raincitygirl

Every so often for the past few years, my cell phone gets called by a recorded voice claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency, I owe them a lot of money, and if I don't call the number in the recording right now, the RCMP will show up on my doorstep to arrest me for tax evasion.

(Hat tip for anybody who hasn't been paying attention: the phone number in the message does not really go to the CRA. These people are scammers)

Over the past month or two, though, i've also been getting calls from a recorded voice speaking what sounds like Chinese. And it sounds like the same message every time. I finally got a Cantonese-speaking colleague to listen to the message. She also speaks basic Mandarin, enough to say, "Oh, it's just this scam call that's been going around lately. It's telling you your visa has been cancelled and if you don't call the consulate right now and pay them, Immigration will show up on your doorstep to arrest you for being in Canada illegally. It's just a scam. It doesn't really go to the Chinese consulate, although I suspect they probably would take bribes. It just goes to scammers."

Apparently the CRA scammers are branching out into new languages and fields of scam.