In the last week or so, I’ve had several voicemails that are apparently part of the Chinese phone scam ring. My husband has also gotten several, but our daughter hasn’t… yet, I suppose. We’re all in Maryland, but we have 3 different area codes among our phones.
So, if you’ve gotten one (or more) of these calls, chime in and share your location, if you don’t mind.
I’ve received some weird voicemails with a woman speaking what I assume is a Chinese language. The audio is always very poor, like a tape recording of a recording of a recording. I can’t understand what she’s saying but it seems like the message doesn’t start from the beginning and might be a loop. Chicago.
San Diego CA.
We have been receiving these chinese (woman) spam calls at the office for months. Probably close to 9 months now. The spambot just circulates through each of the office landlines.
I’ve been getting them on my cell for about a year, probably half a dozen. They always have tinkly music in the background. The one time I looked up the number, it was spoofing the consulate in NY.
I get one or two a month. I have a call blocker of some kind but they go to voice mail where I find them by accident. I’ve wondered what the hell they are for. I can’t understand them so what good do they do the caller?
Always on my cell, never on my landline. St. Louis area.
They’re not targeted to you. Did you read the link in the OP?
I’ve gotten a few. Always on my cell phone. There may have been calls to my land line, but I never answer that phone (it exists only so my wife can call her parents back home – most of the time, the ringer isn’t even on).
I live in New York City.
Before I knew it was a scam, I’d hear in Mandarin “This is the Chinese Embassy —“ and I just instinctively knew that no good could come of listening any further.
I seem to get the calls in fits and spurts. Six months ago, I’d get one or two a day. Then it stopped until a month ago, now I get one a week or so.
We’re in Texas but our phones are from Los Angeles. Both DH and I get these calls every few days. The calls are spoofed to appear to be from a lot of different places but the voice on the messages sounds like the same woman. Latest one showed it was coming from Delaware.
I’ve gotten it once, in L.A.
Oregon and San Francisco area.
According to that article
But it’s bit odd - it gives little explanation of how Chinese ex-pats are being scammed out of such huge amounts of money.
I get them from time to time. I know it’s Mandarin because they start with Ni Hao which is nearly the extent of my Mandarin.
In Chicago, these came to my workphone, and several of my coworkers’ within minutes of each other. We had a confused laugh together.
Yeah. How does it get from “You are under investigation” to losing $164,000? The article doesn’t really say. Not many immigrants or visiting scholars have $164,000 in cash lying around to lose.
I received many, many of these (NYC number). I’m now receiving robocalls in English from a woman speaking in some kind of East Asian accent (my guess Chinese, but I’m not qualified to say). The calls say something about a problem with my Bank of America account, and I’ve never listened past that.
Funny thing–in our office those calls sometimes come in waves and they go numerically from number to number, cascading across the room. My conspiracy-minded coworker is sure that the Chinese are attempting a major hack on the country’s phone infrastructure.
Got them here (CT) at work. You could hear the phones ring down the hall one after the other
About 1-2 times per month, especially on my work phone, which I basically never use and barely receive calls except internal.
Oh man, I miss all the fun. Haven’t had these. And color me skeptical on each individual getting taken for $164,000.