New twist when it comes to phone scams

SAN FRANCISCO, California -- Robocalls are nothing new, but there's another new twist on phone scams.

Lately, many people in the U.S. and Canada are getting calls in Mandarin relating to a new scam.

A news producer at our ABC sister station KGO-TV received a message saying DHL has a package that will be returned to sender soon. In fact, they did not have a package.

Other variations include, "Your phone is about to be shut off." Especially alarming to an immigrant community is another message saying, "This is the Chinese Consulate calling, you have to pick up an important document that affects your immigration status."

All of them ask you to press a number, if you do, you get connected to someone who tells you you're linked to a financial crime in China and need to send money to resolve it or face arrest.

In San Francisco, the district attorney sent out a community warning saying it's essentially the same scam in any language and the response should be the same.

Don't engage in the scam and don't send money. Speaking of money, many people across the country have lost money to this scam.

In New York City, police say since December, dozens of people there have become victims of the scam and lost $3 million because of it.