Month: February 2023

Throughout the month of February, Qurate Retail GroupSM has been celebrating and supporting Black-owned and –founded businesses across on-air broadcasts and digital platforms in honor of Black History Month. Several new Black-owned brands spanning the culinary, beauty and home categories have launched this month on QVC® and HSN® and are available to shop year-round across both platforms. Here’s a closer look at some of the brands:

Bouffants & Broken Hearts: Get cozy with exclusive new products for QVC which feature fan-favorite illustrations from Kendra Dandy’s Bouffants & Broken Hearts. Sassy, provoking and colorfully radiant are just a few of the many ways to describe Kendra’s unique designs. An emerging product developer, Kendra launched Bouffants & Broken Hearts in 2012 and has turned her illustrations into a social media sensation which are licensed worldwide. Based in Philadelphia, Kendra specializes in both traditional and digital painting. Each original piece of artwork provokes an unexpectedly engaging conversation. Whether you gravitate to the cheeky style of the Graphic Tee Pajama Set or pop-art feel of the Notch Collar Printed Pajama Set, all of Kendra’s unique patterns and media mixing represent fun, style, humor and empowerment.LYS Beauty: LYS Beauty, the Black-owned, clean beauty cosmetics brand which caters to all skin types, has launched on QVC. Founded by Tisha Thompson in 2021, LYS Beauty’s mission is to dispel the myth that clean beauty, deep shade ranges and performance products, at an affordable cost, cannot coexist. The collection features some of the brand’s best-selling items like the Triple Fix Serum Foundation and the launch of the Love Yourself Eye Shadow Palette, exclusive to QVC. As a 17-year beauty industry veteran, with experience as a MUA, Tisha is on an unapologetic path to redefine beauty standards and make clean beauty accessible for all skin tones, types and textures.Lorna Maseko: Celebrity chef, cookbook author and YouTube TV personality better known as ‘Africa’s Culinary Princess’ Lorna Maseko has exclusively launched her culinary line at HSN. Lorna’s infectious enthusiasm, true passion for cooking and entertaining and keen eye for style make her one of today’s top go-to culinary forces, all while keeping a strong focus on empowering and inspiring women the world over. The quality, high-end, functional cookware collection transforms everyday cooking and entertaining into an experience of coming together to celebrate. Chic kitchen essentials like the 6-piece Knife Set with Clear Block and the 11-piece Forged Induction-Ready Cookware Set highlights the collection’s contemporary aesthetic which is infused with playful shapes, colors, materials and designs inspired by ‘Poetjie’, a traditional South African cooking vessel. Need more inspiration? Try Lorna’s new cookware with some of her recipes featured on HSN’s blog, the buzz.ChicNiCity: Nigerian American company ChicNiCity has debuted an exclusive new clothing collection at HSN. Launched in 2017 by CEO and Co-Founder Boye “Bibi” Asenuga, ChicNiCity offers women inclusive and wearable styles, with a brand commitment to providing clothing which honors culture and reflects modernity. The ready-to-wear line features design elements and silhouettes with ethnic-inspired colors and prints. Modern women seeking sophisticated fashion will love the chic, versatile styles like the Tori Midi Duster Cardigan and the Abbie Midi Shirt Dress. Boye is a trained lawyer, and apparel development and production consultant, with over 15 years of experience in the fashion industry. She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and School of Fashion Design in Boston where she was awarded “The 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award.”

To learn more about Qurate Retail Group’s commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, visit https://www.qurateretailgroup.com/lp/diversity-equity-inclusion/.

Congratulations to MDLZ China’s Suzhou plant for joining the esteemed league of manufacturers recognized as the Global Lighthouse Network by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Great job by our Suzhou plant for leading the way in driving productivity, quality, sustainability, and supply chain resilience through digital and advanced technologies.

Digitization’s key role in securing this prestigious title for China 

With a bold ambition to grow retail models, double store coverage and address the impact of inflation on labor and logistics costs, MDLZ China invested in 4IR (4th Advanced Industrial Revolution) digital solutions. The solutions allowed the team to transform into an integrated supply ecosystem, resulting in an improved OTIF by 18 percent, reduced lead times of 32 percent, and market-share growth.

A huge thank you to the cross-functional teams who worked through challenges and actively contributed to the plant’s digital transformation journey. This milestone has set China a step closer towards the BU’s digital ambition!

Originally published by the Cherie Blair Foundation For Women on cherieblairfoundation.org

The Foundation initially collaborated with Qualcomm Incorporated to support the expansion of our online Mentoring Women in Business programme across Asia. Qualcomm, as a leading wireless tech innovator is strongly aware of the potential tech holds for development, were an ideal partner. Through our strong relationship with mentoring, we realised the potential for us to extend our collaboration to investing in a new product – HerVenture, a mobile application that launched in Vietnam in 2018, – and bringing Road to Growth to Vietnam and Indonesia for the first time in 2020. While at the time, HerVenture was a far-reaching idea for making resources readily available to women entrepreneurs, the innovation continues to make a tremendous difference in people’s lives.

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What’s the news: The Un-carrier released its Scam and Robocall Report, sharing that T-Mobile’s Scam Shield identified or blocked 41.5 billion scam calls in 20221, a 75% increase from 2021. That’s a whopping 1,317 calls identified or blocked every second.

Why it matters: Scammers and spammers are constantly evolving their attack methods as wireless providers and regulators continue to fight back. Industry wide, Americans lost an estimated $39.5B to phone scams in 2022.

Who it’s for: Anyone looking to better protect themselves and their families against scammers.

BELLEVUE, Wash., February 24, 2023 /3BL Media/ – T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) today released its second annual Scam and Robocall Report, sharing new data looking back at 2022 to uncover insights related to scam, spam and robocall activity, as well as underscore how the Un-carrier helps to keep customers protected against these bad actors.

“At a time when scammers continue to get more creative and aggressive in their attempts, T-Mobile’s Scam Shield and advanced network protect our customers, identifying an average of 3.5 billion calls each month,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology, T-Mobile. “With scammers quickly evolving their tactics, we have to be just as fast at adapting our scam identification technology to fight back and keep customers protected.”

Scammer Behavior

Scammers are continuously upping their game to find new tactics and targets, with total robocall attempts  up 75% from 2021 to 2022. Scam call volume reached an all-time high in January 2022 due to a surge of caller retries resulting from the introduction of a new return code (608) mandated by the Federal Communications Commission. Then, scam call volume declined steadily each month throughout the year, with occasional spikes during seasonal scam surges. Several factors contributed to this decline, including ongoing improvements to scam protection technology like T-Mobile’s Scam Shield, agility by mobile operators to implement new prevention tactics and regulator intervention.

Scam Shield is leading the way in keeping wireless customers safe from scams. In June, Verizon said they blocked 5B robocalls in the first half of the year. In that same period, T-Mobile’s Scam Shield blocked an impressive 25B.

Common Scam Tactics

Scammers followed similar patterns from years past, targeting consumers more heavily on weekdays vs. weekends and heavily ramping up activity during the two weeks before Christmas (hello package delivery scams!). But even scammers need a break, accounting for why major holidays like Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Easter, and 4th of July saw the lowest scam traffic dropping anywhere from 80-90%.

Vehicle warranty scams dominated the first half of the year, with T-Mobile’s Scam Shield blocking nearly double the amount of scam and robocalls in the front half of the year – averaging 4.2B blocked calls/month – compared to the back half – which averaged 2.7B blocked calls/month. In July, an unprecedented FCC cease and desist identified eight wireless providers – not T-Mobile – in violation of carrying these calls, which effectively brought vehicle warranty scams to a halt.

Scammers never stay away for long, so as vehicle warranty scams went into hibernation, health and insurance-related scams quickly rose up to take their place. To maximize their profits, these bad actors adapted their tactics to target key moments throughout the year. Back to school? That’s prime time for student loan fraudsters and Amazon scams. Tax season? IRS-related scams reigned supreme.

Target Regions/Demographics

Scammers hit some states harder than others, with Texas, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, and Oklahoma seeing the brunt of it, with victims often targeted by demographic and region. Texas received the highest volume of scam calls with insurance-related tactics targeting the uninsured and other unsuspecting victims. States with high senior populations like South Carolina are also key targets – imposters often mask as seniors’ aid staffers going after Medicare and other health-related scams.

Protect Yourself and Your Family

Built into the core of the network and free for all customers, T-Mobile’s leading patented Scam Shield technology provides the most powerful defense against scams. It updates protections every six minutes and identifies scam calls before they even reach a customer’s phone. When a threat is detected, customers either receive a “Scam Likely” warning or no disturbance at all by turning on Scam Block in the Scam Shield app or by dialing #662#.

The industry continues to see a rise in robotexts as a way to deceive unsuspecting victims. As scammers adapt and use new methods, T-Mobile continues to adapt as well, increasing investment in network level robotext protection. 

T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile customers can download the Scam Shield app on the App Store or Google Play and have a dashboard at their fingertips for all Scam Shield anti-scam tools.

This report comes from T-Mobile’s analysis of internal Scam Shield data. Scam Shield is available to T-Mobile customers with qualifying service and a capable device. Turning on Scam Block might block calls you want, and Scam Block can be disabled at any time. For more information on Scam Shield, check out https://www.t-mobile.com/customers/scam-shield. Follow T-Mobile’s Official Twitter Newsroom @TMobileNews to stay up to date with the latest company news.

1Source: T-Mobile Network Data

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About T-Mobile
T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is America’s supercharged Un-carrier, delivering an advanced 4G LTE and transformative nationwide 5G network that will offer reliable connectivity for all. T-Mobile’s customers benefit from its unmatched combination of value and quality, unwavering obsession with offering them the best possible service experience and undisputable drive for disruption that creates competition and innovation in wireless and beyond. Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile and Sprint. For more information please visit: https://www.t-mobile.com

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