Ever since instant messengers (the same as what you find on ordinary computers) became available on cell phones, a lot of people have been using them instead of the original SMS text messaging options. These instant messengers may be free when used on a computer but most cell phone companies charge a fee, just like SMS, although it may be a lot cheaper than SMS. The convenience of the "computer to cell phone" connection capability, however, adds a twist to text messaging: Unwanted texting partners.

Setting Up Instant Messengers

My wife (Josie) pays a flat USD $7.00 per month for using an instant messenger on her cell phone. In her case, it's Yahoo Instant Messenger. I don't know what's required to set it up on a cell phone now but when she set hers up two years ago, she had to create the Yahoo account on a regular computer before she could access it on her cell phone.

On one of my trips back to the US, I'm the person who actually set it up on her cell phone. She had already created the Yahoo account, using her cousin's computer and setting up the instant messenger there. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but she made a big mistake. It ended up being that it annoyed her enough to turn off her cell phone on occasion.

Unwanted Texting Partners

Three or four months ago, Josie started getting random text messages from people all over the world. These messages were coming from (primarily) the UK, the US, Australia and Canada. There were even a few from Qatar and Dubai. Most of them were white males except for Qatar and Dubai – those were Filipinos.

Every single one of these messages was sent with one intent: To "hook up" with her, one way or another. She couldn't find, on the cell phone version of the IM, where to block or ignore text messages from those people. Amusingly, she found another, unconventional tactic to make them go away and stop bothering her.

The last guy that sent her a message asked for her name (she gave him "Nanette", the name of one of her sisters). He asked her where she was located (she gave him Philippines, although she's in the US). He asked her if she wanted to start an Internet relationship. After she told him she would if he sent money to her in the Philippines, he stopped sending messages. Josie figured her sister could use a few bucks, but that message sent that guy packing. If I knew it was that easy, I would have told her to do that when it started.

Yahoo Instant Messenger Ignore List

I got tired of listening to Josie complain about getting the random text messages, so I decided to go into her Yahoo IM settings from here. I didn't have her login information, so I had to get it from her before starting.

When I logged in, I went straight to the preferences/ignore list. There are two options:

• Ignore anyone who is not on my Messenger List.
• Ignore only the people below.

Guess which one was selected? Bingo, it was the second one. Well, I changed it to the first option and then logged out. I'll be checking with Josie in a few days to see if she's still getting the random text messages, but I seriously doubt it.

Regular Text Messages

Text messaging is much more popular in the Philippines than voice calls and it's probably because it's much cheaper (to go along with the cheap cell phones). Anyway, there are no settings to ignore regular SMS messages.

The "money" trick might work with foreigners, but it obviously wouldn't work with "in country" text messages. If you know where they are, you could sick the police (or mean relatives) on them, but what would you do to stop unwanted texting partners that are local to you (in which cell phone tracking isn't available)? I, personally, have no clue.

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