The Federal Trade Commission warned this week that mobile spam calls now point to the Chinese community in the US. UU., And the robocaller pretends to be from the Embassy of China. The messages range from asking the recipient to pick up a package or document from an office of the Chinese consulate and offering to exchange yuan to dollars, to the embassy investigating a fraud and demanding personal information to avoid deportation.
The FTC believes that these calls are targeting Chinese immigrants or callers with Chinese surnames, but in recent weeks, the practice has reached numbers throughout the United States, regardless of to whom the number is registered. Like other spam calls, the incoming number appears to be similar to the recipient's own phone number, or parodies the actual Chinese embassy phone number that begins with (212) 244. In addition to the calls, the FTC warns that similar scams can also be targeted users through WeChat.
According to the New York Police Department, 21 Chinese immigrants have been swindled out of $ 2.5 million since December 21, 2017. Individuals The largest constitute the majority of the victims and the individual losses range between $ 1,800 and $ 1.4 million. Similar scams targeting Chinese immigrants have also affected other countries, including Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
US telephone operators and manufacturers. UU They have been working to automatically identify and block spam calls, but if you want to take additional measures to eradicate annoying calls, here is a guide to permanently block them. But in general, even if some are still recovering, remember to never share personal information, such as complete credit card numbers, passwords, bank information or Social Security numbers, over the phone.
