Mobile Marketing Magazine today reported on research conducted by YouGov and commissioned by anti-spam firm Cloudmark that indicates the level of SMS affecting the UK mobile user experience. Whilst 66% of UK mobile phone users report that they have been victims of spam, this is even higher for those in the 18 to 24 year age group – as many as 75% of whom reported receiving SMS spam.
The survey which explored experiences and attitudes towards mobile spam suggested that Mobile Operators could be the victims as nearly 50% of customers reported that they would consider changing network because of spam SMS and this figure rises quickly as soon as the frequency of unwanted messages hits one or more a month.
The research also reported that SMS spam is already going beyond simple nuisance messages into carefully designed attacks attempting to steal personal information or trick the consumer into spending money. Of the respondents that have been victims of spam, nearly one in ten have been targeted with phishing attacks encouraging them to disclose personal data, 38% received a text containing a link to another site, while 45% received a text message that had tried to trick them into calling a premium rate number.
At The 3G Dating Agency we’re all too aware of SMS spam and we’re careful to ensure that our brand will never involved in any of these damaging premium, subscription or data harvesting attempts. We only ever send SMS’ to ask already registered customers to log in to our site to read their new messages. We NEVER use SMS to request customers to call numbers, download applications to their mobile. We also have a strict policy in which we ensure our advertisers NEVER get access to our customers mobile phone numbers.
