Australia · anonymous SMS
Send an anonymous text to an Australian mobile
Ghost delivers your text to any Australian mobile without showing your number. A standard text costs 1 credit ($0.20), there is no subscription, and you can send it from a browser on any phone or computer or from the Android app. Australian networks keep the international sender, so your text arrives from a US (+1) number, not from yours.
What a text to Australia costs
One SMS segment to an Australian mobile costs 1 credit ($0.20). Texts to Australia start with nothing extra, so you get the full 160 characters of plain text in a segment, and the $ sign is part of the basic SMS alphabet. Curly apostrophes, emoji and Chinese or Arabic script are not: one of them switches the whole text to 70-character segments. The table shows what that does to the cost.
| Text | Characters | Encoding | Segments | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A short message | 82 characters | GSM-7 | 1 segment | 1 credit ($0.20) |
| A longer message | 275 characters | GSM-7 | 2 segments | 2 credits ($0.40) |
| English, plain | 103 characters | GSM-7 | 1 segment | 1 credit ($0.20) |
| English, with an emoji | 85 characters | UCS-2 | 2 segments | 2 credits ($0.40) |
| Mandarin (simplified Chinese) | 24 characters | UCS-2 | 1 segment | 1 credit ($0.20) |
Rates checked October 22, 2026. Rates for every country
How to type an Australian mobile number
Written locally
04xx xxx xxx
Type in Ghost
+61 4xx xxx xxx
- Open Ghost in your browser or the Android app.
- Choose Australia (+61) in the country list and type the mobile number.
- Write your text, check the credits shown under it, and send.
Choose Australia, then type the number without the 0 at the front: 0491 570 006, a number the ACMA reserves for TV and films, becomes 491 570 006. Every Australian mobile number starts with 04 and has 10 digits. If it is written as +61 4…, leave out the +61, because Ghost adds it and typing 61 twice is a common mistake. Landline numbers starting 02, 03, 07 or 08 cannot receive these texts.
What the person in Australia sees
- Texts to Australia go out through Ghost’s international carrier partner from a US (+1) number, and Australian networks keep that sender. The person sees the +1 number, not yours.
- Nothing is added to the start of the text, and nothing in it says who you are unless you write it.
- From 1 July 2026, texts sent under a business sender name that is not on the ACMA’s SMS Sender ID Register arrive as “Unverified”. The register covers sender names, not phone numbers, so it does not change how a text from a +1 number arrives.
- Replying to the +1 number does not reach you. If you want an answer, switch on a Reply Link: they open it in a browser and send you one reply, still without seeing your number.
- Anyone who would rather not get Ghost texts can block them on the stop page. Ghost will not send to a number on that list.
Writing a text for Australia
In the 2021 Census, 72% of Australians used only English at home. The most common other home languages were Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese and Cantonese. English fits the basic SMS alphabet; Chinese characters and Arabic script do not.
English, plain
Hi, is the bike on Gumtree still available? I can pick it up from Parramatta on Saturday arvo for $300.GSM-7, 103 characters, 1 segment: 1 credit ($0.20)
Everything here, the $ sign included, is in the basic SMS alphabet, and nothing is added in front, so this text stays in one 160-character segment.
English, with an emoji
Hey, your parcel got left at my door by mistake 🙂 I'm at number 14, grab it whenever.UCS-2, 85 characters, 2 segments: 2 credits ($0.40)
Switched to UCS-2 by: 🙂
The emoji is outside the basic alphabet, so the whole text is sent in 70-character segments and this short note takes two. Leave the emoji out and it fits in one.
Mandarin (simplified Chinese)
你好，请问房间还在出租吗？我周六下午可以来看房。UCS-2, 24 characters, 1 segment: 1 credit ($0.20)
Switched to UCS-2 by: 你 好 ， 请 问 房 间 还 在 出 租 吗 ？ 我 周 六 下 午 可 以 来 看 。
Chinese characters are sent in 70-character segments, and each character and punctuation mark counts as one. This text is 24 characters, so it fits in one segment with room to spare.
When people in Australia keep their number private
Buying and selling on Gumtree or Marketplace
Listings on Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree put you in touch with strangers, and the ACCC has named both among the sites where fake vehicle ads are common. Ask about the item and agree a price through Ghost, and give your own number only once you have seen it in person.
Finding a share house
Looking for a room on Flatmates.com.au means texting people you have never met to arrange an inspection. Ghost lets you ask about rent, bills and the room first, without giving your mobile to every lister.
A note you would rather not sign
Telling a neighbour their sprinkler is flooding your driveway, or that their bins have been out all week, is easier without a reply thread on your own phone. Keep it polite: the law below looks at what you write, not at whether your number shows.
Australian law on anonymous texts
Sending a text without showing your number is not an offence in itself. What you write is what matters: using a carriage service, such as a phone service, to menace, harass or cause offence is a federal offence under section 474.17 of the Criminal Code, and using one to make a threat is covered by section 474.15. Commercial texts fall under the Spam Act 2003: section 16 bans unsolicited ones, and senders need consent, must identify themselves and must offer a way to unsubscribe.
Got a text you did not want?
If a text looks like a scam, report it to Scamwatch, run by the ACCC. You can also forward spam texts, unedited, to the ACMA on 0429 999 888 (standard message charges apply), and Telstra customers can forward scam texts free to 7226. To stop texts sent through Ghost, add your number on the stop page. For threats or abuse, keep the messages and contact the police.
Questions and answers
A text of up to 160 plain characters costs 1 credit ($0.20), and nothing is added to the start of texts to Australia. Longer texts are charged per segment, and a curly apostrophe, an emoji or Chinese characters shorten each segment to 70 characters. Ghost shows the cost before you send.
A US (+1) number. Australian networks keep the sender of international texts, so that number is shown instead of yours, and the text does not start with “GHOST:”.
That label replaces business sender names that are not on the ACMA’s SMS Sender ID Register, from 1 July 2026. A Ghost text arrives from a phone number, which the register does not cover.
Not by replying to the +1 number. Add a Reply Link when you send: they open it in a browser and send you one reply without seeing your number. A Reply Link costs 3 credits plus the reply’s rate and works for 7 days.
Yes, hiding your number is legal. Using a phone service to menace, harass or cause offence, or to make a threat, is a criminal offence under the Criminal Code whether or not your number shows.
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