The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has today registered new rules that will protect Australians against SMS scams.
The Australian Government has welcomed the rules, which will require all telecommunications providers to identify, trace and block SMS scams. They also require providers to publish information to assist their customers to proactively manage and report SMS scams, to share information about scam messages with other mobile providers and report identified scams to authorities.
The new rules have been developed by the telecommunications industry peak body, Communications Alliance, following a period of consultation with telecommunications providers.
It takes scammers an average of 7 days from the initial theft of personal and account information for criminals to commit multiple identity crimes with that information.
Australians lost more than $2B to scams in 2021, according to the ACCC.
This change will take a step toward protecting Australians, their identity and their money, and disrupt the business model of scammers.
These rules follow separate new anti-scam rules that came into force on 30 June 2022, requiring telecommunication providers to use multi-factor authentification before approving high-risk customer transactions, including SIM swap.
Providers will face penalties of up to $250,000 for breaching ACMA directions to comply with the rules.
