New legislation to crack down on SMS scams

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).

For more information on the Register or to access the submissions, visit https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sms-registry

Quotes attributable to Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP:

“Cracking down on criminals trying to rip off hardworking Australians is a priority for this Government.

“The SMS Sender ID Register is an important tool developed by the Albanese Government to protect Australians from these sophisticated criminals.

“The Register will help protect well-known brand names from being imitated and make Australia an even harder place for scammers to operate.

“The Government wants to give the ACMA the powers to establish the Register as soon as possible, and we look forward to working constructively across the Parliament to make that happen”.

Quotes attributable to the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, the Hon Stephen Jones MP:

“Our scam crackdown has seen scam losses fall for the first time since 2016 and the SMS Register is another important step in keeping people’s money safe.

“Scammers are heartless criminals, and our government is determined to make it tougher for them to operate and target victims in Australia.

“The Register will make it harder for scammers to target victims through text messages.

“The Albanese Government is determined to make Australia the least desirable place for scammers to operate."