The last few weeks have delivered some horrific headlines including everything from international terrorism in Nice, France to cop killings in Dallas and Baton Rouge. On a much lighter note, Pokémon GO, a wildly popular mobile game, has been among the impossible-to-avoid news, adding some much needed levity to the days of millions – maybe billions – of avid players.

If you’ve missed the buzz, Pokémon GO is a free mobile app that invites players to explore cities and towns across the globe to find as many Pokémon as they can. Using the in-app map, players identify PokéStops at local landmarks where they can find Pokémon in their natural habitats and collect them along with Pokémon related-items like Poké Balls, medicines, berries, eggs, potions and more. Players can gain experience points and win medals.

As of July 14, SurveyMonkey reported that Pokemon had 26 million daily users. Survey Monkey also said that Pokémon GO is the biggest mobile game in U.S. history, even surpassing Candy Crush Saga. The app itself is free and players can play for free without any financial investment. For those who want to amplify their experience, however, can make in-app purchases using PokéCoins to get power-ups, additional storage, extra items and other enhancements.

As of yet, there is no subscription component, but that hasn’t stopped others from trying to capitalize on the popularity of Pokémon GO. In addition to safety concerns of thieves trying to lure unsuspecting players to PokéStops, there is an email hoax going around that tells players they must subscribe for $12.99 a month to keep playing the game.

According to reports by The Verge and other media outlets, the bogus email tells players their accounts will be frozen within 24 hours if they don’t subscribe. Supposedly, the money is needed to add more powerful servers to keep the popular game from crashing. Though Niantic, the developer of the Pokémon GO app, did not respond to The Verge’s inquiry on the matter, media outlets are reporting that this email is a hoax and they urge players not to click on any links within the email.

Appealing to kids as well as millennials who loved Pokémon when they were younger, Pokémon GO is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, Seeking Alpha’s Sara Ji reports that Pokémon GO could be a $12 billion opportunity for Nintendo, generating an estimated $2 billion in the U.S. alone. This is great news for Nintendo, but because of its success, the company needs to be vigilant to fight against those who want to cash in on the game’s success.

Insider Take:

Any time a product, service or brand experiences this kind of success, others want to jump on the bandwagon by copying or otherwise capitalizing on that success. In this case, a bogus company wants to sell nonexistent subscriptions. For other companies in similar situations, we recommend the following best practices:

1. Monitor all channels for activity about your brand to identify, pre-empt or resolve potential issues like this.
2. Fight back hard against the scammers to educate customers and the public about the issue. Take an “all hands on deck” approach to communicate with subscribers/members/users early and often. Advise them of the situation and how to avoid being scammed.
3. Set up additional support to help customers understand the problems and how to avoid them. This should include educating customer service reps, creating specific FAQs, a blog post, and a press release to explain the problem, how this will impact users and how to avoid becoming a victim to such a hoax.
4. Use social media and other appropriate channels to communicate with users and the public about what’s going on and to keep them updated.