All government SMSes to come from a single ‘gov.sg’ sender ID by Jul 1
This is to make it easier for the public to identify authentic government communications sent via SMSes
ALL Singapore government agencies will send out SMSes under a new “gov.sg” sender ID while disseminating official communications to the public, instead of using individual agencies’ sender IDs.
This will be progressively rolled out from Jun 18 until it is fully implemented by Jul 1, announced Open Government Products (OGP) on Thursday (Jul 13).
OGP is part of the Government Technology Agency or GovTech, a statutory board under the Smart Nation Group in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Using a single SMS sender ID will make it easier for the public to identify authentic government communications sent via SMSes to guard against government official impersonation scams, said OGP.
The government has also partnered SMS aggregators and all telecommunications service providers – along with their respective sub-brands operating in Singapore – to prevent the “gov.sg” sender ID from being spoofed. Limited exceptions will be made for communications about national service matters and emergency services.
Sim Feng-Ji, deputy secretary (Smart Nation Group), said that the consolidated “gov.sg” sender ID is designed to give the public added confidence and ease of mind when identifying legitimate SMSes from government agencies. “It exemplifies the government’s commitment in stamping out malicious attempts that undermine the public’s trust in government communications,” he added.
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OGP noted that SMS remains a key platform for government communications to the public in Singapore, with more than 100 million SMSes estimated to be sent by various government agencies to notify recipients of policy changes, provide transaction updates, and more.
In early 2022, Smart Nation Group announced that it would sign up all government agencies onto the Singapore SMS Sender ID protection registry. The Infocomm Media Development Authority later in the same year mandated all organisations using SMS sender IDs to do the same with their unique entity number.
Despite these government efforts, a recent wave of phishing SMSes was reported by the police to have scammed at least 103 victims of about S$161,000 in December 2023 alone.
SEE ALSO
Impersonating banks, scammers obtained online banking usernames, passwords or one-time passwords through SMSes from a “+65” number containing URL links to spoofed bank websites.
The phishing attacks also utilised WhatsApp messages to impersonate bank security department officers.
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