SMS Logs Showing Auto Response

Hi ​@Susan2153262010 
Thanks for sharing those details. Just to clarify, are you currently using any SMS automation tools, either from RingCentral (like RingCentral’s Automator app) or third-party SMS platforms?

Given the unusual behavior you're seeing such as automatic replies that aren’t visible in the admin logs, I highly recommend opening a support case. Be sure to include specific Company Numbers, timestamps, and any relevant SMS log details to help them investigate further.

This might require a closer look at your account activity and backend settings to pinpoint what's triggering those responses. 

Hi Mary,

We are not using any SMS automation tools and this only seems to happen on messages that only have the word “help”.

I’ll open at ticket with support but wanted to document this elsewhere.

Thank you

You’re very welcome, ​@Susan2153262010! Feel free to keep us posted on how it goes—we’d love to hear any updates. 😊

I am being told that this is normal behavior whenever “help” is sent via SMS.  I find this to be unacceptable since these responses are utilizing our SMS bundle and showing the scammer that these are valid numbers which is only encouraging them.

We clearly identify the numbers that are to be used for “help” scenarios on all SMS correspondence.  That being said we use a third party tool for 98% of SMS messages with customers.

There has to be a better way of handling this.  The carriers make us jump through hoops so that we can send SMS messages but there seems to be no protection on our end.

Thank you for raising this, ​@Susan2153262010 . Your frustration is completely understandable.
Since this is a carrier-level function, our direct control is limited. However, we should explore this with our third-party SMS provider to see if they have any strategies for mitigating this. Perhaps they have options for customizing the HELP response to be less informative or other best practices for this exact scenario. Let's investigate that path.

That is well and good but what about the billings?  They/it is going through all of our RingCentral numbers, which we have over 400, multiple times.  Someone should be accountable for these since we do not want auto responses regardless of what is on the message.

Hello,

We are being attacked by the “help” bandit again.  How can I pull a log of our SMS messages that include the messages themselves?

Per support there is nothing that can be done to prevent any of this from happening and the only recourse is to have our rep credit us for the usage.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thank you

Hi Susan,

I'm sorry to hear you're dealing with the "help" bandit again. RingCentral's standard Message Log doesn't display SMS content due to privacy and security protocols. However, you have a couple of options:

Accessing SMS Content

• RingCentral Archiver Add-on: If your organization uses this, it can capture and store SMS content to third-party storage (like Box or Google Drive). Check with your administrator to see if this is enabled and how to access the archived data.

• API Integration: For organizations with development resources, the RingCentral SMS API allows you to programmatically access message details, including content, through a custom application. This requires development work but offers granular control.
  
  I hope this information helps.

Is anyone else in the community running into a similar issue?  The SMS messages are now coming in at a faster pace which is diminishing our allotted messages.  There has to be a better solution than this.

​@Susan2153262010, giving your post a bump to help get it more visibility! Others may be able to help.