SMS Sender Detail Restrictions

Sender Details– alpha numeric

Your message may be blocked if you use any of the generic words listed below in your sender details, or a variation of them.

1TimePin	Bank	Discount	NoReply	Repayment	SMSVerfiy
2FA	Banking	Energy	Notify	Reply	Support
Accept	Bill	Fraud	OneTimePin	Respond	System
Access	Billing	Help	Order	Save	Text
Account	Call	Info	OTP	Saving	Trace
Active	Card	InfoSMS	OTPSMS	Scam	Track
Admin	Caution	ISA	Package	Savings	Tracking
Advise	Certify	Key	Parcel	Schedule	Trust
Alert	Check	Loan	Pay	Secure	TXT
Allow	CloudOTP	Login	Payment	Security	Update
Allowance	Code	Logistics	Pin	Service	Updates
App	Collect	LogMeIn	PinCode	Shipping	Validate
Appointment	Collection	Logon	Post	Sign	Verify
Approve	Confirm	Malware	Protocol	Signin	VerifySMS
Approved	Contact	Message	Purchase	Signon	VerifyMe
Auth	Control	Mobile	Ratify	SMS	Virus
AuthMsg	Courier	Mortgage	Rebate	SMSAuth	Warn
Authorise	Delay	MSG	Receipt	SMSCode	Warning
AuthSMS	Deliver	MsgAuth	Refund	SMSInfo	Winner
Aware	Delivery	Network	Reminder	SMSOTP

Variations of the above words are also not permitted. For example – VERIFY. Using a variation such as those shown in the table below, may cause your message to be blocked.

VERIFY	Verify	V E R I F Y	V ERIFY	VE RIFY	VER IFY	.Verify.	-Verify-
_verify_	VERIF1Y	v.e.r.i.f.y	V_ERIFY	VERIF Y	VER IFY	Uerify	V3RIFY

BT/EE supported special characters

The majority of special characters are not permitted by BT/EE and, if used, your message may be blocked. This only applies to special characters used in your sender details. It does not apply to any used in the body of your message.

This is a current list of special characters that are permitted:

A to Z (Upper case)	. (Period)
A to Z (Lower case)	– (Dash)
0 to 9 (Numeric)	_ (Underscore)
(Space)	& (Ampersand)

Sender Details– specific brands/organisations

There are a number of specific brand names and organisations, whose name you cannot use as part of your sender details. If used, your message may be blocked.

Examples include, but are not limited to, those listed in the table below.

Finance, Banking and Fintech	Government and Healthcare	Logistics and Parcel Delivery	Mobile Network Operators/ Misc
Lloyds Banking Group	GDS	Royal Mail	BT
Santander	HMRC	DPD	EE
TSB	DWP	Yodel	Plusnet
Metro Bank	DVLA	TNT	VirginMedia O2
Monzo	Local Councils	Evri	Vodafone
Revolut	NHS Trusts	DX Delivery	Three
Tide	DEFRA	FedEx	Sky
Bank of Ireland	OFGEM	UPS	Lyca Mobile
Barclays	TV Licensing	DHL	Apple
Capital One	Ministry of Justice	Parcelforce	Google
Coventry Building Society	Cabinet Office	CitySprint	Android
Dankse Bank	Department of Health and Social Care	InPost	Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram)
Hoares Bank	Student Loans Company	Parcel2Go	iD Mobile
HSBC	National Highways	UKMail	GiffGaff
JP Morgan	ONS	ArrowXL	Lebara
Nationwide	Ministry of Defense	Panther Logistics	SMARTY
NatWest	NCA	Post Office	Tesco Mobile
Sainsburys Bank	Department of Transport		VOXI
Starling Bank	Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency		TikTok
Tesco Bank	Department for Business Energy		Amazon (Not AWS)
Clydesdale Bank	Education and Skills Funding Agency		Snapchat
Curve	Financial Conduct Authority		X, Formally known as Twitter
CAF Bank	TFL		Bolt
Klarna	Prisons and Probation Services		Uber
ClearPay	CCS
Vanquis Bank	Police Force
PayPal
Visa
Mastercard
Atom
Clearbank
Coinbase
Binance
Citi Bank
FICO

Sender Details– numeric

Your message may be blocked if you are sending within, or to, the UK and use a numeric sender details that does not begin with a UK dialling code.

The permitted UK dialling code formats are:

For mobile numbers:

447

For landline numbers:

441
442
443
448

The numeric sender details do not need to include + prefix.

Short codes

Short codes that don’t follow the UK short code format (five digits starting with a 6, 7 or 8) will be blocked. Upon request, BT/EE approval can be given for 3 & 4 digit short codes and for short codes not starting with 6, 7 or 8 (e.g. for Irish companies that use start codes beginning with 5).

URLs

BT/EE will block suspected spam or fraudulent URLs that are included in the body of your message, so please ensure that you format your URLs correctly. Occasionally, very new URLs may be blocked.