Finnish operators to flag unverified texts as spam

Finnish mobile operators will mark some text messages as spam from November 2 to make it harder for scammers to impersonate trusted organisations, Yle reports.

The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, is requiring operators to label messages when the sender has not verified their right to use the sender ID. Operators may instead block the messages entirely.

The change applies only to messages sent by organisations, not texts between individuals. Traficom says a spam label does not necessarily mean a message is fraudulent: foreign organisations may still send messages using their own local sender IDs.

The label means the sender’s right to use the ID could not be confirmed, Traficom says. The agency advises recipients to assess each sender carefully before opening links or sharing information.