The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) has said more than 7,000 SMS Sender IDs have been pre-registered for its registry designed to cut down on text-message scams.
From next month, business names and brands that are not on the SMS Sender ID Registry will have their text messages to customers labelled as “Likely Scam”, while they will be blocked in October.
Many organisations rely on SMS/text messages to communicate with customers and clients for services such as financial transactions, delivery updates, and appointments.
This type of messaging is called Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging.
A2P text messages often include an alphanumeric identifier, or SMS Sender ID, that may be the name of the company or brand that sent the message (e.g., 234BANK).
From 3 July, any organisations that fail to register will have any text messages they send labelled “Likely Scam” to alert the recipient that it may not be legitimate.
Then, from 3 October, text messages from unregistered SMS Sender IDs will be blocked.
Organisations may register their own SMS Sender ID or their SMS provider may register the SMS Sender ID on their behalf.
It is hoped organisations such as banks and utilities – which are regularly impersonated by scammers – will sign up to the registry.
Research from consultants Europe Economics estimates that scam calls and texts cost Irish businesses and consumers over €300 million per year, of which around €115 million annually is attributed to scam texts.
ComReg Chairperson Garrett Blaney said: “The organisation is actively engaging with Mobile Service Providers, SMS Aggregators and organisations using SMS Sender IDs to ensure that as many legitimate SMS Sender IDs as possible are registered before the ‘Likely Scam’ modification phase begins on 3 July 2025.
“This is important to ensure a smooth implementation of the SMS Sender ID Registry, to help protect consumers, and to limit impact on organisations.”
He added that “the SMS Sender ID Registry is just one of a number of interventions introduced by ComReg to help mitigate the scourge of scam phone calls and text messages.”
