This is really frustrating, and sorry you're on the receiving end of this. I don't work for Twilio, but we spend a lot with them (and some other telecoms) so I see a bit further up the chain than most.
The retail wireless carriers are really driving a lot of this with recent 10DLC A2P changes. In particular, T-Mobile is waving around threats of $10k fines per message for messages they deem to be in violation of their content rules. (Which obviously prohibit fraud and such, but also somewhat-arbitrarily anything relating to marijuana.) The way it's written T-Mobile will fine Twilio, who is supposed to pass it on, but knows they'll struggle to collect that.
Meanwhile, on my personal cell phone AT&T can't even seem to figure out that when they get a message from a Nexmo number that starts with "ATT Free Msg" that they didn't send, maybe they shouldn't deliver it. As a consumer I'm glad someone is trying to squash these scams, but they're breaking more than a few eggs in the process.
I'd echo the advice to get off the SMS channel for notifications if at all possible, unless you're sending enough and spending enough to have named support contacts. The rules are being written for people sending thousands of messages per day. We serve small businesses who send maybe 100 messages per month, and it's been a mess trying to get carriers to recognize that these businesses exist and need a solution that works for them too.
Spam texts like that basically destroyed my phone number that I've had for 15 years :(
"You package (#US853121) containing the following products: 1. iPhone 13. Cannot be delivered until outstanding duties have been paid. Current outstanding balance: $1.68. More info <sketchiest website ever>"
I get about 20 of these a day. I've lodged multiple complaints. Like, why can't AT&T solve this problem that AOL solved in 1994?
The retail wireless carriers are really driving a lot of this with recent 10DLC A2P changes. In particular, T-Mobile is waving around threats of $10k fines per message for messages they deem to be in violation of their content rules. (Which obviously prohibit fraud and such, but also somewhat-arbitrarily anything relating to marijuana.) The way it's written T-Mobile will fine Twilio, who is supposed to pass it on, but knows they'll struggle to collect that.
Meanwhile, on my personal cell phone AT&T can't even seem to figure out that when they get a message from a Nexmo number that starts with "ATT Free Msg" that they didn't send, maybe they shouldn't deliver it. As a consumer I'm glad someone is trying to squash these scams, but they're breaking more than a few eggs in the process.
I'd echo the advice to get off the SMS channel for notifications if at all possible, unless you're sending enough and spending enough to have named support contacts. The rules are being written for people sending thousands of messages per day. We serve small businesses who send maybe 100 messages per month, and it's been a mess trying to get carriers to recognize that these businesses exist and need a solution that works for them too.