By William Ton

Australians could soon say cya l8r to dodgy texts, with telcos forced to verify messages from brands under a government crackdown on scammers.

A mandatory SMS Sender ID register will be set up requiring telecommunications companies to check whether messages sent under a brand name correspond with that legitimate brand.

The mandatory industry standard, to be enforced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, will block the SMS or include a warning if the sender ID doesn’t correspond with an ID on the register.

It’s the government’s latest strategy to stop scammers from posing as trusted brands to send dodgy texts, including banks, service providers and government organisations.

The register will provide greater checks and balances for consumers and brands as text scams are the most commonly reported scam method.

It will help decrease the frequency of SMS impersonation scams, increase protections for legitimate brands and disrupt scam business models.

About $10 million has been set aside for four years to launch and maintain the register which the government anticipates will be open for registration from late-2025.

The register will play an important role to protect Australians from increasingly sophisticated and organised scammers and restore trust in communications from legitimate organisations, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said.

“We’ve all received scam messages on our phones purporting to be from reputable sources – and it’s costing Australians millions of dollars every year,” she said.

“This mandatory register will enable these messages to be blocked or flagged as a scam – better protecting consumers from being cheated.”

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said the government’s approach is among the most comprehensive in the world.

“Scam text messages bombard Australians 24/7. The register will help to shut this down by disrupting the scammers’ business model,” he said.

The federal government has invested more than $168 million into tackling scam activity, including establishing the National Anti-Scam Centre and rules for banks, telcos and social media companies to prevent, detect, report, disrupt and respond to scams.