The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) recently launched an SMS Sender ID Registry (Registry) to help prevent Short Message Service (SMS) text scams in Ireland.
Since its launch many organisations, public and private, have signed up to the Registry, with over eleven thousand SMS Sender IDs and over eight thousand SMS Sender ID owner organisations registered to date.
Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS messages often include a name (SMS Sender ID) to indicate who sent the message. This SMS Sender ID may be the name of the organisation or public service that sent the text message e.g. 234BANK. Organisations using SMS Sender IDs in their text communications to mobile phone users in Ireland must now register their SMS Sender IDs with ComReg.
From Thursday 3 July 2025, SMS Providers are required to check text messages from SMS Sender IDs against ComReg’s list of registered SMS Sender IDs. Text messages from registered SMS Sender IDs will be transmitted to consumers as normal but unregistered SMS Sender IDs will be modified to ‘Likely Scam’.
Consumers receiving text messages from the SMS Sender ID ‘Likely Scam’ are advised to be cautious of the content of those messages. Do not click on links or call any numbers within those texts. Check organisations’ contact details separately.
Consumers expecting a text message from an organisation are advised to check any text messages received from the Sender ID ‘Likely Scam’ – it may be that the organisation has not yet registered its SMS Sender ID with ComReg.
Organisations that have not yet registered their SMS Sender IDs must do so now. Registration is straightforward and free. Organisations may register their own SMS Sender ID, or their SMS provider may register the SMS Sender ID on their behalf. Organisations can search for and register SMS Sender IDs at www.comreg.ie/senderid
From 3 October 2025, text messages from unregistered SMS Sender IDs will be blocked and these messages will not reach end users. To prevent such blocking, all legitimate SMS Sender IDs must be registered with ComReg.
The SMS Sender ID Registry is one of a number of interventions introduced by ComReg to help mitigate the scourge of scam phone calls and text messages. Europe Economics estimates the annual level of harm to Irish consumers and businesses from scam calls and texts at over €300 million per annum.
For more information see www.comreg.ie/senderid
