FBI: Health insurance scam zeroes in on Chinese speakers

The FBI has warned that Chinese speakers across the U.S. have been subjected to a new health insurance fraud scheme that threatens extradition should they fail to pay their surgical bills, The Register reports.

Targets have been contacted using spoofed phone numbers from health insurers' claims departments, with attackers informing them about a bogus surgery and luring them into a video call where they are presented with a fake invoice, according to the FBI alert.

Attackers intimidate those who refuse to pay the bills, stating that they will be contacted by Chinese law enforcement. Such a phony Chinese state representative then seeks personal data from the victims, who are further warned of being extradited or prosecuted in China, said the FBI, which also noted that some victims have been asked to download illicit video communication software.

Such a development comes as internet crimes were reported by the FBI to have exceeded 859,000 last year, most of which were linked to business email compromise and cryptocurrency investment scams.