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Telstra reported that its new scam-blocking tech had thwarted over 185 million malicious messages three months after its launch in April.
According to Telstra, the blocked messages include invitations to install malware on your device, baits to hand over personal details, and impersonation scams requesting financial data.
Telstra also claimed to have blocked loads of bank scams, fake toll road scams, and fake job offer scams.
The telco said in its release, “185 million texts blocked means a reduced chance of everyday Aussies being infected or falling prey to a SMS scam.”
“It’s also a reminder that scammers are persistent and target just about everyone with a mobile number when it comes to their campaigns.”
Telstra describes the engine’s potential as “complex and developing.” In layman’s words, the telco use knowledge of the appearance of scam text messages to stop them at the network level.
Automatic machine scanning identifies dubious content, such as harmful links. It combines this information with other patterns and features, such as the time, sender, recipient, and the number of messages delivered.
You may also want to read: ACMA eyes SMS scams, misinformation in 2022-23 compliance priorities (commsroom.co)
In April, outgoing CEO Andy Penn stated that experts might examine the new message format to determine whether the communication is fraudulent to prevent blocking something legitimate.
Penn also assured that receivers’ identities would remain confidential.
Although confident about the feature’s blocking ability, Penn said, “it isn’t fool-proof, and criminals evolve and find new ways to scam us, so we’ve all got to continue to be alert to suspicious messages – even the ones that might slip through.”
With this, Telstra encourages its users to help fight SMS scams by reporting them here.
In addition, Penn said that the scam-blocking feature is available to every customer on Telstra’s network.
Penn said, “Whether you’re on a consumer plan, a managed device through your company, or you’re signed up to another provider that uses the Telstra network like Belong – you’re now better protected from millions of scam text messages sent every day.”
Telstra also reported that its scam call blocking feature launched in 2021 has stopped over 200 million scam calls, including fake tech support scams, the so-called “Wangiri” call-back scams, and phishing campaigns.
In November, Telstra declared that it was stepping up its efforts to combat scammers and creating a cyber safety capability to assist ‘turn the tables’ on them.
The announcement coincided with the Australian government amending the telecommunications laws to permit Telstra to launch this.
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
