this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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Here in Canada we have tons of "your package is here and you need to pay fees/taxes to get it" scam calls and texts. It sounds reasonable enough if you are actually waiting for a package and aren't too savy about these things. The worst part is real delivery companies do sometimes contact you that way, though they usually text you and direct you to their site which can be verified (always always check the URL of the site and also make sure it's HTTPS). Still I once disregarded a real one asking me to pay taxes and ended up actually delaying my package.
The most disgusting ones I've gotten are the immigration scam calls, basically "there's a problem with your PR card or it's expired or something and if you don't pay a fee right now you'll be deported." In Mandarin too, really exploiting the fears of immigrants. I'm still trying to figure out if it's actually targeted since I actually am a Chinese immigrant (now a Canadian citizen so don't even have a PR card anymore) or if they just randomly call different numbers, but I've only gotten robocalls in English or Mandarin which I speak and no other languages, so IDK. Anyone know?
If you're in Toronto or have a Toronto number they target Mandarin since it's incredibly prevalent in the city. Those are also the only 2 languages I receive as well.
I'm in Vancouver so that checks out too. Huge Chinese diaspora here.
I'm also Canadian and I do get random calls in Mandarin sometimes. I didn't know what they saying so I just hung up, but I guess it's likely they were scam calls along these lines.
HTTPS means nothing. All sites are HTTPS these days. If your only check for a scam is that then you're fucked
Correct, which is why you primarily need to check the URL and particularly the domain. I mention HTTPS because if you're on the right domain and it's not HTTPS when it should be, you're most likely getting MITM'd or another such attack is being used.