The Albanese Government has today introduced new legislation to give the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) powers to establish and run an SMS Sender ID Register that will help disrupt scammers and protect Australians.
The Register aims to protect consumers and brands by disrupting a specific type of SMS impersonation scam – where scammers ‘spoof’ legitimate and well-known brands such as banks, government agencies and retailers to slip into text conversations and rip off consumers.
The Register would allow telcos to check whether messages being sent under a brand name correspond with the legitimate sender, and either block or include a warning for headers that do not match.
The Register is intended to:
- decrease the frequency and impact of SMS impersonation scams on consumers;
- increase protections for legitimate brands and agencies against bad actors impersonating them;
- disrupt the business models for SMS impersonation scams;
- restore public confidence in SMS as a communications channel; and
- make Australia a much harder target for scam activity.
With reports of SMS scams increasing, the need to protect Australians continues to grow. In 2023, Australians reported 37% more scams delivered by SMS compared to 2022.
In April 2023, the Government announced the establishment of a Register as part of the government’s suite of initiatives to combat scams and protect Australians from financial harm. ACMA commenced work to research industry practices and overseas models, and also scoped and developed a pilot register with telecommunications industry participants. A pilot register was launched in December 2023 to test the effectiveness of the scheme, with CBA, NAB, Services Australia and the ATO amongst the organisations participating.
The Government consulted on the next phase of the Register earlier this year, with all non-confidential submissions received published today. In addition to the formal submissions received, an additional 78 responses were received via an online survey, with 89 per cent favouring mandatory registration of SMS Sender IDs.
The legislation is the first step in establishing the Register. The Government is considering all of the submissions on the consultation which will help to inform a final decision on whether the Register will ultimately be a voluntary or mandatory model, including costings and implementation details.
The Register is just one element of the Government’s comprehensive approach to scam prevention, alongside the establishment of the National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC) within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
