Spain to block unregistered commercial SMS aliases to combat fraud

Spain's National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) is implementing new regulations to block SMS, MMS, and RCS messages that use commercial aliases not registered in its official database. This measure, part of a government anti-fraud plan, aims to combat 'smishing' and identity theft by ensuring that messages appearing to come from banks, insurers, or public administrations are legitimate.

Due to a significantly high volume of requests and the inability to validate all aliases before the September 15 deadline, the CNMC has introduced a transitional pre-registration period. Entities that submitted their alias requests before 15:00 on September 14 may continue using them while the CNMC completes its review, a process that could take up to three months. This adjustment was made to prevent the accidental blocking of essential communications from legitimate services and businesses.