Sent spammer my location my mistake
June 16, 2023 6:24 AM Subscribe
I just tried to block the sender of a spam text on Messages on my Macbook Air. Instead I accidently clicked on "Send my location."
I received a typical spam text while working on my MacBook Air. I wanted to block it. Messages on MacBook gave no option to block (I should have left my MacBook and gone to phone to do this, but I didn't.) So when I saw I could not block it, I then just tried to delete the spam text from my messages app in Macbook Air. It wouldn't delete and I clicked on "Info" to try to delete it that way.
Suddenly I saw I had replied by sending my exact location.
I really wish I did not send this spam text my exact location (obviously). The spam message came from an email and was about some kind of weight loss drug.
In general Messages on my Macbook isn't very responsive or easy to use in any way other than reading and sending and I wish I had just used my phone to block this sender, but I didn't.
My question is:
1. Is there anything I can do now to unsend this location? I already deleted the message itself unfortunately.
2. I blocked the spammer from the texts on my phone but their message is still on messages on my Macbook. I can't delete it by the usual method of holding and waiting for a delete option to pop up. It's just being glitchy and has instead made it a "favorite."
3. What might they do to exploit this stupid mistake?
I received a typical spam text while working on my MacBook Air. I wanted to block it. Messages on MacBook gave no option to block (I should have left my MacBook and gone to phone to do this, but I didn't.) So when I saw I could not block it, I then just tried to delete the spam text from my messages app in Macbook Air. It wouldn't delete and I clicked on "Info" to try to delete it that way.
Suddenly I saw I had replied by sending my exact location.
I really wish I did not send this spam text my exact location (obviously). The spam message came from an email and was about some kind of weight loss drug.
In general Messages on my Macbook isn't very responsive or easy to use in any way other than reading and sending and I wish I had just used my phone to block this sender, but I didn't.
My question is:
1. Is there anything I can do now to unsend this location? I already deleted the message itself unfortunately.
2. I blocked the spammer from the texts on my phone but their message is still on messages on my Macbook. I can't delete it by the usual method of holding and waiting for a delete option to pop up. It's just being glitchy and has instead made it a "favorite."
3. What might they do to exploit this stupid mistake?
You probably can’t take it back but it almost certainly doesn’t matter. Spam factories aren’t interested in your location.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:49 AM on June 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:49 AM on June 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
Messages on mac does have the ability to block, but it's somewhat hidden - on macOS Ventura, click the message, go to the Conversation menu, and choode "Block Person".
I wouldn't worry about having sent your location, most of these spam messages are robots that don't care.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 7:51 AM on June 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
I wouldn't worry about having sent your location, most of these spam messages are robots that don't care.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 7:51 AM on June 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
The way most of these are set up the machine would not even accept any information. The entire focus is to fire the emails out until they get blacklisted
posted by zenon at 10:10 AM on June 16, 2023
posted by zenon at 10:10 AM on June 16, 2023
Curious about this, I just tried a test - from my Macbook running Messages (Ventura 13.4) I selected "share current location" in a chat with a VOIP SMS account that I control.
What it does: it sends a short MMS message with a VCF format attachment (named "CL.loc.vcf") which itself is a tiny text file that looks like this:
VERSION:3.0
PRODID:-//Apple Inc.//macOS 13.4//EN
N:;Current Location;;;
FN:Current Location
URL;type=pref:http://maps.apple.com/?ll=AAA.BBBBBB\,XXX.YYYYYY&q=AAA.BBBBBB\,XXX.YYYYYY
END:VCARD
The AAA.BBBBBB and XXX.YYYYYY are GPS coordinates (Lat/Lon).
posted by soylent00FF00 at 5:29 PM on June 16, 2023
What it does: it sends a short MMS message with a VCF format attachment (named "CL.loc.vcf") which itself is a tiny text file that looks like this:
PRODID:-//Apple Inc.//macOS 13.4//EN
N:;Current Location;;;
FN:Current Location
URL;type=pref:http://maps.apple.com/?ll=AAA.BBBBBB\,XXX.YYYYYY&q=AAA.BBBBBB\,XXX.YYYYYY
END:VCARD
The AAA.BBBBBB and XXX.YYYYYY are GPS coordinates (Lat/Lon).
posted by soylent00FF00 at 5:29 PM on June 16, 2023
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There is no way to unsend the location that I know of.
3: Um. Probably nothing. They do damage by engagement not by knowing where you are.
posted by Brockles at 6:48 AM on June 16, 2023 [2 favorites]