Ofcom orders mobile networks to block scam texts from 2027

Ofcom has finalised a set of rules that will make mobile networks block scam text messages. The regulator published its decision on 15 July 2026. None of the rules take effect until 2027.

What networks will have to do

The rules differ by how a scam text was sent. Ofcom splits them into two types. Texts sent from an ordinary SIM card are ‘person-to-person’ messages, known as P2P. Bulk business messaging is ‘application-to-person’, known as A2P.

Texts sent from a SIM card

For P2P texts, networks must:

• limit how many messages can be sent from a pre-paid SIM
• block numbers known to be sending scams
• block messages that contain web links or phone numbers reported as fraudulent

Bulk business messaging

Before anyone can send bulk texts, the provider handling them must:

• establish who the sender actually is, by running due-diligence checks on the business
• confirm a named senior person responsible for the messages
• check that the name shown on the text matches the business sending it

How Ofcom will enforce the rules

Ofcom can fine a provider up to 10% of its annual turnover. It can order a provider to compensate people who lost money because it did not follow the rules. It can also suspend a provider’s right to operate.

Ofcom can also pose as a new business customer to test whether a provider’s checks work in practice.

When the rules start

Ofcom published the decision on 15 July 2026. The deadlines fall in 2027:

• networks must follow the P2P rules for SIM-card texts by 18 January 2027, six months after the statement
• networks must follow the A2P rules for business messaging by 15 July 2027, twelve months after the statement

What the rules do not cover

The rules cover text messages sent over mobile networks. They do not cover WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or other internet apps.

They also cannot stop ‘SMS blasters’. These are devices that pretend to be a phone mast and push texts straight onto nearby phones. Because the messages never cross a network, networks cannot block them. Ofcom says stopping SMS blasters needs regulators and law enforcement to work together.

What Ofcom decided not to do

Some texts show a name at the top instead of a number. This is known as an ‘alphanumeric Sender ID’, and the sender chooses that name. Under the new rules, providers must check the displayed name matches the business.

The alternative is a single, central register of sender names held by the regulator. Only a verified organisation could then send under its own name. Ofcom decided against it. Australia and Singapore already have one.

Ofcom accepted that a register could be “particularly effective in preventing brand impersonation tactics used by scammers”. But it concluded the name checks could meet the same aim at lower cost.

Which? argued for a register. It pointed to Australia, where the government estimated its sender ID scheme would cost the telecoms industry about £10.7 million a year (A$21.5 million). Which? said that was less than 1% of annual UK telecoms revenue and worth paying.

Challenging a wrongly blocked message

Networks might block a legitimate message by mistake. Forwarding a scam link to warn a friend, for example, can look like sending a scam. Anyone whose number or message is blocked has a right to challenge it. A person can raise it with their own network even if a different network applied the block.

Three things are worth knowing about a challenge:

• a network has no fixed deadline for replying, but must decide within a prompt and reasonable timeframe it sets itself
• if the network reasonably believes the message was a scam and the sender cannot show otherwise, it can keep the block
• Ofcom has not said a challenge counts as a formal complaint, which is what normally routes a dispute to an independent ombudsman

What people can do now

Networks already block scam texts and rely on customer reports to spot them. People can forward a suspicious text to 7726, which is free on every UK network.

Anyone who has lost money to a scam text in England, Wales or Northern Ireland can report it to Report Fraud or call 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, people can call Police Scotland on 101.

The business messaging rules do not take effect until July 2027. Until then, the name shown on a text is not proof of who sent it. A text showing a bank’s name does not mean it came from that bank. If a message asks someone to move money or share a code, they should call the company on a number they already have.