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New SMS verification rules will begin rolling out from 1 July to help Australians identify legitimate branded messages and reduce the effectiveness of impersonation scams.
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Australians will soon see a new warning label on some text messages as part of a national effort to combat SMS-based scams and impersonation fraud.
From 1 July, text messages sent using branded sender IDs that have not been registered under Australia’s new SMS Sender ID Register will be labelled “Unverified” on mobile devices.
These messages will be grouped together in a single thread alongside other unverified messages, including potential scam texts.
Legitimate messages sent using registered sender IDs such as “AusPost”, “Linkt”, and “myGov” will continue to appear individually under their recognised brand names.
The changes are designed to help consumers distinguish between trusted communications and messages that may be attempting to impersonate businesses or government agencies.
“These changes will give Australians an extra layer of protection to help prevent impersonation scams,” Samantha Yorke, a member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, said in a 17 June statement.
“From 1 July, people will start seeing a clear difference between text messages sent from registered sender IDs and those that have not been registered.”
Yorke urged consumers to exercise caution when receiving messages marked as unverified.
“If a message is marked as ‘Unverified’, people should treat it with extra caution and not click on any links or provide personal information,” Yorke said.
“If in any doubt, check for verified contact details online or via bills and only make contact via that channel.”
The regulator said telecommunications providers are required to notify customers about the upcoming changes, while businesses that have not yet registered their sender IDs are being encouraged to do so urgently.
More than 17,000 sender IDs have already been registered, with applications continuing to increase ahead of the deadline.
“Any business that does not register its current sender IDs by 1 July risks having its messages labelled ‘Unverified’ and ignored, or treated as a scam by the recipient,” Yorke said.
Australians lost almost $18 million to text message scams last year, many involving messages impersonating trusted brands and government services.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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