SMS filtering isn’t working at all

[BenF]

I’ve attached three examples to this thread where SMS filtering isn’t picking up very obvious spam messages.

 

I get these sort of messages every few days, and none of them go to the spam location.

 

I verified that the option is turned on in iOS correctly.

[Ud_s]

Hey Ben! Thanks for reporting this, our team is investigating the issue. We will come back to you when we have more information.

[BenF]

Hi @Ud_s I’m assuming there’s no update to this?

[Bitz]

Hey BenF,

 

Full disclosure: I don’t know how this works, this was just my experience. I am hoping it helps you or someone else. It isn’t specific to your issue, as I had some other weirdness. I just figured I would share, just in case.

 

I have been experiencing the issue you have outlined. It is frustrating as I get these at all times of the day or night. I would look up the number in TrueCaller afterwards, and it identified as Spam, yet it just woke me up at 3am to warn me “I owe on tolls”; my home City has no tolls.
 

I had all the settings as per the directions, and I have a 30+ year background in IT, so I was also feeling a bit inadequate in not being able to work this out. I have scrutinised the instructions repeatedly, to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.

 

On a side-note, my device would also inexplicably lock-up if I tried to go to the “Blocked Contacts” in my device Settings. I was not convinced it was related, as correlation is not causation, however it is curious that it started around the time I installed this version of TrueCaller. My partner has a device, also with the new TrueCaller, and “Blocked Contacts” locks up on her device as well.

 

In my investigation into call blocking, contact management and TrueCaller features, I discovered a contact called “SPAM” in my contacts list which had a very long list of numbers associated with it. I recall it was used by a previous version of TrueCaller I had a while back. It could have been a different product with the same name, and it had a note at the bottom of it saying it was “created by TrueCaller”.

 

I am not clear on whether the current version of TrueCaller uses it, however it has been in my contacts since before I used the current version, and I had added problem numbers to it, and had it as one of the “Blocked Contacts” in my device settings.

 

The idea I went with was that if you blocked this contact, all the numbers listed against it were blocked too.
 

That may have been how it used to work. The numbers may have been updated on this contact by the previous version of TrueCaller when you manually synced it.

 

I stopped using the earlier version of TrueCaller years ago, as it just didn’t do enough often enough, and this “Blocked Contact” method was working for me for a while until I could afford something better when the technology improves. The problem was that any number not in the contact would get through, and I would have to manually add it after identifying it as spam/scam.

 

Fast forward to today:

In a last ditch effort to try anything to get it working again, I decided to kill the “SPAM” contact.

 

1. I exported the contact, just in case, and saved it as a file in my Cloud Storage.

2. I deleted the contact.

3. I tested the “Blocked Contacts” on my device and it no longer locks up.

4. I refreshed contacts to ensure it was gone on my partners device, and tested the “Blocked Contacts” and it also no longer locks up.

 

Having two versions of a contact list we both use is annoying, so the contact was in a shared cloud storage location we use for contacts across all of our devices. When I deleted it, it deleted everywhere.
 

It looks to me like this contact could have caused issues with the current version of TrueCaller. It could be it was corrupted or clashed with the ruleset for the options in the new version. It could just be that the “Blocked Contacts” being locked-up causes an issue.

 

The option in new TrueCaller to allow callers in your contacts list to go through without screening, also meant it was allowing all numbers against the SPAM contact through, because they are in my contacts list as “SPAM”. Possibly the lock-up of the “Blocked Contacts” exacerbated the issue.

 

I checked with my partner and she said that previously, even after she added the contact to the “SPAM” contact, they called through again. Of course, it wasn’t going to help as the number was being added to a contact, and TrueCaller allows contacts to be passed through. This was affecting my device also, as we share contacts.

 

I understand that this has not yet been tested, as I have had no Spam/scam calls or texts since, and it is unlikely to be a cure-all for you or others who are experiencing this. I must say, it certainly wasn’t helping the situation. If you have a contact called “SPAM”, or had a previous version, or if your “Blocked Contacts” is locking up it may help. 

 

In the meantime, if the TrueCaller crew can work on their end to investigate and resolve this for all, it will be greatly appreciated.

 

Good luck.