BTK takes a harsh action against fraudulent messages, the link SMS period is narrowing down

Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that BTK has implemented new measures against call and text message traffic that disturbs citizens. Used at the center of regulation, especially in areas open to fraud and deception SMS sending with 850 number and geographical area codeunauthorized marketing calls and messages with foreign links. Frankly, we don’t just see a spam filter here, we see a new layer of security that operators must comply with when setting up and verifying message traffic. Therefore, the decision will directly affect both the consumer side and the operations of telecom operators.

In the new framework, operators authorized by BTK and agencies or dealers acting on their behalf are now only allowed for marketing, promotion and information purposes. own subscribers will be able to call. They will not be able to make phone calls or send SMS or MMS to subscribers of other operators. When we look at the table provided by the Ministry, BTK is tightening this channel in order to prevent content related to betting and gambling that causes citizens to fear and panic, has fraudulent purposes. In fact, the most critical point here is not to leave the violation at the individual complaint stage, but to set boundaries directly at the source.

In case of violation, sanctions do not remain at the gradual warning level. BTK imposes administrative sanctions when it detects misinformation or misleading, and provides services such as call transfer and termination if the violation continues or consumer grievance occurs. can limit or stop. In addition, the secondary allocation of landline telephone numbers that do not generate any traffic will also be cancelled. Long story short, the regulator intervenes not only in the message content but also in the number allocation and traffic flow itself. We can say that this approach will be especially effective in scenarios that give the appearance of a fake corporate line.

On the technical side, the most striking step comes on the sender ID side. Procedures and Principles Regarding the Use of Caller Line Information With the change made within the scope of A2P, that is, alphanumeric sender name in messages transmitted from the application to the person. minimum 3, maximum 11 characters It will be long and cannot consist only of numbers, except for short numbers within the scope of the national plan. Thus, headlines that consist only of a series of numbers and give the impression of a bank or call center number are prevented. However, the authorized person secure electronic signature becomes mandatory and this provision April 1, 2026 We see that it has come into force as of. It should be noted that this article directly targets bulk SMS transmission via numbers starting with the 850 area code or geographical area codes.

What will change on the consumer side?

Operators will now block SMS and MMS messages containing URLs or links sent from abroad to subscribers in Türkiye. In addition, operators that offer message services to people through the application may submit the subscription applications and relevant documents they receive for this service. CAP You will have to collect it over. However, this regulation does not eliminate the IYS infrastructure of the Ministry of Commerce, it complements it. On the IYS side, citizens can still manage which company they want to receive messages from, as a matter of fact, at the end of the 2023 activity report of the Ministry of Commerce, the complaints accumulated in the system 77.08 percent via SMS, 20.9 percent of voice searches created and the total administrative fine 398,094,293 TL reached the level. In other words, while the new BTK step leaves permission management on the user screen, it also harshly prunes suspicious and fraudulent traffic on the network side. We can easily say that from now on, the space for fraud attempts disguised as operator names, 0850 appearances or linked messages will be narrower.