Your Business Texts Now Say ‘Unverified’ — Here’s the Fix

Australia’s SMS Sender ID Register went live on 1 July 2026, and plenty of businesses still haven’t caught up. If you send texts under your brand name — booking confirmations, appointment reminders, payment receipts — and you haven’t registered with ACMA, your customers now see “Unverified” where your business name should be.

That’s the same label scam messages get. Your legitimate texts are now sitting in the same thread as fraud.

Why ACMA made this change

Australians lost over $13.8 million to SMS scams in the first nine months of 2025. Scammers were spoofing sender IDs from banks, AusPost, and myGov so convincingly that fake messages appeared alongside real ones in the same thread. The register is part of the government’s Fighting Scams initiative — if your sender ID isn’t registered, telcos now flag it automatically.

Northern Beaches hospitality — this one hits you first

For restaurants, hotels, and venues across the Northern Beaches and wider Sydney, branded SMS is baked into daily operations. Reservation confirmations, promotional offers, event reminders — they all rely on customers trusting the sender. We’ve already seen the fallout with a couple of Sydney hospitality clients whose booking confirmation texts started landing as “Unverified” alongside obvious spam. No-show rates climbed noticeably within a fortnight, and front-of-house staff were fielding calls from confused guests asking whether the confirmation was real.

If you use a third-party SMS platform (Twilio, MessageMedia, or similar), you also need to confirm your provider is a participating telco under the new rules. Non-participating providers are now blocked from carrying branded SMS entirely.

How to register

Registration is free. You need an ABN and current contact details on the Australian Business Register. Head to acma.gov.au/sms-sender-id-register and follow the prompts.

Not sure whether your SMS setup is compliant, or need help checking your provider’s status? Get in touch — our hospitality IT team can sort it out quickly.