By Jessica Yun
Australians could receive fewer text messages from scammers posing as legitimate organisations under a proposed registry that has reduced SMS phishing and spoofing in the UK, Spain, Ireland and Singapore.
Under directions from Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, the Australian Communications and Media Authority will explore the implementation of an SMS sender ID register that would block cyber criminals from sending texts appearing to be from agencies such as the Australian Tax Office (ATO), myGov and Australia Post.
The federal government has ordered the communication regulator to look at how an SMS sender ID registry might block scams.Credit: iStock
Australians self-reported losses of over half a billion dollars in 2022, with a third of all scams reported to Scamwatch coming in the form of a text message.
“One more scam is one too many,” said Rowland.
“Fraudsters cause financial and immeasurable emotional and mental stress by impersonating legitimate organisations every day, and we thank the ACMA for its important work to help protect Australians.”
Phishing texts are one of the most commonly encountered forms of scams in which the cyber criminal manipulates the ‘sender’ name to appear as a well-trusted origin such as a bank, telco, parcel delivery service, or Australian federal agency.
Texts that appear to be from your bank are actually malicious exercises to steal a customer’s personal information or gain unauthorised access to their accounts – but appear indistinguishable from the real thing.
In 2018, the UK trialled and developed an SMS sender ID protection registry that now protects the brands of over 130 government brands and banks and has over 520 trusted and registered SenderIDs. Ireland followed with its own protection registry in July 2021 and Spain launched theirs in December that year. Singapore made it mandatory for organisations that use sender ID to register by January this year.
ACMA will examine different registry models and provide advice to the federal government on what approach Australia should take.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said protecting Australians from scams was a top priority, with losses expected to double to $4 billion this year.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “Everyone needs to take this seriously, from banks to telcos to social media platforms. When they don’t, they can expect to be asked why.”
Australian telecommunications providers have blocked over 90 million scam texts following new laws that kicked in July 2022 requiring all telcos to identify, trace and block SMS scams.
Earlier this month, ACMA ordered mobile solutions company Modica Group to comply with the new laws after finding the business allowed its customers to send texts with specific sender IDs without checking if it was used for scamming purposes.
The Commonwealth Bank recently implemented two new measures to help prevent money transfer and phone scams after the ACCC urged banks to do more.
So far this year, Australians have made over 27,500 reports to Scamwatch and lost a combined $53 million, an average loss of more than $1 million a day.
Meanwhile, the Australian Competition and Consumer Regulator is warning Australians against romance scams in particular, which are expected to escalate ahead of Valentine’s Day.
Australians concerned they may have been scammed are urged to report it to Scamwatch and contact their banks immediately.
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