Velázquez Urges Crackdown on "Chinese Consulate Scam” Hackers; 維樂貴絲敦促當局嚴打“中國領事館詐騙”黑客

Washington, DC –Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) has written to the head of the Federal Trade Commission calling on the agency to address a pervasive and ongoing identity scam that is targeting residents of New York City's Chinatowns in Brooklyn and New York.

Over the past several months, scammers have been using robocalls to impersonate the Chinese Consulate General, probing residents for personal and financial information. According to the New York City Police Department, since December, an estimated $3 million has been stolen from New York City residents, with victims losing between $1,800 and $1.4 million each.

"Members of our community must be aware of this scam, which targets immigrants and other vulnerable populations for exploitation," Velázquez said. "For my part, I am working to ensure the Federal Trade Commission is providing adequate focus and resources toward preventing these scams."

The full text of the letter is below.

May 29, 2018

The Honorable Joseph J. Simons

Chairman

Federal Trade Commission

600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20580

Dear Chairman Simons:

As the Member of Congress representing two of New York City's Chinatowns in Brooklyn and Manhattan, I write to express deep concerns over what has become known as the "Chinese Consulate Scam." Over the past several months, local residents have received robocalls in Mandarin from scammers impersonating the Chinese Consulate General. The scammers tell their victims that they must pick up a package at the local Consulate General Office, or that they are a person of interest in a potential criminal investigation. If the victim follows the provided prompts on the voice message, they will be redirected to the scammer, who will then ask for personal and financial information.

There have been numerous media reports about the extent of this scam, which has targeted cities across the United States with significant Chinese speaking populations. According to the New York Police Department, an estimated $3 million has already been stolen from residents of New York City alone since December, with victims losing between $1,800 and $1.4 million each.[1],[2]

I applaud the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for being proactive on this issue and informing the public by providing access to information via its consumer webpage in both English and Chinese.[3] The FTC, in its public notice, encourages consumers to hang up or delete the number and to report the call to the agency. The same notice later encourages consumers to contact the local Chinese Consulate General or Embassy and warns consumers about other potential scams sent via e-mail or WeChat.[4]

Despite the guidance furnished by your agency, the problem continues to impact members of our local Chinese community. Taking into consideration your agency's current efforts, I respectfully request answers to the following questions:

1. How many Chinese Consulate General/Embassy scams have been reported to the FTC? Has your agency noted any trends or patterns based on current consumer complaint reports?

a. How have these trends of patterns varied, if at all, since the date of your agency's publication of public notice? Have the number of reported complaints increased?

2. Your agency provides a button throughout its webpages that include the phrase: "Vea esta página en español." Yet, a similar button is not provided in Chinese. While it is understood that this button allows for translation of all FTC-based pages to Spanish, can you comment as to why such a button is not available, for the purposes of informing consumers about scams, in Chinese?

a. As part of your answer to this question, please comment on the accessibility of the current hyperlink on the English version of the scam description's webpage that leads consumers to the Chinese version of your notice. Is there a reason why the hyperlink's text on this page is not written out in Chinese characters?

3. Can you describe, in general, your efforts on informing Chinese-speaking consumers about this and other consumer scams?

a. As part of your answer to this question, please describe current FTC efforts that engage with Chinese speakers on alternative platforms that do not use the internet. In general, both Chinatowns in New York's 7th Congressional District are in areas that have previously been identified as having a decrease or negligible change in the total number of households with broadband access.[5] In fact, the Mayor's Office of the Chief Technology Officer notes that "Spanish and Chinese [speakers] tend to have lower home broadband access than those who speak English and Russian."[6] Would your agency—in collaboration with relevant local and/or state agencies—be willing to provide a presentation in Chinese in a public forum for the community to attend?

4. Some materials available online from the Pass It On campaign would likely provide a vehicle to empower consumers against scammers. Yet, there are no materials available in Chinese.[7] Some hyperlinks of the Spanish version of the campaign are also unavailable.[8] Is there a reason why these materials are currently limited to English? When will current Spanish materials be accessible? What is your agency's plan to make such materials available to Chinese speakers?

I want to thank you for looking into our community's concerns and look forward to working with your agency in addressing consumer fraud concerns that are impacting my constituents and the public.

Sincerely,

Nydia M. Velázquez

Member of Congress

cc: Barbara D. Underwood, Attorney General, New York State

James P. O'Neill, Police Commissioner, New York Police Department

謹供參考： 聯絡： Alex Haurek (Velázquez)

2018年5月30日 202-225-2361

維樂貴絲敦促當局嚴打"中國領事館詐騙"黑客

【首府華盛頓訊】聯邦眾議員維樂貴絲（Nydia M. Velázquez，紐約州民主黨）近日去函聯邦貿易委員會，指出曼哈頓與布碌崙的華人社區成為身份詐騙集團目標，騙案持續發生而且越見普遍，敦促當局嚴正處理。

在過去幾個月中，騙徒一直利用電話錄音冒充中國總領事館人員，誘騙華人民眾提供個人和財務信息。根據紐約市警察局稱，自去年12月以來，紐約市居民合共被騙約300萬元，受害者普遍損失1800至140萬元。

"這些騙案以移民和其他弱勢群體為目標，我們社區的居民必須保持警惕，"維樂貴絲說。"而我也正在努力與當局溝通，確保聯邦貿易委員會重視此事及提供足夠的資源，防止這些詐騙繼續出現。"

全文如下。

請點擊此處獲得PDF檔案。

2018年5月29日

聯邦貿易委員會主席

約瑟夫西蒙斯閣下

(The Honorable Joseph J. Simons)

600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20580

尊敬的西蒙斯主席：

作為代表紐約市布碌崙和曼哈頓兩個華人社區的國會議員，本人特此致函貴機構以對近期所謂的"中領館騙案"表達深切擔憂。在過去幾個月裡，本地居民經常收到普通話發音的錄音來電。匪徒假扮中國總領事館職員，並誐稱受害者必須到當地中國總領事館領取一個郵包，或者他們正牽涉一件刑事案件調查之中。如果受害者按照錄音系統的指示按鍵，電話便會被接通與騙徒直接對話，藉此誘騙受害者提供個人和財務信息。

眾多媒體均有報導此類騙局的嚴重程度，甚及已經蔓延至美國其他有大量華人聚居的城市。據紐約市警察總局稱，自去年12月以來，紐約市居民合共被騙約300萬元，受害者普遍損失1800至140萬元。

聯邦貿易委員會積極主動地處理此事，並通過消費者網頁發佈中英文信息來警惕公眾，本人甚感欣慰。聯邦貿易委員會在通告中建議消費者接到此類詐騙電話時應立即掛斷或刪除號碼，並向該機構報告。通告還建議消費者聯繫當地的中國領事館或大使館，及提醒民眾騙徒可能會通過電子郵件或微信進行其他類型的詐騙。

儘管貴機構已經提供了防騙指南，但問題仍然持續威脅我們華人社區居民的安全。就貴機構目前進行的防騙宣傳工作，請您回答以下問題：

1. 迄今為止，聯邦貿易委員會已經收到多少個中領館╱大使館詐騙報案？貴機構是否能夠根據目前的報案紀錄，得出任何趨勢或模式？

a. 在貴機構發佈通告之後，這些騙局的模式或趨勢是否有任何變化？民眾的報案數量有否增加？

2. 貴機構網站的各網頁都有一個按鍵，上面寫著"Vea esta página en español"（以西班牙語瀏覽此頁）字眼。但是，網頁上卻沒有提供類似的中文按鍵。我們明白民眾可以點擊該按鍵以將聯邦貿易委員會網頁內容翻譯成為西班牙語，但為何貴機構沒有提供中文按鍵，讓消費者能夠使用中文獲悉騙案資訊？

a. 就以上問題，您認為貴機構英文版本詐騙網頁之鏈結接到中文通告方便使用嗎？為何此網頁的超鏈結沒有使用中文顯示？

3. 請您概述貴機構是如何向華語消費者宣傳此類騙案的信息及其他方面的消費者詐騙行為？

a. 就以上問題，並請描述聯邦貿易委員會針對不使用互聯網之華語民眾，有否任何其他平台與他們溝通。因為根據過往統計，紐約第7國會選區的華人聚居地擁有寬頻的家庭總數正在減少甚至有缺乏情況。事實上，紐約市長辦公室的首席科技官也指出，"西班牙語和華語家庭擁有寬頻的家庭數量比說英語和俄語人口要低。"貴機構是否願意與相關的市及╱或州機構合作，在本地舉行中文講座，讓社區居民參與？

4. 除此之外，"Pass It On"宣傳運動中有些資料可以上網下載，並幫助消費者防禦騙徒。然而，該些材料並沒有中文版本。該宣傳運動的一些西班牙語版本鏈結同樣久奉。請問為何這些材料目前僅限於英語提供？貴機構何時將提供西班牙語版本的材料？又有何計劃向華語民眾提供這些資料？

最後，容我感謝您對這些社區議題的關切，並期待與貴機構攜手合作解決消費者欺詐罪行，以使我選區的居民和公眾回復安寧。

誠摯的，,

聯邦眾議員

維樂貴絲

副本抄送： 紐約州檢察長Barbara D. Underwood

紐約市警總局長James P. O'Neill

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