, you ’ re transferred to a live human who will try anything to get you to hand over your credit-card or bank account info . The important thing to remember is that sales robocalls are illegal in the United States . So , don ’ t expect the person on the other end of the line to follow through on whatever deal they claim to offer . You ’ re much more likely to fall victim to an identity theft scam or credit-card fraud than to score a deal from one of these spam callers . The new Chinese-language version of these calls targets immigrants . The robocalls deliver a recorded message claiming to beAttack.Phishingfrom the Chinese consulate , saying the recipient is in trouble with Chinese officials , or sometimes that a package is waiting at the Chinese consulate that needs to be picked up . Then , the robocall asks for a deposit or fee , demanding a credit-card number or bank information . Sometimes the robocall or live operator who follows it makes a threat , suggesting that more trouble will come if the person doesn ’ t willingly hand over their financial info , according to the Federal Trade Commission . In New York City alone , police estimate at least 30 residents had been scammed out of $ 3 million , according to National Public Radio . The Chinese Consulate General in New York says it has posted dozens of alerts on its website warning about the scams . `` We would like to restate that the Consulate General in New York would not ask for personal information , deliver parcel pick-up notice or ask people to answer inquiries from police department by way of phone calls . The Consulate General would not ask for bank account information , '' it warned . The scammers are also upping the ante with a tech trickAttack.Phishingcalled “ spoofingAttack.Phishing. ” Spoofed calls can fakeAttack.Phishingcaller ID numbers , making them look likeAttack.Phishingthey ’ re coming fromAttack.Phishinga familiar number , nearby area code , your hometown or in this case , the Chinese consulate , according to the Federal Communications Commission , which also issued an alert . So , even if you do n't speak Chinese , why would you get so many calls ? The scammers don ’ t know who they ’ re calling , and it costs virtually nothing to place a phone call , so if they hit a few thousand English-speaking phones for every one Chinese speaker that ’ s totally fine with them . This scam uses many of the same ploys used on unsuspecting English speakers , say in the scam where the caller pretends to beAttack.Phishingfrom the IRS and is demanding payments on back taxes that don ’ t really exist .
Conmen are taking phishing scamsAttack.Phishingto the next level , targeting Apple users with emails and calls to a fake Apple Care service . While emails are a fairly common way of luringAttack.Phishingvictims , it ’ s not every day that you hear about calls being involved to dupeAttack.Phishingfolks . Ars Technica reports that the attackAttack.Phishingbegins with an email which is designed to look likeAttack.Phishingan official iCloud account warning . It claims a sign-in attempt was blocked on their account since someone tried to use their password . There ’ s a “ Check Activity ” button which opens up a page on a compromised site for a men ’ s salon in South India . The webpage immediately redirectsAttack.Phishingthe victim to another site , followed by another redirection to a fake Apple Support page asking them to contact support since their iPhone has been locked due to illegal activity . If they fall for the baitAttack.Phishing, the site launches a “ scanning ” box which eventually gives way to a pop-up box prompting the victim to call a number . If the email is opened in an iPhone , the number can be called straightaway . iPads and Macs can ’ t do the same , so the system will ask if they want to open it in FaceTime . The publication actually dialed the number and got in touch with someone who described themselves as “ Lance Roger from Apple Care. ” It seems the elaborate scheme is targeting email addresses associated with iCloud . The end game is to trickAttack.PhishingiPhone users into enrolling in a rogue mobile device management service . This allows the attackers to push infected apps onto the victim ’ s device , all the while pretendingAttack.Phishingthis is a part of Apple ’ s security service . The phishing site is still live right now , but both Google and Apple have marked it as deceptive . Ars Technica has additionally passed on the technical details of the scam to an Apple security team member . The company told Engadget that it has resources on its support website to help people tell right from wrong . Everyday iOS users could still easily get fooled though .