Australia to crack down on SMS scams with mandatory sender ID register

The Australian government is to establish a mandatory SMS sender ID register to protect consumers as well as legitimate brands and organizations from being targeted by scammers.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which is already running a pilot of the register, has received 10 million Australian dollars (US$6.5 million) from the government's 2023-2024 federal budget to launch and maintain the register over four years.

The ACMA is tasked with developing an enforceable industry standard, requiring telecommunications providers to check whether messages being sent under a brand name correspond with the legitimate registered sender. If the sender ID is not on the register, the ACMA will either block the SMS or include a warning.

The government expects to begin registering sender IDs in late 2025.

Australian Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the register will restore trust in communications received from legitimate organizations and make Australia an even harder place for scammers to operate in.

"We've all received scam messages on our phones purporting to be from reputable sources – and it's costing Australians millions of dollars every year," Rowland said. "This mandatory Register will enable these messages to be blocked or flagged as a scam – better protecting consumers from being cheated," said Rowland in a statement.

The ACMA will lay the groundwork for the register in the first half of 2025.

It will work on the systems and processes needed to operate the register and develop the industry standard in consultation with stakeholders. It will also provide a transition period for organizations to submit and register their sender IDs.

A concerted effort to combat SMS scams

According to the ACMA, SMS is the most commonly reported method of scam delivery in Australia. The registry was conceived in April 2023, after data showed that SMS scams cost Australia approximately A$3.1 billion ($2 billion) in 2022.

The Australian Parliament passed legislation to establish the register in August 2023, adding a new security tool designed to significantly reduce the number of SMS scams.

The register is part of a series of measures being taken by the Australian government to ensure the country is a difficult target for scammers to crack.

The government has invested more than A$168 million ($108.9 million) to combat scams across the country and has established a National Anti-Scam Centre. It has also introduced the Scams Prevention Framework, which places obligations on banks, telcos and social media companies to prevent, detect, report, disrupt and respond to scams.