STOP THE BANK SCAMMERS

the text or follow a link, scammers are waiting to trick them into handing over personal details or transfer money.

Once the new system – SMS PhishGard – is in place, fraudsters will no longer be able to hijack text message threads.

All banks are expected to register their ‘sender ID’ on a database early next year. If anyone tries to use the same ID – known as ‘spoofing’ – the text will be blocked.

Which? Money welcomed the move and urged retailers to consider signing up too. But a spokesman from the National Cyber Security Tactical Advice team said the registry would not filter out all scam texts.