Businesses that use branded identifiers, such as myGov or AusPost, in their text messages to customers will need to register their sender IDs under their name ahead of the SMS Sender ID Register in July next year.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said in a statement on Monday that, from July 1, any text message (SMS or MMS) sent using a registered sender ID would be delivered with that ID and could be trusted by consumers.

The statement added that those organisations using branded identifiers should register their sender ID with their telco provider immediately.

“Anyone using sender IDs must act now to prepare for these changes and get their sender ID registered to take advantage of the new protections,” ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said in a statement.

“If a legitimate organisation does not register their sender ID, their messages could be mistaken for a scam, disrupting customer communications and affecting brand reputation.”

ACMA said registered sender IDs “will provide critical safeguards to help protect Australian consumers and brands from scam messages that impersonate legitimate organisations. Once established, it will help restore confidence in branded SMS communications”.

If the sender ID is unregistered, it will be replaced with the word “Unverified” and grouped together in a single message thread on the recipients’ phones, which will let the recipients know that the text is a potential scam.

ACMA said as part of the registration rules, participating telcos and other providers would need to educate consumers about what to expect when the register went live and inform customers about registration requirements.

As part of the registration rules, the registered sender IDs would be clearly linked to the registering organisation, such as matching a business name or trademark, the statement said.