Unable to receive OTP SMS from banks in USA

[devonks]

Hello,

Recently, I was trying to receive OTP from a bank in USA but with many attempts I was unable to receive OTP text messages. I tried same process back in december and it was working like a charm and now in a matter of few months has something been changed that is blocking OTP messages from USA?

Has anyone else face similar situations like mine and have a workaround to share?

TIA

[devonks]

Thank you Softtech, I believe that the issue lies with shortcode that the bank is using to send SMS which is blocking the SMS in Canada. Is there any workaround besides authenticator and email OTP? My bank does not accept authenticator nor email OTP 🙂

[devonks]

It must have been a recent change, until december I was able to receive text notification from my us bank as OTP, might be they might have changed it to short code which is why I am having trouble receiving SMS 😞

[softech · Accepted solution]

@devonks   

Was it sent through a shortcode or an actual number?

International text is never reliable.    If it is sent via shortcode, only approved shortcode are supposed to be able to send, usually those are for Canadian business only.  https://www.txt.ca/en/

If it is send by regular number, while it might work, it could be blocked due to CASL, which is out of carriers' control. More info here: https://www.twilio.com/blog/2017/11/due-to-casl-canadian-carriers-might-be-locking-out-your-users.ht...

So, to get 2FA code from non-Canadian businesses, best to use Authenticator app (best) or via email (not very good)

[will13am]

@devonks , I sense that it's the bank no longer sending the text messages to a Canadian number.  I cannot use a US number for my Canadian bank 2FA.