Philippine Showbiz Today
May 8 - 21, 2018
21
Strange Mandarin phone calls pester
Vancouver lower mainland cellphones
Vancouver, BC - Getting the
odd robocall is nothing new in 2018.
Businesses use them, political par-
ties use them, and survey companies
use them...scammers
use them.
British Columbi-
ans have recently been
plagued with Manda-
rin speaking robocalls
and have no idea what
to make of them. The
calls have been hap-
pening in New York,
Boston, LA, Australia,
and New Zealand as
well. In fact, some of
those areas have been
flooded with the calls.
The calls claim to be
from the local Chinese
Consulate and threat-
en the recipient with
police action over financial crimes in
China.
They are typically a variation on
this theme:
In Mandarin: This is the consul-
ate, we have an important document
that needs to be picked up, it may
affect your status in Canada, press a
button to speak with a specialist.
Once the victim follows through
with the prompt they are likely hit
with what is called a parcel scam.
The scammer tells the victim they
have a parcel with their name on it
that happens to be connected to a
criminal case in China involving fi-
nances. A supposed police office
gets on the phone and instructs the
victim to send money to help resolve
the case.
“The concern, of course, is B.C.
has a large Chinese population and
while most people simply hang up
when they get these calls, there are
many Chinese immigrants who may
follow through with the prompts,”
says Evan Kelly, Senior Communica-
tions Advisor for BBB serving Main-
land BC. “Almost everyone at BBB
has received the calls, it seems pretty
wide spread. Like any other scam it’s
a numbers game. The scammer is
phone spoofing thousands
of people and if a hand-
ful get duped then they’re
making money.”
BBB has these tips to
help limit robocalls:
Don’t give out your
number. Businesses may
ask for your cell phone
number so they can text
new offers and informa-
tion. This is not mandato-
ry. If you don’t have to give
it, then don’t.
Don’t put your num-
ber into social media.
Some platforms ask for it,
but it’s not mandatory.
Don’t answer your
phone if you don’t recognize the
number. Scammers use Voice Over
Internet Protocol (VOIP) software to
spoof numbers so they look familiar,
in fact, it may even be your number. If
the call is legit and important, they’ll
leave a message.
Sign up for the Canadian Do Not
Call Registry. While this can help pre-
vent legit unwanted marketing, we at
BBB are pretty scammers don’t fol-
low the rules. For more information
go here.
Anti-robocall software. This
does exist but there is a cost in-
volved, typically around two or three
dollars a month. (Nomorobo, Hiya,
Robokiller...to name a few)
Media Contacts
Evan Kelly, Senior Communica-
tions Advisor
BBB Serving Mainland BC
604-488-8702
604-505-2307
[email protected]
404-788 Beatty Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 2M1
About BBB
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