The first protected sender IDs have entered into force on Wednesday. According to Traficom, sender IDs have been protected very actively, but the work to eradicate text message scams manufactured by criminals is still just beginning.
According to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom, the vast majority of Finns have come across scam messages in recent years that appear to come from a trusted party based on the name of the sender, although this is not the case in reality.
Even if it is a clear scam message, the name of a bank, tax authority or transport company may appear as the sender. The reason is that it is easy to fake the sender ID.
According to Traficom’s estimate, the financial losses caused by these scams are at least 10 million euros.
Protect your sender ID
Since last fall, Traficom has been offering companies and public entities the possibility to protect the sender ID. According to Traficom, many key players have already done this, and in total more than 70 IDs have been protected.
Protected sender IDs have been registered by, for example, Nordea, OP, S-Pankki, Posti, the National Pension Service, the Tax Administration, the Police Administration, Veripalvelu and many other public administration and business operators.
Protecting the ID means that the same ID cannot be used by any other party. However, it is still possible to use similar but slightly different characters. You can check the protected transmission IDs From Traficom’s website.
– The service offered by Traficom gives organizations that send text messages the tools to protect their credentials, but it does not provide protection until the credentials are registered, Traficom’s leading expert Klaus Nieminen reminds in the press release.
The first protected IDs will enter into force on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, when the three-month grace period from their registration will be completed.
Source: Traficom