Chinese Robocalls Explained

Have you received robocalls and voicemails with a female speaking in Mandarin Chinese? Here's the reason for those phone calls.

Once you remember the reasons behind any scam, these robocalls begin to make sense. Scamming people is a numbers game. If you send out enough phone calls, social media posts, or emails, then you only need to trick a tiny percentage of people into making a lot of money with little risk of being caught.

Add up the totals for internet scams, including automotive, money orders, charity, tickets, gift cards, social media, and more, and you're looking at 600 billion dollars lost. That's 0.8% of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

I'm terrible at numbers and math, yet the odds are fascinating when you think about it. If you call 5,000 people attempting to scam them out of $500, you might get a few people to respond and pay. And, if one of those three pays more, which is the real goal, you could make thousands of dollars per 1,000 phone calls.

While that might not be life-changing money to some people, in many countries, it is. One 65-year old Chinese woman lost 1.3 million in 2017 to scammers when the scam was still new. 20 Chinese immigrants reported losing a total of $2.5 million from the fraud in early 2018 alone.

The Chinese robocalls are targeting the Chinese immigrant population, and while we'd like to surprise you, they're using the same tactics as English-speaking scammers. Here are just a few of the examples that may seem familiar:

Bank of America - Claiming your debit card has been compromised, and your account closed.
Chinese Consulate - Claiming that you're being investigated for financial crimes in China.
Package delivery - Claiming you have a package (usually UPS or DHL) that's involved in money-laundering,

Image Credit CGTN

While these calls are most common in America, other countries, including Australia and Canada, are also being targeted. The phone numbers are called at random, often in blocks. In other words, you're not being targeted; your phone number just "came up" in a batch.

Finally, here are a few general guidelines to keep you safe.

Don't answer phone numbers you don't recognize. If you do by mistake, do not speak, and hang up.
Don't click links in emails. The IRS, your bank, and other financial institutions rarely, if ever, email you to log in. If you're unsure, go to the financial website yourself and log in. Don't unsubscribe; you only confirm your email is good.
Stop sharing posts on social media for free campers, vacations, gift cards, and other scams unless you verify the social media page is legit.
Forget Do Not Call Lists. Most scammers are spoofing their phone numbers and change them frequently. Do Not Call lists were a good idea ten years ago. Nomorobo said it best - “They are not real companies,” Foss said. “It would almost be like having a ‘Do Not Murder Me list,’ right? ‘Please Do Not Steal My Money’ list. Right? That’s ridiculous. The criminals are not going to be respecting that.”

Remember, there's rarely a chance of catching these scammers. Attempts to argue, reason, or report them is almost always a further waste of your time.

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