In an attempt at curbing digital fraud and misleading SMS links, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked access providers to ensure that all business SMS templates include proper tagging for parts of a message.
As per TRAI, the variable components such as names, links, phone numbers, download URLs or transaction details, are widely exploited by scammers. These components form body of a message. TRAI said that fraudsters could misuse these untagged fields by adding fake and harmful links that appear to come from trusted brands.
The regulator has set the deadline for 60 days asking businesses to clearly label every variable field while registering SMS templates. “After expiry of this sixty(60) days period, any message failing variable tag validation shall be rejected outright and not delivered,” it said.
For example, a customer’s name should be tagged as #name# and a link as #url#. It is only through this tagging that the message will be allowed to go through once the deadline ends.
The access providers are responsible for delivering SMS used by banks, online platforms, retailers and other companies for sending alerts, OTPs, promotional texts and service messages.
TRAI said the step will make it easier for access providers to detect suspicious content, improve automated filtering, and protect consumers from phishing and scam messages disguised as legitimate communication.
The move adds another safeguard on top of the existing Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018, which were designed to reduce unsolicited commercial messages.