Thousands of Australians fall prey to text message scams every year. According to Dan Halpin, the chief executive of Cybertraces, our friendly nature and cash availability could explain why we are an easy target for international crime syndicates.

Last year, Scamwatch reported a staggering $28 million loss, nearly triple the amount from 2020. To put this under control, the federal government recently announced plans to implement an SMS ID registry policy. This will require businesses to register their sender’s ID with government entities before making contact with their customer via text.

The steps are seen to be particularly significant as scam messages become more sophisticated in impersonating legitimate institutions.

Image: Image: Shutterstock – Tero Vesalainen

Produced By: Cindy Paskalina

Featured In Story: Dan Halpin

First aired on The Wire, Wednesday 29 March 2023