Mobile is leading the fray in the marketing industry, driving the highest returns for businesses across the nation. However, as the technology grows in popularity among enterprises, it also increases as a potential channel for scammers. Text message scams are increasing in commonality even as more businesses leverage the medium for their own, legitimate marketing purposes.
In 2013 SMS phishing scams were far more common in the U.K. than they were in the United States but they are growing in popularity here as well. More than 3 million people fall prey to SMS scams on average per year, and this number continues to grow.
"Scammers are incredibly persistent and will continue to look for alternative methods for distributing SMS spam without getting caught," Ciaran Bradley, VP of handset security for AdaptiveMobile, told Infosecurity Magazine. "This threat is particularly worrying for operators looking to retain customer loyalty and trust, not only because users had fraudulent activity on their account but also, by imitating them, spammers associated them with the scam. On top of this it costs them significant amounts of money in international termination charges and having their fraud teams investigate the issue."
SMS scams usually take the form of promotional texts that appear to be sent from a business, but directs the recipient to a falsified website where they enter their account details. This allows the scammer to steal the victim's information easily and then use their device to continue the scam unbeknownst to them.
The main problem for businesses implementing mobile text marketing strategies is that oftentimes, scammers mask their message as legitimate businesses, which can then damage the brand's reputation over time.
By implementing a high-quality SMS gateway, your company can help keep it's mobile subscribers safe and protect its own reputation as well.
