Sometimes you have missed a call from an unknown number or a multimedia message. If you try to call that number, you hear nothing or just a voice note saying text mail subscriber is unavailable. This happens because the person calling uses the internet to call or text you instead of the phone network.
This person can also send texts through the internet while revealing very little information about themselves. It is called text mail. Due to the anonymous nature of this text service, it is also used by scammers. This article will explain all there is to text mail subscribers.
What is text mail?
A text mail is a message that contains only plain text. It means that it can only contain alphabets and numbers. It does not contain fancy fonts or symbols. The mail contains plain text. In-text mail, you can write anything as long as it does not contain symbols or fancy letters.
These days text mails are rare, and they are being replaced by modern communication means. Emails also support text with HTML. You can even send attachments with your emails. Text mails have become rare since people shifted to better and more efficient communication methods.
However, sending text SMS to people through your cell phone might also be considered text mail, but you can still attach media to those SMS messages. The point is text mails are rarely used these days due to the anonymous nature of their mails.
Difference Between Text Mail And Normal Mail
Text mail is only limited to alphabets and numbers, while normal mail can also contain fancy texts, graphics, videos, or even documents (as attachments).
Having links in your mail can be concerning since you don’t know where those links lead to. Simple text emails don’t support links. Even if the links are sent, they are not displayed properly. As said earlier, these text emails are rare nowadays, and most email services allow both text and HTML format.
Why Would You Use Text Mail?
Text mails were used around 32 years ago when email devices were not advanced and could not handle fancy characters. Also, the internet had limited data usage, so that users would request text-only emails. You could subscribe to text mail to receive mails in text-only format.
It means that everything that you send to a text mail subscriber will be converted into text. So avoid sending symbols or fancy characters since it will make it harder to understand the mail.
In simple words, text mails were used by people who did not want to read emails containing fancy letters and media. People also did not have good enough email devices to show media files and fancy characters, so they used text mail.
About Text Mail Subscriber:
Now that we know what text mail is, we can get into text mail subscribers.
What is a text mail subscriber?
It is a subscriber that receives an email containing only text. This form of text mail is not delivered through cell phones but rather through the internet. The internet becomes the source of the call. This is partly why it is difficult to trace down the number of text mail subscribers.
When you try calling the number, you get a voice note saying that the text mail subscriber is unavailable. Sometimes there is no response at all.
Some people might also prefer simple text instead of fancy characters and letters, so they subscribe to the text mail.
Finding the identity of a text mail subscriber is pretty hard, so it is very good for scammers and spammers. However, not all text emails are scams. Some are totally real and genuine messages. These messages might include advertisements from brands or brand promotion messages.
Many brands and companies subscribe to text mail to promote their business. They send text emails to users and show them promotional texts. Sometimes you might also get a text saying that you have won something; those are most likely fake.
How does the TMS send and receive texts?
Internet is used by the text mail subscriber to send and receive texts. Email clients often allow their mails to contain text along with graphics or media formats. You have to request this mail service to receive text-only emails; otherwise, you will receive emails in fancy text format.
People who use this service have the advantage of being anonymous since their phone numbers cannot be traced easily, and they are not making these texts and calls from their cell phones but through the internet. This also makes text mail a likely target for scammers.
Scammers will often lure you into calling them and ask for a payment and charge extra money on the phone call that you are taking. It is recommended not to call back anyone with an unknown number.
Why would you have a TMS?
These days text mail subscriptions are rare, but they’re used to be several users who used text mail subscriptions about 32 years ago (when communication devices were not that advanced). These people would subscribe to the text mail to only receive emails in text format with no fancy characters or links.
The reason was that earlier email devices did not have enough capacity to handle fancy characters and fonts. So people subscribed to text mail to convert those fancy emails into plain text. Moreover, their internet data was limited, so text-only mail makes sense.
Today, people use MMS or other communication technologies to send messages as these are better forms of communication. These allow you to send text with images and videos as well.
The biggest advantage of text mail subscribers is privacy since most of your details are hidden. You are not even using your cell phone to send the mail. The mail is being sent through the internet. This is why many scammers use text mail subscriptions to commit their scams.
Can a TMS be a scammer?
Like any other messaging or mailing service, text mail subscribers can also be scammers, but that does not represent all text mail subscribers. Scammers send you a harmful link in normal email messages and bait you into clicking on that link. Once you click on that link, they steal your data, including your passwords, credit card info, social security, etc.
However, in-text mail is not possible to send direct links since they will be converted into plain text. The scammers in text mail tell you something extraordinary and will bait you into calling their number. Once you call their number, they can steal your data or charge a huge amount for that call.
The worst part is that it is almost impossible to trace down the number since the call or text did not originate from a cell phone but the internet. This gives added anonymity to the scammers. However, there are still some ways to uncover the identity of the people who sent you the mail.
Can you trace down the number of a text mail subscriber?
It is pretty hard to trace down several text mail subscribers, but it is not impossible. If you don’t think it’s a scam, you can try calling the person or email them and inquire about their identity. I don’t recommend calling back unknown numbers since there is a high chance they might be a scammer.
You can also write down the number on Google with inverted commas. Google might show up that user’s profile if he has used his phone number in any social media profile. You can also download plenty of applications that can trace down a number.
Should you reply to a text mail subscriber missed call?
As a safety measure, I would recommend not reply to a text mail or a missed call if it’s from an unknown number. If you think it might be someone you know, you can show that number to your family to see if anyone recognizes it. It might be an unknown number if no one knows about the number.
You can also run the number through a cell phone database to check if the location is nearby to identify the person. Moreover, you cannot call back a person who is a text mail subscriber because the text or calls are made through the internet and not through the cell phone. So when you try to call that number back, you hear a voice note saying text mail subscriber not available.
How to know if the TMS is a scammer?
There are a lot of signs to distinguish legitimate text mail from scam text mail. If the mail says something too good to be true, it’s not. These people give you extraordinary offers to lure you into calling them, and one call is all they need.
Highly-paid remote job offers:
Some scammers might tell you to pay a certain amount of money to get hired for a job that pays a lot of money. Moreover, they make this job offers super catchy, and any person looking for a job might get baited into giving them their money. The jobs offers are fake, and their sole purpose is to get as much money out of your account as they can before you find out.
Winning any prize:
Don’t bother reading the full mail if you get a text mail saying you have won some prize because it is a scam in about 90% of the cases. If you haven’t bought any lottery tickets or have participated in a prize-winning show, don’t go further with their requests.
The mail will say that you have won a large sum of money, but you need to send us a certain amount of fees to give you that money. Since they are offering a lot of money, a person might agree to send them, say, $500. When they receive the money, you won’t contact them again.
Signs that a text mail is real:
Many text mails that you receive are legitimate, and only a few of them are from scammers. Especially if the number is unknown, there is a high chance that a scammer is trying to text mail you.
Most legitimate business companies have their names written on the text mail instead of their phone number. This is because the government registers them as verified companies. These companies have spent years building this trust, and it is highly unlikely that it will be a scam.
Another way to tell if the text mail is real is to search for the company online. It might be legitimate if you see mostly positive reviews about the company, but don’t reply to that text mail if you see reviews that hint towards a scam. Many companies might also place fake reviews to lure customers in, but those reviews are easy to distinguish.
If a text mail is real, they would probably not ask for your money or personal info. Companies use text mail just for their promotion; it can reach a wider audience through the internet. So, there are fewer chances of promotional text emails being scams.
Disadvantages of In-Text Mailing
The biggest disadvantage is getting scammed since you don’t know anything about the person scamming you. It is hard to identify those people because they are not using cell phones but the internet to send their text mails.
So to trace their location, you might have to search their number on the internet. You might even find the social media account linked to that number if you are lucky.
This will only work if you are lucky since most scammers won’t use their real cell phone numbers to commit this scam. Another disadvantage is the lack of media content since text mail subscribers can only see mails as plain text. If you need to send a document to a friend and a text mail subscriber, he will not receive the attached document. Moreover, you cannot use fancy characters and fonts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a text mail subscriber in 2023?
Since email technology has advanced a lot since 2000, most people have stopped using text mail subscriptions altogether. For starters, a text mails subscriber receives his mails in the form of plain text. This is a sort of subscription that you have to request manually.
Everything that you send to a text mail subscriber is converted into plain text. That means you cannot send media files or links as they might also be converted into plain text. Most modern email services allow you to use text and HTML format for your emails.
Is TMS a scam?
It is important to know that a TMS is just a person. It is not a thing or the name of a specific mail. In simple words, it is a person who subscribes to receive emails in text format only. Now, to answer the question: Is text mail subscriber a scam? The answer is probably not because not every person who has a text mail subscription is trying to scam people.
Many people are subscribed to text mail because they don’t like reading fancy text formats or characters. Moreover, some people might use it since it provides privacy by hiding your identity. Since your identity is safe when using text mail, scammers might also use it. But the answer is, it is not a scam.
What to do if you get called by a scammer?
If you receive an ambiguous call or message mail from an unknown number, you can try calling them back and ask for their identity. Never call back a potentially swindle number. You can search up their number on a search engine. If they have connected the number to any social media, it will be shown on the top search.
You can then use their social media profile to identify them. If the scammer repeatedly asks for money, we recommend going to the police and asking them for help. You can also take legal action against the person calling or sending you text emails.
Is regular mail better than text mail?
In my opinion, it depends on what you prefer since many people might like seeing their emails in fancy text fonts or characters. People also share pictures or videos in emails. So, if you are one of those people, I would say go for using a regular email service.
However, if you are not a big fan of those fancy texts and don’t want anyone sending you media attachments, then text mail suits you more.
Wrapping Up
As discussed above, text mail subscribers are rare because of advancements in email technologies. If you are a text mail subscriber, beware of scammers. Don’t reply to people if you can’t recognize the number. If you ever receive a missed call from an unknown number, don’t call it back.
First, ask your family or friends if anyone recognized that number. If they don’t recognize it, run it through Google or some tracking software to estimate the location of that person. And If the person used his real cell phone number, you might even find the area where they live. If that area sounds familiar, it might just be a friend trying to reach out to you. Otherwise, it can also be a scammer.
The point is that since you don’t know the identity of the person who is calling or sending the text mail, don’t trust that person. Lastly, I hope you learned something from this article about text mail subscribers.
Leave a Reply