaign that's getting ignored by Google and/or the carriers? (Or is it just me?)
-A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Beckman Internet Guy beckman@angryox.com https://www.angryox.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ VoiceOps mailing list -- VoiceOps@voiceops.org https://lists.voiceops.org/postorius/lists/voiceops.voiceops.org/ To unsubscribe send an email to voiceops-leave@voiceops.org
Hey Peter! On Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 12:29 PM Peter Beckman <beckman@angryox.com> wrote:
1. Is this actual SMS? If so, from what Short Code or Long Code number is it being sent from?
It's coming from a wide variety of numbers (lots of random area codes and prefixes). Calling any of those numbers gives a recording saying the number has been disconnected or is no longer in service. 2. If it is showing up on your iPhone in Messages, then it is an iMessage
Apple problem, and you have to deal with them.
No Apple gear involved. Just my personal number through "Boost Mobile" and the Android that's hooked up to it.
If you have replied STOP, and they don't stop, please do not delete them.
They're saved in the Google Messages "Spam" folder.
If they are through a 10DLC registered US Local Number, TCR will impose fines "up to $1,000 per violation" with some carriers imposing fines up to $10,000 per violation, though that is for Content Violation.
If I reply 'STOP', I won't get a text message from that same number again (other than the "You have successfully been unsubscribed, you will not receive any more messages from this number. Reply START to re-subscribe." message). But they'll just text from another number.
If whomever is behind the campaign is recycling numbers that get banned or popping up new companies, gather the data and let's get them fined out of existence.
That seems likely.
Please reply with dates/times, source number, and content, as well as your replies with STOP.
Give me a bit to get the data into a useful format. Google doesn't provide an easy way to extract the messages from the phone, and the Google Messages web UI is even worse. I know I can grab a copy through Google Takeout (which can take hours to return data), but I don't know if it includes copies of spam.
We have seen some companies claim that "something was broken so they didn't get the STOP replies" but that does not excuse them from the fines -- they are responsible for ensuring the STOP goes through or are alerted to the fact that it does not.
Even if they didn't get the 'STOP' messages, you'd think a stream of hundreds of messages being reported to Google and/or the carrier would get them investigated....unless the "mark as spam" feature in Google Messages doesn't actually do anything. ;) -A
Also win-26.com seems to have been scooped up and none of the links I could find even work anymore... Are they still sending out texts with a bad URL in them??? Beckman On Thu, 19 Feb 2026, Aaron C. de Bruyn wrote:
Hey Peter!
On Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 12:29 PM Peter Beckman <beckman@angryox.com> wrote:
1. Is this actual SMS? If so, from what Short Code or Long Code number is it being sent from?
It's coming from a wide variety of numbers (lots of random area codes and prefixes). Calling any of those numbers gives a recording saying the number has been disconnected or is no longer in service.
2. If it is showing up on your iPhone in Messages, then it is an iMessage
Apple problem, and you have to deal with them.
No Apple gear involved. Just my personal number through "Boost Mobile" and the Android that's hooked up to it.
If you have replied STOP, and they don't stop, please do not delete them.
They're saved in the Google Messages "Spam" folder.
If they are through a 10DLC registered US Local Number, TCR will impose fines "up to $1,000 per violation" with some carriers imposing fines up to $10,000 per violation, though that is for Content Violation.
If I reply 'STOP', I won't get a text message from that same number again (other than the "You have successfully been unsubscribed, you will not receive any more messages from this number. Reply START to re-subscribe." message). But they'll just text from another number.
If whomever is behind the campaign is recycling numbers that get banned or popping up new companies, gather the data and let's get them fined out of existence.
That seems likely.
Please reply with dates/times, source number, and content, as well as your replies with STOP.
Give me a bit to get the data into a useful format. Google doesn't provide an easy way to extract the messages from the phone, and the Google Messages web UI is even worse. I know I can grab a copy through Google Takeout (which can take hours to return data), but I don't know if it includes copies of spam.
We have seen some companies claim that "something was broken so they didn't get the STOP replies" but that does not excuse them from the fines -- they are responsible for ensuring the STOP goes through or are alerted to the fact that it does not.
Even if they didn't get the 'STOP' messages, you'd think a stream of hundreds of messages being reported to Google and/or the carrier would get them investigated....unless the "mark as spam" feature in Google Messages doesn't actually do anything. ;)
-A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Beckman Internet Guy beckman@angryox.com https://www.angryox.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Peter, On Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 2:10 PM Peter Beckman <beckman@angryox.com> wrote:
Also win-26.com seems to have been scooped up and none of the links I could find even work anymore...
At the risk of triggering more spam, here's one that was sent to me: win-26[.]us/l7BnN8
Are they still sending out texts with a bad URL in them???
No, the URLs were always correct. I just changed it to [.] to avoid spam filtering or someone accidentally clicking the links. -A
participants (2)
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Aaron C. de Bruyn -
Peter Beckman