“Most Australians have either received a scam text message, or know someone who has, and know how easy it can be to fall into the trap,” said Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.
To better protect Australians from SMS scams, the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) has put in new rules for mobile providers.
Companies will be required to trace, identify, and block SMS scam messages and give information to their customers on identifying and reporting scams.
They will also need to share information about scams between each other and the authorities.
“Most Australians have either received a scam text message, or know someone who has, and know how easy it can be to fall into the trap,” said Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.
“These new rules aim to disrupt scammers’ business models, which will help to protect vulnerable Australians against scammers accessing their bank account, social media and online businesses.”
ACMA is hoping the new code on SMS scams will have a comparable effect to a similar code for scam phone calls.
In 16 months since the code on scam calls was put in, there was a large reduction with an estimated half a billion scam calls getting blocked by phone companies.
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said in a statement there is no “silver bullet” to stopping scams, but enforcing these laws can have a significant effect.
“The harder we make it for scammers, the less Australians are likely to be targeted,” she said.
“We expect to see SMS scams reduce as industry step up to do more to protect their customers.”
Among the scams Australians report to Scamwatch, phone calls and text messages are among the most reported. But internet, social networking, email, and app scams are also taking hundreds of millions each year.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said scammers are targeting vulnerable sections of the community.
About $66 million was stolen from Indigenous Australians, people with a disability, and culturally diverse communities in 2021, almost double the amount from 2020.
