The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) is setting up an SMS Sender ID Registry to identify legitimate organisations in order to help cut down on text message scams.
The SMS Sender ID Registry is designed to help protect the Short Message Service (SMS) as a reliable and trustworthy communications channel.
Business names and brands that are not on the registry will have their text messages to customers labelled as ‘Likely Scam’ and will be blocked later this year.
Research from consultants Europe Economics estimates that scam calls and texts cost Irish businesses and consumers over €300 million per year, of which around €115 million annually is attributed to scam texts.
Many organisations rely on SMS/text messages to communicate with customers and clients for services such as financial transactions, delivery updates, and appointments.
This type of messaging is called Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging.
A2P text messages often include an alphanumeric identifier, or SMS Sender ID, that may be the name of the company or brand that sent the message (e.g., 234BANK).
ComReg has set a deadline of 25 February for businesses and service providers who handle bulk SMS traffic on their behalf to register.
Organisations using SMS Sender IDs in their messages to customers are urged to instruct their SMS provider to pre-register those SMS Sender IDs with ComReg now.
From 3 July any organisations that fail to register will have any text messages they send labelled ‘Likely Scam’ to alert the recipient that it may not be legitimate.
Then from 3 October text messages from unregistered SMS Sender IDs will be blocked.
It is hoped organisations such as banks and utilities – which are regularly impersonated by scammers – will sign up to the registry.
“Text message scams are undermining the SMS communications channel, with consumers and organisations losing trust in SMS,” ComReg said.
“Europe Economics estimates the annual level of harm to Irish consumers and businesses from scam calls and texts at over €300 million per annum, of which approximately €115 million per annum is attributed to scam texts,” it added.
Bank of Ireland has welcomed the ComReg announcement.
The lender’s Head of Fraud Nicola Sadlier said: “Tackling spam texts is one part of Bank of Ireland’s four-point plan to enhance consumer and business protection from fraud.
“Building on this development, the Bank is hopeful that there will be further progress to implement the Programme commitment to examine a broader SMS spam filter to further prevent fraud attempts on Irish consumers.
“The Bank’s plan also includes the need to take clear action to ensure that online advertising for financial products and services is only permitted by entities regulated to offer them, and the introduction of a Shared Fraud Database in Ireland. We all need to work together to tackle the serious problem of fraud, and these latest steps from ComReg are extremely positive.”
Article Source – New registry to clamp down on scam text messages – RTE