Over a billion phone scams, including calls and texts, have been blocked by service providers in the last financial year, with new figures showing over 256 million scam calls blocked in the three months to July alone.
The Australian Communication and Media Authority’s (ACMA) quarterly report revealed telco service providers have increased a crack down on scams.
Around 143.7 million scam calls & 47.8 million scam texts were blocked between July and September last year, with the figure jumping to 256 million calls & 85 million texts between April and June this year.
During the last quarter, there was a 33% increase in the amount of blocked calls compared to the three months prior.
In 2022, Australians reported a minimum $3.1 billion in scam losses, rising 80% from the year prior.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland claimed the latest figures were proof the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMS industry code was working, in an effort to protect Australians by blocking more scams.
The code states SMS service providers must identify, trace, and block suspected SMS scams, conducting checks on organisation through text based sender ID.
ACMA is expected to receive reports from carriage service providers around blocked scam calls and SMS during each quarter.
“Disrupting scammers is a whole-of-government and industry effort. These syndicates are sophisticated, and all Australians need to remain vigilant. It’s pleasing to see that one billion telecommunications scams never met their intended target this past year.”
The government is said to be driving down the total number of scams received.
“The Albanese government is committed to adapting to new scam threats, and that’s why we’ve funded a new SMS Sender ID Registry to combat spoof texts slipping into legitimate text streams and stealing personal data.”
This registry is expected to stop scammers going after brands such as Linkt, Australia Post, or myGov.
Also launched last month was an ACCC led National Anti Scam Centre, joining service providers with law enforcement, in an attempt to target priority scams, and share intelligence.
