@ Peter99:
It's VERY active, in the past and always will be.
They do it also in the USA and Europe.
Yesterday 4 calls, today 2. Just hoping for me to call back lol.

Our rule: We don't call back numbers we don't know and we missed. If it's important they'll call again and stay on the line :)

the phone calls are not "great scams". they're minor annoyances.

there's a lot of real great scams you don't know about.

Enlighten us Magnifico :)
This is great fun to know about!

@Peter99
A Chinese friend just warned me about this scam today! Thanks for the heads up!

Ok, you want to be enlightened? How about this?

The price of real estate.

1. I get the single-ring telephone call 3-4 times weekly.

2. I have received several times that text about depositing whatever amount of money in specified bank account.

3. Often the designated produce markets have people lined up outside selling produce on the street. One day it dawned on me that most of those people outside the market have fixed prices, and are likely run by one or two guys on that strip of sidewalk. That day I realized there was a single guy controlling everyone's sidewalk prices, so I just went into the market instead of trying to save money on the street. Low and behold, the starting prices inside the market were cheaper than out on the sidewalk.

4. Now on to a serious scam that most people have heard of. This one is notorious in Beijing, where a new foreign arrival is befriended on the street and taken in to a tea shop to enjoy one of China's specialties. At the end they get handed a very hefty bill. It happened to me in Kunming where a girl took me to a wine and tea house. The waitress gave me the high bill along with the items the girl had ordered quickly in local dialect so as to prevent me from understanding. When I complained, the girl consoled me by "paying half the bill," and then she immediately stormed out...playing the role of being disgusted that I wouldn't be a man and pay the whole bill. Even paying half price she still made bank for the 20 minutes she spent with me. I then stayed in the wine house alone to at least enjoy what I'd paid for. Meanwhile, watching out the window, I noticed the same girl over the course of an hour separately whisk away two other guys to some other places for another scam.

Lesson learned: always get the price up front, and promptly leave when you realize it's more than it should be.

Hi Peter99,I think this is not targeted on foreigners. I receive such sms of money transfer almost every week. besides the text, was there anything weired in your house renting deal?

Hi John,

It was more specific than the usual rubbish. I didnt write detailed enough, but it actually mentioned that it was the landlord who was contacting: 你好,我是你的房东... (Ni Hao, this is your new landlord...), something like that.

When you get that stuff the day, or next, during the payment time, one is not too sure about coincidence. I do not get them normally. (I do know they are around). I suspect the agency/agent gets some cash for selling the number - but what do I know. The point is, my suspicion is, that the traditional scam would have become more sophisticated.

And it was probably targeted at a Chinese, since the message was in Chinese - not at a foreigner. Anyway, I just wrote it as a small-talk.

About renting deal, all went fine, but theres plenty of (Chinese) stories Ive read when things didnt go too well. Of course, I expect them to raise the rent by something like 25% next time, but then again, who the hell wants to breath the Kunming air 2014 anyway, if this air-stuff is escalating. They can keep the place. And the seismic indicators; i.e. the hanging lamps from the upper ceiling. They have given good seismic observations - even from far away lands. Ive been waiting for a big quake, when the lamps would be clinging to each other, but so far that symphony has not played out. Hopefully the next person who rents the place gets that chance.

Peter, I should hope you wouldn't take the topic of earthquakes so lightly. I lived 200km from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake's epicenter. It was a terrifying experience. I wouldn't wish such an experience on anyone.

i got the same 新房东 sms recently and i don`t even rent. however, i do suspect it`s the realtors who are selling the numbers, because i inquired for friends before.