Block Unsolicited SMS (Spam) on MTN Ghana

A screenshot showing a fraction of spams in my inbox on a Sunday morning

If you get irritated especially on Sundays by unsolicited SMS from loan companies or any other company or individuals, there's good news for you if you're an MTN Ghana customer. You'll find this post very useful if your inbox looks similar to the one shown above.
 
If you've heard of 1309 shortcode, tried it but still receive those annoying messages, you probably didn't do it well. I've realized that a lot of people just send BLOCK E-loans to 1309 expecting to block SMS from all loan related contacts. Read on to get a good understanding of how this service works and how to correctly block any contact from reaching you via SMS.

MTN Ghana has rolled out a service to block unsolicited SMS from any shortcode, phone number or alphanumeric sender_id called DO NOT DISTURB. It is very easy to use this service and more importantly, it is FREE of charge. This service is not only for blocking loan related spammers but for any other contact you wish to block from reaching you via SMS.

BLOCK A NUMBER FROM SENDING YOU SMS

1. Construct a message beginning with the keyword  BLOCK,  leave a space, type the phone number or sender_id you want to block. A sample message would be Block XXXXXXXXXX where XXXXXXXXXX is the phone number/sender_id you want to block.
2. Send the message to the shortcode 1309

Assuming you always receive spam from 0241234567, you have to send Block 0241234567 to 1309.

Note that this will NOT block all spams but messages from only the specified number. If you receive unwanted SMS from other sources say Izew, Dalex....,FastLoans etc. you have to repeat the process for each. To block Dalex.... send:

Block Dalex.... to 1309

Here's a screenshot showing a successful response.

To make the most out of this service, you need to make a list of all the phone numbers disturbing you with unwanted SMS and block them one by one using the steps above. This may be tedious if your spam list is tall but this is the only way you can get rid of them for now. Subscribe to this blog for update on how to simplify this process. I'll post a link for an android app that can help you do this efficiently.

You also have to bear in mind that SMS spammers will also device means to bypass this service which some of them are already doing. Make sure you capture the sender_ids correctly. Note that in the second example illustrated above, the sender_id is "Dalex...." Sending Block "Dalex" or "Dalex.." or even "Dalex..." will not block "Dalex....". There are four (4) dots and are also part of the sender_id and must be captured as is, so you need to take note of those details.

UNBLOCK A NUMBER TO RECEIVE SMS

It is possible to unblock a number you previously blocked using this service. this comes in handy if you accidentally blocked a number or sender id you didn't intend blocking. To unblock a number, send Allow followed by the number to allow or unblock to 1309.

Assuming I change my mind and I want to send and receive messages from Dalex...., I'll send:
Allow Dalex.... to 1309
Here's a screenshot!

VIEW BLOCKED LIST

You can conveniently view the list of blocked contacts by sending Check to 1309 

This gives you a comma separated list of all numbers in your blacklist.

That's it. You now have control over who reaches you via SMS as an MTN customer. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a similar service from the rest of the networks. Until then, there are apps that can help you do same on your smartphone except that the messages reach your phone before the app deals with them. Explore and use what best suits your needs.


Cheers!