Smartphones have become an essential part of our lives. Anything from sending a text message to making video calls, we’re all dependent on our phones for most of our daily activities.

However, even after being such a close piece of technology to us every day, there are still things that many users don’t know about their phones. In this article, we’re looking at DCB_Association and telling you everything you need to know.

What is DCB_Association?

Many cellular settings and other internal settings on your device are controlled by external parties. They send these settings over in text messages that you don’t usually see.

DCB stands for Direct Carrier Billing, and it’s simply an online receipt that users get after buying something from the Google Play Store. Since users can set up their mobile carrier accounts to be billed instead of their credit cards, DCB messages become more important if you’re looking to keep track of your purchases.

Every time you make a purchase using your carrier account, Google Play will send a message to your carrier using a specific code depending on the carrier called the DCB_Association code. The message is usually in the following format.

DCB_Association: [authentication ID]

The message helps the carrier identify details like phone number, request ID and your Google account. Based on the received parameters, the carrier can authorise the transaction, the receipt for which comes in the DCB_Association text.

Also read: What is the Chrome continue where you left off feature? 7 Fixes if it’s not working

Are DCB_Association texts legit?

If you’ve set Google Play to charge your carrier account for your Play Store purchases, any such messages you receive are legit, and you don’t have to worry about anything.

However, if that’s not the case, you’re potentially being scammed, and you shouldn’t interact or open these messages. The safest course of action is to delete them as soon as you receive these messages. Changing your Google account’s password and contacting your carrier about the same are also good ideas.

Removing carrier account from your payment settings

You can remove your carrier account from Google Pay settings to further mitigate the risk. This will also stop DCB_Association messages from showing up on your phone. Here’s how.