[mh8h]

If they have to use real Apple hardware, and those devices are blocklisted by Apple when the spam is reported, spamming stays cost prohibitive.

[jeroenhd]

With how many "rent a mac mini stuffed in a datacenter" services are out there, I wonder how cost-prohibitive blacklisting specific devices really is.

[sdfhbdf]

If a serial number of the mac mini is blacklisted by apple from registering for example with apple updates or any other apple connected services, then probably it's in datacenters' best interest to keep spammers out of them.

[nomel]

I also assume there are iMessage rate limits in place, that if exceeded, trigger some analysis. If that's true, then hardware costs would also be proportional to rate.

I suspect there's some dark market for broken iPhones, and perhaps some rate limit for activations within a city block/building. The last time I had iMessage spam was years ago, so maybe it's not so practical.

[lotsofpulp]

The first time I received iMessage spam was Aug 22, 2023 from [phone]. And the second time was Oct 11, 2023 from [e-mail] trying to get me to click a link to malware.