Los estafadores se esconden en Teams para robarle a la gente de China

Fraudsters are using Microsoft Teams and Webex to pull off big-money scams against Chinese victims. The trick is familiar: scammers pose as officials — tax, police, customs — and talk victims into wiring large sums of money. What's different is the app they're hiding inside.

Enterprise chat platforms were built for offices, not street corners. They have verified identities, group threads, and a veneer of legitimacy that makes them a natural home for people trying to look like they belong somewhere. That's exactly why scammers love them. Victims who might question a random WhatsApp message think twice when the conversation is happening inside Teams, where real employees log in every day.

The wave of complaints is growing. The scammers are learning the playbook — who to target, what stories work, how to keep the conversation going long enough to get the wire transfer. They're operating in a space that was never designed for this, which means the tools to fight it haven't been built yet.

Why this matters for us: the same playbook is already leaking into our apps — WhatsApp, Facebook, even iMessage — and the people getting hit are often our tías, our abuelos, the ones who trust the wrong group chat.