Action on scams, spam and telemarketing: October to December 2025

Our key actions
	Opened a major new initiative, the SMS Sender ID Register, to help prevent brand impersonation scams.
	109.9 million scam calls and 41.1 million scam SMS blocked by telcos in the quarter – with over 3.8 billion scams blocked since the rules commenced.
	Over $3.3 million paid by telcos for scam rule breaches that allowed fraudsters to steal money from consumers.

* You can obtain the accessibility information for the graphs in this report from the file at the bottom of this page. 

We have 2 key compliance priorities for the 2025-26 financial year for unsolicited communications and scams:

1. Disrupting mobile number fraud – Our priority is to monitor whether telcos are complying with rules directed at fraud prevention and take strong enforcement action when we find non-compliance. Mobile number fraud can result in financial losses and emotional distress for those impacted.
2. Combating spam and telco scams – This is an enduring priority, and in 2025-26 will include a focus on persistent unwanted spam or telemarketing. We will escalate our approach to businesses that do not respond to our compliance alerts and early warnings. Unwanted spam or telemarketing can have a range of adverse impacts on consumers, ranging from frustration through to financial loss and serious impacts on mental health and wellbeing.

Key actions and outcomes in the quarter included:

• We announced that Southern Phone Company paid a $2,500,560 infringement penalty for breaching anti-scam rules, and entered into a 3-year court enforceable undertaking. The telco failed to conduct required identity checks on 168 occasions when porting mobile telephone numbers. The breaches led to reported consumer losses of at least $393,000.
• We announced that Optus Mobile paid an $826,320 infringement penalty for breaching anti-scam rules. The telco failed to conduct required identity checks on 44 occasions when porting mobile telephone numbers. The breaches led to reported consumer losses of $39,000.
• We gave threat alerts to telcos about vulnerabilities used by scammers to facilitate mobile number fraud. These alerts promote quick and effective harm reduction.
• We gave compliance alerts to multiple telcos about potential mobile number fraud so they can take early action to protect consumers. If we see ongoing or serious issues, we may investigate.

Key actions and outcomes this quarter included:

• Telcos reported blocking more than 2.8 billion scam calls since December 2020 to the end of this quarter, and more than 1.0 billion scam SMS since July 2022 to the end of this quarter. The ACMA and telcos use blocking statistics to identify trends and inform disruption activities.
• We finalised rules for the SMS Sender ID Register in October 2025. We started to onboard telcos to the register in mid-October 2025 and entities at the end of November 2025 (see below for more information).
• We continued to provide the voluntary pilot SMS Sender ID Register to protect the sender IDs of key organisations impersonated by scammers and protect consumers from receiving scam SMS using these sender IDs. The pilot will be decommissioned once the full register goes live.
• We gave 982 compliance alerts to businesses for early remediation of issues.
• We provided anonymised scam call data to telcos to inform their blocking activities.
• We collaborated with the National Anti-Scam Centre to share information on scam trends and align educational material for consumers.

We opened the register for applications from telcos and organisations that use branded identifiers in their SMS or MMS messages (these are known as sender IDs, such as 'myGov' or 'AusPost').

The register is being implemented as part of the government’s Fighting Scams initiative to address scams and online fraud and protect Australians from financial harm. 

It will make SMS and MMS messages safer and help prevent brand impersonation scams from 1 July 2026. Unregistered sender IDs will be labelled as ‘unverified’ under a single message thread on phones from this date.

What do you need to do?

• Consumers: You don’t need to do anything – your telco will tell you about some changes to the way you receive SMS and MMS messages in late June 2026.
• Telcos: Register to be able to participate in the scheme.
• Organisations: If you use sender IDs, talk to your telco about registering them as soon as possible. 

For telcos and organisations, please note there will be checks during the application process that rely on the information on the Australian Business Register (ABR). This includes checking that authorised representatives in the ABR are current and accurate. Organisations are urged to check their ABR information is up to date to ensure their Sender ID Register application is not delayed.

Find out how to update the ABR.

Find out more about the SMS Sender ID Register. 

Check the list of participating telcos. 

Mobile number fraud is where scammers impersonate someone to gain access to their telco service (and often to information in apps and devices).

Some people experience mobile number fraud as a result of their email account becoming compromised. When an email account is compromised, scammers may be able to obtain one‑time passcodes or access identity documents stored within the email account. In both cases, this can help scammers to pass multi-factor ID checks with telcos.

We strongly encourage consumers to protect their email accounts and exercise strong password protections. This includes:

• using strong and unique passwords
• updating passwords regularly
• enabling multi-factor authentication on their email accounts. 

Find out more advice about email security.  

We also encourage telco providers to use the most secure multi-factor ID options possible. For example, app‑based authenticators or via a verified mobile number.

You should contact your telco quickly and ask what they can do to help protect your account if you become aware that: 

• your email is compromised
• you experience suspicious activity on your phone, such as one-time verification codes being sent through when you haven’t requested them.

Telcos have obligations to use additional fraud protections when you make a reasonable request.

Promoting stronger email security and adopting more secure ID checks reduces the risk of account compromise and enhances overall protection against mobile number fraud.

If you think you’ve been scammed:

• contact your banking provider immediately to put a stop to transactions on your account
• contact your telco so they can help
• help other Australians by reporting it to ScamWatch
• IDCARE can help if your identity has been compromised or stolen. Call 1800 595 160 or visit www.idcare.org.

Check the ACMA’s tips for dealing with phone scams.

In this quarter:

• we received more than 4,400 complaints from consumers about alleged breaches of telemarketing and spam laws
• solar, electricity and other utilities were the most complained about industries
• scams made up 7.3% of the complaints we received for both spam and telemarketing.

Complaints received by financial year

Please note: We have also received 46 complaints about commercial instant messages so far in 2025–26.

Complaints received about scam calls and SMS

Please note: These are a subset of all complaints received by financial year.

Where we receive enough information to identify the alleged caller or sender, we alert businesses and telcos about potential compliance issues raised in complaints. One alert can relate to several issues or complaints. 

Compliance alerts given to businesses and telcos

Please note: Compliance alerts for potential mobile number fraud are a new initiative in 2025–26.

We investigate where we see serious and/or systemic indications of non-compliance. Within the quarter, we:

• opened 11 new investigations (3 for spam, and 8 for scams)
• finalised 4 investigations (3 for spam and telemarketing, and one for scams)
• monitored compliance with 19 court-enforceable undertakings.

Finalised investigations

For the 12 months to the end of the quarter, we took an average of 3.8 months to complete an investigation. All investigations were completed within 6 months.

View our enforcement actions for breaches of spam and telemarketing laws.

View our enforcement actions for breaches of scam laws. 

Find out more about scam, spam and telemarketing rules, including how to make a complaint. 

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Access the data from charts in this report

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Data files: Action on scams, spam and telemarketing – October to December 2025