User level: Level 1 (65 points)Messages with Persistent Spam
iPhone 12 Pro, IOS 27.0.1. I have persistent spam from several sources. I have blocked numbers, put in junk folder (on MacBook M4 Pro), deleted and reported to Apple and mobile phone service carrier T-Mobile. Nothing stops them. The scammer is posing as IRS agent or service to help me deal with an IRS issue that I don't have.
My iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro are connected via iCloud. What options do I have remaining to stop this? It's been ongoing daily for months.
Posted on Oct 16, 2026 8:17 AM
User level: Level 10 (105,996 points)Oct 16, 2026 8:26 AM in response to Sunsetdude
Blocking spam is ineffective since most spammers just spoof the sending numbers and you are not likely to receive the same message from that number again anyway.
What is more effective is the Screen and Filter option of unknown senders. This will move any message that does not originate from a known contact into the Unknown Sender folder where they can be bulk deleted all at once. They also won't notify you when they have been received, so you are not bothered with that Notification.
Screen and filter text messages on iPhone - Apple Support
User level: Level 10 (169,253 points)Oct 16, 2026 11:59 AM in response to Sunsetdude
Sunsetdude wrote:
Thanks for your response. I found Bouncer - Heal Your Feed by Imbus AI and went to their privacy policy. Not happy with their handling of data access. Also, very new and doesn't have a user track record.
Bouncer: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bouncer-spam-text-blocker/id1457476313
Not new. Not hosted. Not AI. Privacy aware. Source code is published.
User level: Level 10 (169,253 points)Oct 16, 2026 8:48 AM in response to Sunsetdude
SMS text message spam?
Buy Bouncer app, and program its filters for tax- and IRS-related text.
Bouncer also supports regular expressions, making it very flexible. Particularly if you're in a state or region prone to political spam and scams, political fund-raising spam and scams, and, well, somewhere without functional anti-spam regulations. All of that rubbish goes (silently) into the junk folder.
User level: Level 1 (65 points)Oct 16, 2026 11:53 AM in response to MrHoffman
Thanks for your response. I found Bouncer - Heal Your Feed by Imbus AI and went to their privacy policy. Not happy with their handling of data access. Also, very new and doesn't have a user track record.
User level: Level 1 (65 points)Oct 16, 2026 10:56 AM in response to Mac Jim ID
thanks. I went to the support page and did the recommended things. Will see if this works. Appreciate the help.
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256377323