How The New Sender ID Registry Will Be A Game-changer For Blocking Scam Texts In Australia

SMS spam and scams in Australia are getting out of control. But that's all about to change very soon.

Let's start with some eye-opening stats:

> Half of Australians received a scam text in the last 12 months

> SMS text messages are responsible for 33% of scams

> Australians lost a huge +$3.2bn in 2022, a big jump from the previous year from SMS scams

> The number of SMS scam police reports has nearly doubled from the previous year at 14%

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)

Naturally, with so many Aussies lodging complaints and losing so much money to SMS scams, the Australian Federal government had to step in. And step in it has.

The solution: an SMS Sender ID registry for the brand name.

→ What is an alphanumeric Sender ID?

> An Alphanumeric Sender ID is your company name or brand used as the Sender ID in one-way SMS messages to recipients.

→ How the Sender ID registry will help?

> Currently, any sender can use the Sender ID of a popular brand e.g. Comm Bank, and send texts imitating the brand.

> Surprisingly, sometimes the both legit and the scam text can come through in the same thread.

> The Sender ID registry will block all the scam texts, with only the legit texts reaching your inbox.

→ How the Sender ID registry will work?

> All the companies and brands will have to register their name with ACMA via their SMS provider before using it. It takes 7 days for the registration to be processed.

> If the Sender ID is used without registering, all the SMS/MMS texts will be blocked.

> All the major Aussie telcos -- Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone -- already have filters in place to block/filter out scam texts. But it's not perfect. Sender ID will be a fool-proof solution.

→ What about two-way communications with a number (instead of one-way with a Sender ID)?

> This will largely be unaffected. But really, as a brand, you don't want to communicate with your customers from a mobile number. A Sender ID/brand name lends more credence to all your SMS sends and also helps build your brand.

→ When is it happening?

> The SMS Sender ID registry will be built out over a 4-year period by ACMA.

> But register your Sender ID today to make sure SMS texts are delivered.

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Until next time,

Sush

Until next time,

Sush