Status
All Systems Operational
In July 2022, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) made revisions to the Scam Code as a result of a significant increase in SMS scams. The Scam Code sets out processes for identifying, tracing, blocking and otherwise disrupting scam calls and scam SMS. The changes aim to provide better protections for consumers against scams and to make Australia a harder target for scammers.
To remain compliant with these regulatory changes that affect the entire industry, our SMS provider will now require the pre-registration of all (alphanumeric) SMS notification sender names that are configured for each brand.
Up to now, we have allowed partners to create a customised SMS sender name against each of their brands. So that we comply with the new requirements set by our SMS provider and thereby ensure SMS notifications sent by the platform are not blocked, we will be changing what SMS notification sender names can be configured by partners.
1. Partners can assign one of the following SMS sender names against their brand without requiring pre-registration paperwork to be completed:
2. Partners can choose their own generic SMS sender name that can then be used moving forward for any new or existing brands. This will require pre-registration paperwork to be completed to obtain authorisation from our SMS provider.
3. If partners wish to retain the current SMS sender names assigned to their existing brands, pre-registration paperwork will need to be completed to obtain authorisation from our SMS provider.
Partners can choose one or a combination of the above solutions.
Not every partner will be affected by these new requirements. For example, if you already have assigned one of the generic SMS sender names listed in (1) above, there will be no further action required from you. You may also choose to update the existing SMS sender name assigned to your brand(s) to any of the generic ones listed to avoid having to complete options (2) and/or (3).
If you’re not sure what SMS sender name has been configured for your brand, you can find this by navigating to the partner dashboard:
Select “Brands” from the left navigation menu > click on your brand name and refer to the “SMS notification sender name” field.
We will be directly reaching out to affected parties this week with further instructions on the steps required to obtain authorisation of the partner’s SMS sender names. In general, affected partners will need to submit letters of authority for each unique SMS sender name assigned to their brands and also provide evidence of business registration for the authorised brand owner entity.
For any new brands created moving forward or if an SMS sender name is to be updated for an existing brand, partners can either use:
Any deviation from this will result in SMS notifications being blocked by the SMS provider.
As stated above, we will commence sending direct correspondence to affected partners next week. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us should you require further information on this.
