Subscribers can be rooked by marketing scams communicated through SMS (short message service) messages, but businesses can also be tricked by unscrupulous companies offering SMS services. Read this article for more on avoiding SMS marketing scams of all types.
Subscribers and Avoiding SMS Marketing Scams
Since the early days of SMS, a number of scamming techniques have developed. In the early days of SMS, there were many variations between the custom operating systems that the different mobile phone providers operated. The reach of scammers has increased, as a few operating systems have gained dominance, making it easier for devious people because they only have to develop one approach to reach, and possibly trick many, many people. The fact that mobile phone users have few customization options also makes less work for scammers, who can use one “solution” to scam more people. The fact that SMS messaging is always on, and the new varieties of media that can be sent in SMS messages also make an ideal environment for scammers, with the various media allowing new ways to hide worms, Trojan horses, viruses, and other problematic code. As with email, SMS recipients are well-advised to exercise caution and vigilance.
Some of the techniques used to scam customers through SMS marketing scams include:
• providing a false sender ID, such as the customer service number 611, leading customers to assume the message is a legitimate communication, but for which hitting reply responds to the scammer.
• phisihing SMS messages, often combined with a false sender ID, that encourage customers to click a web link that appears to be from a legitimate business, but will actually collect identifying information and use it to rob the customer of money or to commit identity theft. These may inform customers that they need to update account information, that they have a coupon offer available if they click on a link, or that they have won a contest sponsored by a firm from which the customer has agreed to receive SMS marketing messages and that requires the customer to respond through a link.
The best advice, if consumers want to avoid being taken in by an SMS marketing scam, is to avoid clicking on links in such emails. Instead, contact the business that is purported to have sent the email by phone, using a phone number on one’s credit card or from the phone book, to discuss any such text messages. Apply the same principles of careful use to SMS messages that you would apply to emails, and don’t consider them to be safer or less prone to attack, spam, or scamming.
Businesses and Avoiding SMS Marketing Scams
Businesses themselves are mainly affected by overcharging by their service providers, though employees can also be the target of the types of scams mentioned above. Apparently in 2008, Verizon planned to charge businesses a toll of three cents on each SMS message, but was discouraged from implementing the plan by consumer outcry and media coverage. Rumors are swirling in fall, 2010 that T-Mobile is planning a similarly configured price hike of a quarter of a cent, but there is no confirmation that this has gone into effect. Nevertheless, it prompts the observation that comparison shopping and careful reading of a plans features are key elements of successful and effective SMS marketing, just as it’s important to compose a compelling message, keep in touch with your customers, etc.
Sources
http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Black-Hat-Easier-SMS-scams-742743.html
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/2749.html
T-Mobile Rumored To Be Raising Prices For SMS Messages, Mobile Marketers Beware
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/TMobile-Planning-New-Service-SMS-Toll-110373