Twilio SMS Service: Geo-Permissions to Stop Programmable Messaging SMS Traffic Pumping Fraud
Applies to
- ILLiad
- Tipasa
- WorldShare Interlibrary Loan
Answer
The following was posted on the ILL-L Listserv on Wednesday, May 31, 2023 9:59 AM:
You are receiving this email from Twilio because your account is at risk of SMS fraud through a practice called SMS Traffic Pumping.
What do you need to know?
Effective June 21, 2023, Twilio will automatically configure your account to block messages for countries where your account did not have any historical use but were known to be sources of SMS Traffic Pumping schemes.
Starting in June 2023, Twilio is taking several steps to protect Twilio Programmable Messaging customers from SMS Traffic Pumping, including changing Geo-Permissions to block unwanted SMS messages from historically unserved countries. Your account has been identified as high risk for SMS Traffic Pumping.
SMS Traffic Pumping, also known as Artificially Inflated Traffic, happens when fraudsters take advantage of a phone number input field to receive a one-time passcode (OTP), an app download link, or anything else via SMS.
Why is this happening?
Over the past two years, Twilio has seen an increase in the amount of unexpected messaging traffic due to SMS Traffic Pumping. Twilio has taken a leadership position within the industry to reduce the instances of SMS Traffic Pumping by blocking SMS messages from unserved geographies and launching our SMS Traffic Pumping protection service.
What do you need to do?
There is no action for you to take. Starting June 21, 2023, Twilio will monitor your traffic and will start blocking unwanted SMS Traffic Pumping on all your non-marketing Programmable Messaging transactions.
Even though Twilio automatically configured your Geo-Permissions to block SMS messages from unserved countries, there are other options available to you depending on your use case:
1. If you want to take advantage of the most effective version of SMS Traffic Pumping protection and reduce potential false positives, you can integrate to Twilio’s Verify API, which has added benefits of a managed global pool of phone numbers, passcode generation, carrier-approved templates, and additional possession technologies all in one API.
2. If you would rather receive an SMS Traffic Pumping score through the Lookup API, we can extend our unlimited access period for the Lookup API so that you can make your own SMS Traffic Pumping risk assessment.
1. Click here to get an invitation to the Lookup SMS Traffic Pumping Risk Score Pilot.
2. If you opt in to use the unlimited access period for the Lookup API, you will be unable to take advantage of our SMS Traffic Pumping protection services on Programmable Messaging for free.
3. If you want to change the Geo-Permissions for any countries that Twilio has automatically configured on your behalf, then you can use the console to configure your geographies*.
*By opting out of the automatically-configured Geo-Permission that Twilio has determined on your behalf, you are indicating that you do not want Twilio to cover unwanted SMS Traffic Pumping transactions, which will make you liable for all SMS Traffic Pumping charges (as outlined in our existing policy).
We appreciate your business, and we are looking forward to continuing to provide you with excellent service.
Sincerely,
Team Twilio