Report claims iMessage spam on the rise, but little evidence appears in support
Despite accounts of purportedly wide-ranging unsolicited marketing campaigns plaguing iMessage users in recent months, spam on Apple's over-the-top messaging service appears to be the exception, rather than the rule.
An iMessage spam message, via Wired
A mid-July report from internet security firm Cloudmark singled out a campaign --?likely run by Chinese spammers --?directing iPhone users to sketchy online storefronts selling what appear to be counterfeit designer goods, such as Oakley sunglasses and Michael Kors clothing. Consumers appeared to have been targeted by geography, with those in Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, and New York City bearing the brunt of the assault.
Cloudmark indicated that the campaign, conducted via iMessage, is so widespread that more than 3 of every 10 unsolicited SMS messages in the U.S. could be attributed to it.
A followup article that appeared earlier this week in Wired -- based on the same research -- then decried iMessage as "being taken over by spammers." There appears, however, to be little evidence to support those claims.
A search of Apple's user forums, generally among the first places iPhone owners go to vent their frustration in such situations, returns relatively few results related to iMessage spam. The threads that do exist rarely boast more than 20 replies.
Cloudmark itself has previously admitted that iMessage spam may be difficult to discern from SMS spam in their tracking database, which depends on users to send in unsolicited messages that they receive.
Even when operating under the assumption that Cloudmark is properly identifying iMessage spam, the numbers hardly suggest that Apple's service is being "taken over" by nefarious individuals.
According to telecom industry research firm Heavy Reading, some 1.5 percent -- or 120 billion -- of the estimated 8 trillion SMS messages sent around the globe each year are unsolicited. That works out to around 328 million daily spam messages, of which Apple's theoretical share would be nearly 100 million.
Were this the case, it would hardly be enough to qualify iMessage as having been "taken over" by spammers. Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company handles more than 2 billion iMessages each day, and earlier this year he revised that figure to "several billion."
At the lower figure, only about five percent of iMessages would be spam -- assuming Cloudmark's 30 percent figure is accurate.
Of course, iMessage spam exists. Apple admitted as much last year with the release of a new support document detailing a process for reporting unwanted iMessages and the implementation of sending rate limits.
"Taken over by spammers," though, seems more than just a little hyperbolic.
An iMessage spam message, via Wired
A mid-July report from internet security firm Cloudmark singled out a campaign --?likely run by Chinese spammers --?directing iPhone users to sketchy online storefronts selling what appear to be counterfeit designer goods, such as Oakley sunglasses and Michael Kors clothing. Consumers appeared to have been targeted by geography, with those in Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, and New York City bearing the brunt of the assault.
Cloudmark indicated that the campaign, conducted via iMessage, is so widespread that more than 3 of every 10 unsolicited SMS messages in the U.S. could be attributed to it.
A followup article that appeared earlier this week in Wired -- based on the same research -- then decried iMessage as "being taken over by spammers." There appears, however, to be little evidence to support those claims.
A search of Apple's user forums, generally among the first places iPhone owners go to vent their frustration in such situations, returns relatively few results related to iMessage spam. The threads that do exist rarely boast more than 20 replies.
The internet holds few complaints of spam from iMessage users, even on Apple's own user forums.
Cloudmark itself has previously admitted that iMessage spam may be difficult to discern from SMS spam in their tracking database, which depends on users to send in unsolicited messages that they receive.
Even when operating under the assumption that Cloudmark is properly identifying iMessage spam, the numbers hardly suggest that Apple's service is being "taken over" by nefarious individuals.
According to telecom industry research firm Heavy Reading, some 1.5 percent -- or 120 billion -- of the estimated 8 trillion SMS messages sent around the globe each year are unsolicited. That works out to around 328 million daily spam messages, of which Apple's theoretical share would be nearly 100 million.
Were this the case, it would hardly be enough to qualify iMessage as having been "taken over" by spammers. Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company handles more than 2 billion iMessages each day, and earlier this year he revised that figure to "several billion."
At the lower figure, only about five percent of iMessages would be spam -- assuming Cloudmark's 30 percent figure is accurate.
Of course, iMessage spam exists. Apple admitted as much last year with the release of a new support document detailing a process for reporting unwanted iMessages and the implementation of sending rate limits.
"Taken over by spammers," though, seems more than just a little hyperbolic.
Comments
I received one of these spams, just like in the photo, a few weeks ago. Very annoying! I delisted my most commonly used e-mail addresses from iMessage, in the hopes this doesn't happen again. (I still receive e-mail spams very much like it.)
I've been getting about one a week for the past six weeks or so. But nothing this week, so far.
I, too, received the one pictured.
I'm not convinced this is a carrier thing; I'm on AT&T.
Never have one.
I got one a couple days ago. Not being a moron by responding to it helps; it’ll think the account is dead if you don’t. Before or after? Nothing.
I do miss the AIM bots. They were at least partially intelligent. Nothing like Cleverbot, no, but able to run through a script and reply to offshoots. If you were to type “bot” or “spam”, it’d reply “Bot? I’m not a bot.” or “What’s a bot?” etc.
I'd like to be able to whitelist the accounts I choose to get iMessages from. Blacklists and "report text spam" are nothing more than a texting version of whack-a-mole.
While I'm thinking about it, do the same for Mail.
I have only had one single instance of this spam. I reported it to Apple per their guidelines. What I would like to see is an easier way to report the spam. Taking a screenshot of it and typing information in to an email to send to Apple is a pretty lame reporting method. ATT has a better reporting method, but since Apple owns the client they should be able to do the best interface for this.
I received them. They come fairly seldom--like every two months or so. None lately. The ones I received were trying to sell me Ray-Ban sunglasses. I can't tell you if they came to my phone number or an email.
I've never gotten iMessage spam, but it's clear that some people have started to, and I don't want to see it grow. I hope Apple steps up before the problem really balloons, not after.
I've never received one single spam message through iMessage ever.
I have gotten this spam text from an email. every single one is a text message (green) not an iMessage, blue. To me, that indicates a Verizon issue (my carrier), not Apple.
All my incoming iMessages and SMS are gray. The green and blue messages are outbound.
More bullshit FUD from the haters of Apple. I have not received one bit of spam from iMessage.
Add me to the list of those that has never received a spam text message. Not on once in ios, or android for that matter.
I noticed that in gmail the spam emails that make it through come in waves. I sometimes get maybe 3 or 4 spam emails in a week, and then nothing for a month or two. Then a week will go by and I get 3 or 4 again, then nothing for a couple months. Maybe it's only me but it's a pattern.
I have gotten this spam text from an email. every single one is a text message (green) not an iMessage, blue. To me, that indicates a Verizon issue (my carrier), not Apple.
All my incoming iMessages and SMS are gray. The green and blue messages are outbound.
There is a small banner that shows if it's a text or iMessage. It's visible in the screenshot fom the first post:
Me neither, but it would be nice for Apple to include algorithms that look for this spam since it all has to go through their iMessage servers as well as have a Report as Spam button. The former I don't put too much faith in since Apple's server-side email spam filter is still not nearly as good as Gmail's.