San Diego

Local Group Helping Non-English Speakers Fight Back Against Robocalls

β€œI look at the phone ringing and I'm literally scared," said Gupta.

A local group is helping people who aren’t fluent in English fight back against automated phone calls and scams.

The National Asian American Coalition is stepping in to help people who are not fluent in English and who may not understand that many of the robocalls are actually scams.

Unfortunately, recent immigrants are often targets of these scams. The Federal Communications Commission said a recent fraud involved callers who posed as Chinese consulate employees to try to steal money and personal information.

Sonia Gupta, who moved to San Diego from Dubai nine months ago, recently started her new business in alternative healing, but soon began receiving robocalls every day.

β€œI look at the phone ringing and I'm literally scared. My frustration is that I just don't know if I'm losing on clients because of these calls,” said Gupta.

Gupta also said she had never even heard of robocalls until she moved to the U.S.

The FCC recently released a handout which provides tips on how to respond to unwanted calls.

In the next few months, the NAAC plans to open a kiosk in front of Asian grocery stores in National City and in Chula Vista. The kiosks, called Hope Booths, will be staffed by volunteers and will have FCC tip cards in five languages: Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

β€œI feel this is very valuable for someone like me who has recently migrated to the U.S, this should be at every airport,β€œ said Gupta.

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