In Australia, the problems of scam email, text messages, calls and more are pretty much the same as in the UK and USA.

But the Australian government is fighting back. Their efforts to reduce scam calls have worked well. “In the first 16 months after the Reducing Scam Calls code was put in place, telcos reported blocking over 549 million scam calls to Australian phone numbers, and there has been a dramatic drop in scam call complaints.

Now it’s time to go after the scam text messages.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) registered new rules to require telecom companies to identify, trace and block SMS scams.

The ACMA worked closely with the Communications Alliance to develop the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam Short Messages industry code in response to evidence that SMS scams are increasing in prevalence and impact.

“These scam messages are deeply frustrating to Australians because they are received on devices that are an essential part of our social and economic lives. Almost every Australian adult and business is affected. We shouldn’t have to screen messages and adopt workaround behaviours to be able to feel safe and stay connected”

The harder we make it for scammers, the less Australians are likely to be targeted.”

“We expect to see SMS scams reduce as industry step up to do more to protect their customers,” she said.

Under the rules, telcos must also publish information to assist their customers to proactively manage and report SMS scams, share information about scam messages with other telcos and report identified scams to authorities.

Combating SMS and identity theft phone scams is an ACMA compliance priority, and telcos will face penalties of up to $250,000 for breaching ACMA directions to comply with the new code.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.