How to stop spam texts and nuisance calls (UK)
Spam texts and nuisance calls are relentless — fake deliveries, “you’re owed compensation,” recorded voices about an accident you never had. You can’t stop them completely, but you can cut them right down, and reporting them actually helps the networks block the senders. Here’s the UK playbook.
Why you’re getting them
Your number gets out through data breaches, marketing lists that get sold on, and “random” diallers that simply try number after number. So it’s rarely something you did — and it’s worth a moment to limit how widely your number spreads (more on that below).
Spam texts: report, then block
- Forward the text, free, to 7726 (it spells “SPAM” on the keypad). Your network uses these reports to trace and block the senders. You’ll usually get a reply asking for the sender’s number.
- Then block and delete the sender in your messaging app.
- Don’t reply “STOP” to a text you don’t recognise. For genuine companies it works, but for scammers it just confirms your number is live and worth targeting.
Nuisance calls: cut them down
- Register with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) — it’s free and legally obliges UK marketers to leave you alone. It won’t stop overseas scammers, but it reduces legitimate cold calls.
- Use your phone’s “silence unknown callers” setting so unknown numbers go quietly to voicemail. Real callers leave a message; most spammers don’t.
- Block numbers as they come in, and report scam calls to 7726 too.
Never call back a number from a suspicious text, and never press a button "to stop these calls." Both simply flag your number as live and answered, which gets you more calls, not fewer.
Stop your number leaking in the first place
- Be sparing about who you hand your number to — every form is a potential list.
- Use a secondary email or number for sign-ups where you can.
- Clean up the data already out there: see how to delete your personal data from the internet.
Telling the scam ones apart
A lot of spam is also fraud. If you’re not sure what you’re looking at, these two break down the most common UK ones: is that ‘missed delivery’ text a scam and is that ‘HMRC tax refund’ a scam. To report fraud properly, see how to report a scam in the UK. More in our VPNs and privacy section.