Dubai: If you have been receiving pesky promotional SMSes that do not have an ‘opt-out’ option in them, you can still block them, authorities said.
UAE residents receive endless spam SMSes daily on their mobile phones — from massage parlour offers to new promotions and discounts on certain brands to visa and immigration offers.
To protect residents from these promotional SMSes, the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in 2009 introduced a policy against mobile spam that ordered UAE telecom companies to provide an option for customers to request blocking of spam through the ‘opt-out’ option. This enables mobile phone users who receive spam SMSes to send a message to a certain number to block that company from sending anything in the future.
According to the TRA’s Sustainability Report 2014-2015, du and etisalat blocked a total of more than 57 million spam messages in 2014.
For those who ask how to block spam SMSes that don’t have the ‘opt-out’ or ‘stop’ option, however, a spokesperson from TRA said there is still a way to do it.
“As part of TRA’s commitment to take decisive steps to control and reduce unsolicited text messages (spam) that reach subscribers’ mobile phones, and at the TRA directives, licensees (etisalat and du) provided an option for subscribers to opt in or opt out from marketing messages by etisalat and du, as well as other companies,” a TRA spokesperson told Gulf News.
He said etisalat and du are currently providing free services to block unsolicited marketing text messages.
“In order to block the number of any of these companies over etisalat’s and du’s network, SMS ‘b’ then the number or short name of the company [or sender ID or sender number] then send it to 7726 to be automatically blocked,” the TRA spokesperson explained.
He added: “In addition, some smartphones have applications that allow you to block certain unwanted numbers to stop receiving any calls or messages from them.”
How to unblock unwanted SMSes
— To block a specific sender, type “b” then the sender ID or number and send to 7726.
— You may also opt to block promotional messages coming directly from your telecom company, etisalat or du, by sending an SMS, although they usually have an opt-out option in the message.
— For du users, simply send a blank SMS to 5293. On du’s website, it says the request “will be processed in 40 days.” But du users may choose to reactivate these promotional messages by sending a blank SMS to 7000.
— To know all the sender ID’s and short codes you’ve blocked, just type ‘GET’ and send it to 7726. Other commands are available if you text ‘HELP’ to 7726.
— For etisalat users, if you wish to block their promotional messages, just type “b etisalat” to 7726. But you can easily subscribe again by sending “u etisalat” to 7726 any time.
— To block all third parties from sending you messages, simply send “ball” to 7726. To undo this, just send “uall” to 7726.
