ACMA's new Sender ID Register has arrived. Here's what it means for your business.

ACMA's new Sender ID Register has arrived. Here's what it means for your business.

By Anna Christensen

3 min read time.

SMS guides

Australians lost more than $2 billion to scams in 2025, and a sizeable chunk started with a text message that looked like it came from somewhere trustworthy. Until now, scammers didn’t need to hack anything to impersonate your business. All they’d have to do is register any business name as their Alphanumeric sender ID and send a text. And it would appear right in your customer's inbox, alongside all the legitimate messages.

That's the loophole Australia's new SMS Sender ID Register was built to close. And as of 1 July 2026, it's live.

Why this matters

The ACMA (Australia's communications regulator) introduced this change as part of the government's broader Fighting Scams initiative. Before it, alphanumeric sender IDs – the branded name at the top of a text, like "AusPost" or "MyBank" – never needed proof of ownership. Anyone could send under almost any name they liked, and phones had no way to tell the real thing from the impersonator. Telcos blocked more than 153 million scam texts in 2025 alone, and plenty still got through.

But now every business sending SMS to Australian numbers under a brand name has to register that sender ID with the ACMA, which is cross-checked against their ABN.

Suddenly, the scammer isn't able to leverage your business name in bad faith. And your registered name becomes proof you're the real deal.

What this means for your messages

ACMA Sender ID Blog Inline

Nothing changes about how you send. It's all about how your messages are perceived on your customers’ phones.

  • If your sender ID is registered: your business name appears in the sender ID field as normal, making it immediately recognisable to your customers.

  • If your sender ID is unregistered: "Unverified" is slapped next to your name on every single message, instantly raising red flags.

Your messages still get delivered either way – but "Unverified" isn’t the best look when you’re trying to build trust with your customers.

Still haven’t registered?

Now’s your time to move.

Big businesses and government agencies have been preparing for months, but 97% of Australian businesses are small operators with fewer than 20 employees – which means most of the market is still catching up. Register now and your name is verified while competitors are still sitting under a warning label. Every day you wait is a day "Unverified" does your talking for you. Here’s what to do:

  1. Work out if you're affected. Sending SMS or MMS to Australian mobiles under a business name rather than a number? You're in.

  2. Tidy up your business details. Registration cross-checks you against the Australian Business Register, so your ABN and authorised contact need to be current.

  3. Register your sender ID. Go through a participating provider like ClickSend, or straight through ACMA Assist. (Fun fact: ClickSend and our parent company Sinch account for 65% of sender IDs registered with the ACMA across the entire industry).

  4. Keep an eye on your inbox. Final approval goes to whoever's listed as your authorised contact on the ABR – make sure they know it's coming.

Compliance admin can be annoying, but this isn't red tape for the sake of it. It's the difference between a scammer borrowing your name for free and a customer knowing at a glance that a message is really from you.

Register now, and your name does the talking. Wait, and "Unverified" does it for you.

Got questions? Talk to our support team.

Need a step-by-step explainer? Check out our help doc.