Budget funding to disrupt illegal text message scams

Almost half the nation has been deceived by or exposed to a dodgy text message in the past year, says Communications Minister Michelle Rowland. As a result, an estimated $3.1 billion was lost.

The registry will support telcos in preventing scammers imitating key industry or government brand names like Linkt or myGov in text headers.

The measure will add a new layer of protection for consumers against scammers who use known brands to target and deceive, Ms Rowland said.

"We will all reap the practical benefits that will be delivered by the implementation of the SMS sender ID Registry.

"It is a massive issue and requires a whole-of-industry and a whole-of-government approach."

The Australian Communications and Media Authority will receive some $10 million over four years to launch and maintain the facility.

It will complement rules registered by the ACMA last July for telecommunications companies that blocked more than 90 million scam texts over the following six months.

An industry-wide model will be phased in over 12 months subject to rule making, industry readiness and security arrangements.

The government has also set aside funds to establish a National Anti-Scam Centre within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to help disrupt scammers.

The ACCC says text messages were the leading contact method for scams last year, making up a third of all reports.

Notifications about them to Scamwatch increased almost 19 per cent to just under 80,000 in total, yet three in 10 victims do not report scams.

The most common category of scam reported to Scamwatch is phishing - tricking victims into giving out personal information like bank accounts, passwords, credit cards or super.

There was an almost five-fold jump in financial loss attributed to the method and most were facilitated by texts.

Communications Alliance head John Stanton welcomed the crackdown on SMS-based fraud and urged the government to continue consulting with the sector to get the complex mechanism right.

"Many alliance members would prefer that the registry ultimately operate under a mandatory, rather than voluntary, framework," he said.

The boss of the telecommunications industry body said telcos were already blocking text scams under an enforceable industry code and a well-executed registry would bolster their defence against fraudsters.

How an SMS Scam Registry will operate:

Customers receive a legitimate text from Australia Post with "AusPost" in the message header.

It might be a notification to pick up a parcel.

Scammers are currently able to copy or "spoof" that header and send a message in the AusPost message thread.

This means in regular messages from AusPost, a scammer can insert a malicious text with a scam link that looks otherwise perfectly legitimate inside a trusted brand message thread.

The registry will allow AusPost to register their Sender ID with the registry and telcos will then be able to block incoming messages that are not legitimate trying to use that Sender ID.

Australian Associated Press