RCS is being sold to enterprises as a way to build trust. They are being told that consumers will see their branding and understand that the message is genuine. But from our industry discussions we know that there is already concern that not enough is being done in markets like India and Brazil to stop businesses from sending spam and damaging trust in the channel.

The Emerging Risk of RCS Spam Messages

It is inevitable that the onboarding process will have to be streamlined and opened to third parties to meet demand as the RCS business messaging (RBM) channel matures. If aggregators fail to enforce strict business verification standards, then they risk flooding the channel with unwanted messages. A verified badge and branding means little to the consumer if the message itself is irrelevant or intrusive.

But the problem goes deeper than poor onboarding. Grey route traffic is already emerging in RBM and has taken the form of RCS P2P RBM bypass. In other words, business messages being sent via P2P RCS, resulting in no payment to the mobile operator for the delivery of that message to its subscriber. This also has the potential to damage trust in RCS. Bad actors don’t care about being verified and will send messages via generic mobile numbers.

In markets like the US and Singapore consumers are reporting a rise in unsolicited RCS messages, including being added to group chats. These messages are often sent via SIM farms and are end-to-end encrypted so the content of the message is undetectable even if the traffic patterns are likely to appear suspicious.

Our research shows that 76% of industry professionals are concerned grey route traffic could undermine RCS monetization. 52% of industry professionals worry about smishing damaging RCS monetization. And they are right to be worried. There are already phishing-as-a-service platforms available which allow scammers to send RCS messages using pre-made templates using SIM farms with minimal technical skill.

Grey route messaging, group chat spam and smishing all pose threats to consumer trust in RCS.

Protection and Preserving Trust in RCS

Despite the potential damage to the RCS ecosystem from unwanted messages, protection for users is minimal. While Google has introduced AI-powered spam detection and partnered with banks to understand how their customers are being scammed, Apple’s protections are limited to a basic ‘Filter Unknown Senders’ setting.

The industry must work together to ensure that consumers only receive the messages that they want. Too much spam over email has led to inboxes automatically filtering out marketing messages for consumers to look over at their leisure. Too much spam over RCS will result in similar demands from consumers for their messaging inboxes. Trust in RCS should be protected: once trust is lost, it’s hard to win back.

For more insights on the future of RCS, contact charlotte@mobilesquared.co.uk