The Albanese Government has passed new legislation aimed at disrupting scammers and reducing the number of Australians being scammed. The SMS Sender ID Register, as it's known, will protect consumers and businesses by cracking down on scammers impersonating well-known Australian brands such as banks, government agencies, and retailers.

The Register, to be run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), requires telcos to check whether messages being sent under a brand name correspond with the legitimate registered sender, and either block or include a warning if they don't match. This initiative is expected to decrease the frequency and impact of SMS impersonation scams on consumers, increase protections for legitimate brands and agencies, disrupt the business models for SMS impersonation scams, restore public confidence in SMS as a communications channel, and make Australia a harder target for scam activity.

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, the Hon Stephen Jones MP, stated, "Cutting off the avenues scammers use to contact their victims is part of our coordinated approach to keep people's money safe." He also noted that "Scam text messages bombard Australians 24/7 and the Register will start to shut down this access point."

The Government's crackdown on scams is already showing signs of success, with scam losses falling for the first time since 2016, according to Jones. The establishment of the Register is part of a suite of initiatives to combat scams and protect Australians from financial harm.

"Cracking down on criminals trying to rip off hardworking Australians is a priority for the Albanese Government," said Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP. She added, "I welcome the passage of the enabling legislation to allow the Australian Communications and Media Authority to establish the SMS Sender ID Register, which is an important tool in the fight against these highly organised criminals."