All government agencies to be on anti-SMS spoofing registry after spate of scams
All government agencies will register with a new anti-SMS spoofing registry to protect the names they use to send text messages to the public, in the wake of a spate of SMS phishing scams targeting OCBC Bank customers.
"This will make it more difficult for attackers to send spoofed messages disguised as government agencies, and facilitate tracing efforts by the Ministry of Home Affairs to catch scammers," said the Smart Nation Digital Government Group on Friday (Jan 21).
The group added that it will also explore using other channels, such as the inbox feature in the Singpass app, for the Government to send messages to the public.
The move comes after the Infocomm Media Development Authority on Monday urged more businesses to sign up for the Singapore SMS SenderID Protection Registry, which allows organisations to register SMS sender names they wish to protect.
Unauthorised parties that try to send SMS messages using the registered names will be blocked on mobile operators' networks.
Set up together by IMDA and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the registry launched as a pilot scheme in August last year and currently has six organisations registered with it.
Last month, nearly 470 OCBC customers lost at least $8.5 million in SMS phishing scams.
The fraudsters had spoofed the OCBC name to send fake SMSes with links to bogus bank websites that tried to phish for customers' bank credentials.
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