Why is my account blocked?
Usually because of one thing: a message with a link went out. New accounts are not allowed to do that, and the account gets locked.
Why links are off by default
Almost all SMS phishing runs on a link. A message that looks like an alert from your bank or a parcel service, with a link to a fake site. Whoever sets that up opens a fresh account for it and sends everything within fifteen minutes. If we only block after the first complaint, those messages are long gone.
So it is off on every new account. Yours too, even if you had nothing bad in mind.
What happens if a link goes out anyway
The account gets blocked. Not the message, the account.
You cannot log in any more. Your API key stops working, so your integrations go quiet. Ordering credits does not work. Which means you cannot fix anything yourself in the customer portal either, because you cannot get in.
How to get going again
Get in touch. That is the only way. Waiting does not help, it does not reopen on its own.
We then switch on the permission for links and unblock your account. We just ask what you send, to whom, and under which sender name. Is it a link to your own website, to customers who gave you their number? Then it is usually sorted the same day.
What counts as a link
More than you would think:
- https:// and www.
- A bare domain in an ordinary sentence. "see order.be for your appointment" contains a link.
- A shortened link, from bit.ly or anywhere else.
- A column in your Excel with a web address in it. Your template looks harmless, the message that goes out does not.
Besides the common extensions such as .be, .nl, .fr, .com and .eu, the ones that show up often in phishing count too: .link, .click, .top, .xyz.
Ask for it before you start
If you want to use links in your messages, request the permission before your first send. That saves you a blocked account at the moment your campaign has to go out.
One thing no setting fixes: messages posing as a bank, the government or a parcel carrier, and sender names of a brand that is not yours. Operators refuse those themselves, whatever we switch on.
