Australia’s new defence in its battle against scammers has taken the form of new regulation that will give telecommunications companies the ability to block malicious text messages en masse. The scam industry has siphoned millions out of the coffers of Australians, and this year alone, the number of reported SMS and phone cons doubled that of last year, adding up to a total loss of over $87 million. Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews explained that the SMS scams often “phished” for personal information or sought to install malware by impersonating trusted government or business agencies. “The regulatory amendment we have enacted provides the telecommunications sector with the authority they need to block malicious SMS messages at scale and protect the Australian public from scammers,” Andrews said. The announcement comes following a trial that saw 2,500 harmful texts blocked as part of a partnership between the Australian Cyber Security Centre …