[MRM]

Several times a month I get a call with the same robo caller tone and similar themes. Sometimes the recorded voice tells me that DHL has a package for me that I need to pay to retrieve. Other times it tells me the IRS is about to arrest me if I don't pay a fine over the phone. Or my passport has been stolen and I need to pay something to secure it and buy a replacement. Sometimes my visa has been revoked and I need to contact the embassy immediately to pay a fee or be deported.

The scams aren't particularly convincing because: I don't ship with DHL, The IRS gets my money regularly and sends me a sweet thank you note telling me they've taken enough blood every year, my passport is safely locked in my safe deposit box at the bank, and, the last I checked, I don't need a visa to live in the US.

But here's the real kicker - all the calls are in Chinese. No, I'm not Chinese and no, I don't speak Chinese. One of my partners got some of the same calls. He's even more Anglo than me. Apparently robocalls are so cheap they can be sent indiscriminately to people who don't even speak the target language.