Hello,
Has anyone else received a weird call from a UK mobile phone number that plays a pre-recorded message in Chinese?
Me and a friend of mine, both on Zevvle received such calls. The number starts with 07511. Unfortunately, I don’t speak Chinese and I couldn’t understand the message.
The message is “你恶作剧了” -> EN (“I’m looking for a fun time”)
I also got it but thankfully I speak fluent Chinese due to my work
P.S. I’m joking.
I imagine it’s just a coincidence that you’re both on Zevvle as they have no way of really telling from your number as they will come up as EE Numbers (FM3 Orange) as the RH (Range Holder) if you’re using a new number from Zevvle or the original RH if ported.
If your using ‘Zevvle’ numbers then it would be that they’re just randomly dialling the range, all of my numbers start 07419 769.
Unfortunately, none of the MNOs are complying with General Condition 6 (GC6) which is supposed to help to curve some of these types of calls. I’m not sure if @nick has any power to implement something at his level of the chain.
Until the U.K. implement some kind of proper authentication, this kind of stuff is just going to keep getting worse I’m afraid.
It wasn’t annoying or anything like that. I was just curious to find out what it means and if anyone else had received those calls.
I have a Chinese colleague. Next time they call, I’ll pass on my phone to him.
I think this must be coincidence; only 2 SIMs (I’m assuming yours and your friend’s) have had calls from a number starting 07511. At this point, I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do on our side. 
Kind of. Not at the network level, but we could use client-side libraries for iOS and Android to block numbers. Given your permission, we could block every number on a list of known spam numbers (although this hardly solves the problem – there’s the danger of blocking legitimate numbers, and we’d need to keep it updated), or add a button on the call log to “Block this number,” but that would be after the fact…
It’s also possible to show more info on the calling screen, so even if we didn’t block the number, we could show “Likely spam number” or something.
Again, this is only client-side, and wouldn’t work on all handsets.
Had a similar call from 07622 755731 on July 1st
Sorry @nick. I wasn’t clear enough.
The number that called me started with 07511.
My friend has been called from a number that starts with 07548.
My guess would be that they use multiple accounts to make these calls.
It’s quite possible that the caller display is showing a number that isn’t actually their own. It’s possible with some voip systems to make the caller display show whatever number you want to show irrespective of whether you have actual authority to use that number. Some voip providers will prevent this by trying to ensure you have actual access to the particular number that is used for the caller display, however this doesn’t happen everywhere, which is part of the problem.
@nick I think the best option would be “this is likely a spammer”. Works across every device Zevvle should support, in theory.
There are a bunch of services you could get the data on, much of them crowdsourced from annoyed “clients”(?)
Maybe you could even strike a deal with them for free access - they give you an API to further contribute to it (for instance if a certain number of Zevvle users were to Mark a number as a spammer it would get sent to them) and as a result you get access and they get an enriched service.
I have received more calls with Chinese pre-recorded messages. All from random UK mobile phone or London landline numbers.
My Chinese colleague doesn’t speak the exact dialect they use, but he was able to listen to the recording from voicemail. He said that it is most likely a scam and they are advertising some kind of recruitment service for a better salary/job.
I’m getting similar calls too. Interesting to see it’s not just me then
I’ve had a couple of these calls on my Zevvle number too.
Thank you for joining the community! 
As with all spam numbers, we suggest blocking them:
iOS: In the ‘Phone’ app under the recents tab at the bottom, tap the circled ‘i’ next to a call, scroll down and you can block the number.
Android: In the ‘Phone’ app, tap the 3 dots on the top right, select ‘Settings’ or ‘Call Settings’ and then ‘Block numbers’ or ‘Reject calls’. You can then enter any number to block.
We hope to have a utility in the Zevvle app for doing this in the future, but we’re not quite there yet!
Thanks! 
Problem is they came from different numbers each time.
Exactly. Not much point in blocking fake numbers. I don’t experience any issues like this on any of my other numbers. Maybe the odd robo call but nothing like this.
Could always answer and say no Mandarin
I don’t see them like, calling back someone that they can’t scam
Assuming they have a target list of numbers and a way to mark numbers as opted-out. They could just be doing “spray and pray” and dialling random numbers from a particular number range (could explain why only some people are targeted if they’re unlucky enough to fall into that range).
What would really help is having someone that speaks their language and pretends to be interested to get them to say details of the scam and then prosecute whoever’s involved in this, or at least their UK intermediary (which they’re likely to have if they do business in the UK, have a physical address here or need to accept payments).
If I get a call I’ll see if I can get anything out of them - but I don’t keep the SIM in my phone at all so I’m not holding my breath!
I’ve not had any of these calls, though I ported my number across.
Yep I’m getting these too
