Millions of Australians could soon miss critical text messages as new anti-scam rules take effect on July 1. Businesses and services must register their branded SMS sender IDs or risk having their messages labelled 'Unverified' and grouped with spam.
What Are Branded Sender IDs?
Branded SMS sender IDs are the names appearing at the top of texts to identify legitimate businesses such as Australia Post, Med-Appt, or myGov for appointment confirmations, bills, and urgent updates. Under the new rules, unregistered messages will automatically appear as 'Unverified' and be lumped together with spam in a single thread.
Low Registration Rates Cause Concern
According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), only 20% of businesses and organisations have registered for the scheme. A Vodafone spokesperson warned: 'Australians could start missing critical messages like medical reminders and school alerts from July 1 if businesses don't act now. Australians rely on text messages every day for important updates, whether it's a medical appointment, a bill, or a school alert, and those messages could stop getting through if businesses don't register their sender IDs.'
Unregistered texts are far more likely to be flagged as unverified and ignored or deleted, the spokesperson added. 'We're urging businesses to register as soon as possible so Australians don't miss the messages they rely on.'
How Businesses Can Comply
To avoid being lumped with spam, businesses should ensure their details are up-to-date with the Australian Business Register, check ABN information to add or edit 'authorised contact' or 'service of notice' email addresses, and contact their sender ID provider to register.
