Text Marketing Blog | MoboMix

Wells Fargo Customers: Beware of the Latest Mobile Scam

 

According to a story on NBC, scammers have been attempting to defraud Wells Fargo customer in the San Gabriel valley. Local authorities are urging residents to be wary of text messages purporting to be from the bank, requesting them to call urgently.

The number given (626 416-4675) routes to an automated message telling the customer their available funds are limited due to a technical error; it instructs them to resolve the issue by giving the Social Security number, card number, PIN, expiration date and security code. For the security conscious, that should be enough to set alarm bells ringing, but a number of people have fallen prey to the scam. 

West Covina PD is warning locals not to give their information, and to immediately delete any text messages fitting the description above.

Wells Fargo responded to the scam on their website:

"If you receive a text message expressing an urgent need for you to update your information, activate an account, or verify your identity by calling a phone number or submitting information, on a website, do not respond and delete it. These messages may be part of a phishing scam conducted by fraudsters in an attempt to capture your confidential account information and may be used to commit fraud.” 

The bank also provided a fraud hotline for customers concerned they may have been targeted by this, or any other suspicious text message: (800) 225-5935.

 

 

5 Summer Mobile Marketing Ideas

 

Summer is a unique opportunity and creative challenge for marketers. While there’s a tremendous amount of competition during these warmer months, summer is also a great time to explore new campaign methods, experiment with marketing and reach new clients. 

In particular, text marketing is the tool of choice for savvy summer marketers for two reasons: it’s fast and effective delivery speed builds greater brand awareness; and it’s been proven to convert interest into purchases over short periods of time.  Here is a list creative summer tips to help implement text marketing into your summer repertoire. 

 

Creative Themes 

Summer is a great time to distinguish a campaign using iconography, images and messaging that speaks specifically to the time of year. Compliment what people are talking about or already doing by delivering marketing that speaks directly to those ideas and actions. Use a strong summer theme to offer discounts on appropriate products or services that will benefit customers most. 

 

Create Urgency  

Create more demand for products or services in the summer by offering limited time discounts. Stress the savings your customers will achieve if they purchase during this time; make it apparent that summer deals are the best time of year to get the products they want at the best price. 

 

Strategic Partnerships 

Partnering up with another brand for a packaged deal/bargain is a great way to help customers stretch their buck, as well as push more exclusive offers during the summer. In addition to benefiting from another brand’s existing public awareness, you can also create more urgency around a packaged deal by limiting the amount of time it’s available. 

 

Very Important People 

Summer is a great time to thank loyal customers. By offering segments of your customers special rates, discounts or VIP packages, you can effectively improve your relationship with customers all year long—reminding all customers that summer is a time to be rewarded for purchasing products or services throughout the year. 

 

Family Value 

With the kids out of school for the summer, it’s a great time to be a kid and often a challenge for adults. Reach new markets and people by branching out specifically to families. Offer special packages, deals or discounts to create summer solutions for families on a budget. 

Targeting people with the right message is the most important technique when implementing one or several of these summer campaign tactics. Summer isn’t the only time to use these methods, but it’s a great time to try if you’ve never done so before. 

 

Marketing Ideas for Summer Camps

With the summer months now upon us, marketing to new families is an important and ongoing process for camps looking to maintain a steady and healthy flow of campers. Here are some creative marketing ideas to incorporate into your summer camp marketing strategy. 

 

Work with the Community 

One of the best places to find kids for your summer camp is at schools. In addition to distributing marketing materials throughout school classes, offer to provide special events or activities during assembly periods. Use camp resources to model the activities after the school’s motto or core values; this builds trust between the school and your camp while gently advertising to the students and their parents.  

Another way to interact with the community is to sponsor a little league team. In addition to wearing their branded uniforms, teams travel to other communities and appear in local newspapers. For a small investment, you can support a local sports team as well as build your business. 

 

Create/Support special events  

Offering special events on the camp premises is a great way to provide additional revenue to your business, particularly during slow periods or off-months. Birthday parties are a great way to invite enthusiastic campers back to camp for a special day and share it with all of their friends. You can even provide special theme packages to customize the experience. 

Be sure to provide the host family with invitations. Aside from helping out the host family, this is a great way to make a big impression with new parents. Also, don’t forget waivers, which are important for liability reasons and also allow you to collect personal information from new parents like email address and phone number.  

Don’t forget special events happening outside the camp either. Charity organizations, churches and schools often hold special events or fundraises. These events are a great opportunity to donate a package for new campers. In addition to helping the fundraiser, this is an inexpensive way to gain new customers and show off your brand to the community.

 

Online Marketing 

Good use of email can be an easy and effective marketing tool for summer camps. Communicate special events via email, as well as special offers, quarterly newsletters, and contests.

With a healthy email list, you can improve engagement online by offering parents free pictures of their child enjoying the summer camp. Create a fun photo template that includes your camp logo and date. Parents will love these photo updates and may even forward them to family and friends or share them on social media. 

Camp directories can also help boost your online presence. There are several directories to choose from so knowing which one is best for your summer camp is critical.  

To choose the best directory, imagine what parents might search for online. Type several keywords into a Google search that you think describes your camp. If a directory appears in the top five spots, or higher than your ranking, that’s a good directory to go with. Also, consider your location. A regional directory might be better than a state directory or vice versa depending on the kind of camp. 

Incorporating one or all of these marketing techniques into your summer camp marketing strategy will bring you closer to community and improve your bottom line. 

 

How to Protect Yourself Against the Latest Apple Bug

 

Last week, a new bug wreaked havoc on iPhones across the world. Unlike most infections, which require some degree of coding ability to unleash, this one is disturbingly easy for would-be pranksters to use. All that’s required is the right string of characters to be sent in a message and the recipient’s device will instantly crash. 

As usual, Reddit users were the first to alert the world to the iOS bug, which is caused by a glitch in the way Apple’s operating system renders Arabic text. When a text message is displayed by an alert or notification on the lockscreen, the system attempts to abbreviate the text with an ellipsis. If the ellipsis is placed in the middle of a sequence of non-Latin script - including Marathi and Chinese as well as Arabic - the system crashes and the phone has to reboot. 

The text string is unlikely to be replicated by accident, which means the bug is being spread maliciously - reportedly by so-called friends of recipients, in many cases. Victims of the attack have reported they are no longer able to access messages. Others say that, bizarrely, sending a photo to the contact who texted the bug via the Photos app allows them to access the message history and delete the conversation, thus resolving the issue. Apple is still working on a permanent fix, according to the latest reports. 

There is no suggestion that the bug is being used for fraudulent purposes. There is no obvious benefit to the sender other than to cause mayhem. In that sense, falling prey to it is nothing more than an inconvenience. Users worried about the attack can simply disable notification banners on their iPhone. However, glitches like this do leave the possibility for more skilled hackers to turn the attack into something sinister.

It’s not just SMS messages. Twitter messages or other social media messages that have banner notifications and alerts enabled will also cause the phone to crash if the string of characters comes through.

Apple will surely resolve the glitch once and for all. In the meantime, disable notifications to protect your phone, and keep your eye on the latest updates online. We’ll bring you the latest news as soon as we have it...