Something must have changed with AT&T because up until like 6 weeks I was getting bombarded with spam texts, like a dozen a day, then they just suddenly stopped

Something must have changed with AT&T because up until like 6 weeks I was getting bombarded with spam texts, like a dozen a day, then they just suddenly stopped. I've heard that forwarding spam texts to 7726 ends up counterproductive because that system opens up any included links, letting spammers know they've hit a legit active number. Is there any truth to that?