Blocked iMessage After Receiving Spam Texts (Smishing)

Currently there is a DMV scam that is going around Texas that is trying to get people to pay these scammers for alleged late fees. This has been going on for a couple months now, and each time, these scam accounts appear to be only utilizing iMessage to contact people, myself included.

The issue started when I received a text message from a scammer, to whom I replied back to only to get error messages sent back (see attached images). I reported these messages as junk, and moved on.

Approximately ~1-2 hrs after this interaction, I was no longer able to send iMessages, but was able to receive iMessages without issue. I followed the trouble shooting steps for iMessage issues found on the Apple Support page without any resolution of the issue. I then contacted Apple Support and scheduled a call with a senior, whom found that my iMessage (and Facetime by proxy) had been blocked.

I was told that this is the only time that I would have this bypass, and the second time this would then result in me likely having to get a new phone and phone number, as I would have lost the functionality of iMessage.

So this poses a potentially massive issue that these scammers are utilizing seemingly captured Apple ID's and are reporting folks that do not fall for their Smishing scam.

If there is a way to appeal this "strike" against my iMessage/FaceTime, I would like to start that process. If there is any further information that is required, I am prepared and have screen shots of other instances of these DMV scams coming from iMessage accounts.

TLDR; I need to see about getting these strikes removed from my iMessage caused by these Smishing scammers. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions :D

[Edited by Moderator]