Text message scams done by criminals are becoming more difficult - more than 70 sender IDs are already protected

In recent years, most Finns have received scam messages in which the SMS sender ID shows that the message has come from a trusted organisation such as their bank, the Tax Administration or a logistics company that delivers a package. Cybercriminals have managed to use this cheating method successfully, and according to even conservative estimates, the criminal profit from this has been a total of 10 million euros

From 9 November 2023, Traficom has offered organisations the opportunity to protect their own sender ID. "We are satisfied with the result of the first three months, as many key players such as Nordea, Osuuspankki, S-Bank, Posti, Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Tax Administration and National Police Board of Finland, as well as many other players in public administration and business life have already protected their IDs", summarizes Traficom's Chief Specialist Klaus Nieminen regarding the current situation. The first protections will take effect on 21 February 2024, after a qualifying period of three months has passed from the registration of the ID.

You can check the protected IDs and the effective date of the protection on Traficom's website.

Companies and public corporations can protect the sender IDs they use so that no one else can send text messages with protected IDs. The protection takes effect three months after the registration of the ID. After this, messages can no longer be sent to recipients from abroad via the general international interface, and text message traffic sent through this will be blocked. During these three months, the organisation that registered the ID must ensure that its text messages are brought online via the application interfaces provided by Finnish telecommunications operators.

"This service offered by Traficom gives organisations that send text messages the tools to protect their IDs, but it does not provide protection until the IDs are registered" Nieminen reminds. He encourages organisations that send text messages to check their security needs and register the necessary IDs in Traficom's service.

SMS Sender ID registration costs 200 euros per registered ID per year. Applications for protection of SMS sender IDs are made using the form on Traficom's website.

More information on the subject and, for example, the format requirements of the IDs to be registered can be found in Traficom's instructions on protecting text message sender information (in Finnish). (External link)