Howard, KnowBe4's HackBusters Discussion Forum Moderator reported on this very interesting phone call he got:
"A few minutes ago, I picked up the phone (unusual for me) when I don’t recognize the caller. The call came from a local number and when I picked up a robocall starting in Mandarin Chinese. At least I assumed it was Mandarin not being a Chinese language expert. Now that I recall this is the second call I’ve gotten. My curiosity had me to do a quick search and this was a known Vish. So if you have Chinese family members let them know.
According to an article in NPR, "The robocall messages are usually some variation on [this] theme: This is the consulate; we have an important document that needs to be picked up; it may affect your status in the U.S.; press a button to speak with a specialist — and that is when a connection is made to a live scammer.
That person then tries to execute what is known as a “parcel scam” — pretending to be from a courier company and claiming that a package addressed to the victim is connected to a criminal case. The phone call is then transferred to a fake police officer who says that it’s a money laundering investigation and that if the victim transfers money to a Hong Kong bank account, the police will resolve the case
In NYC alone it’s estimated at least 3,000,000 have been stolen through this scam. It's a very good idea to step employees through new-school security awareness training to inoculate them against scams like this.
Find out how affordable this is for your organization. Get a quote now.
