First it was California and now it is moved to Texas. Officials

First it was California and now it is moved to Texas.
Officials with the FBI say a scam involving threats against Asian-American business owners has moved from the east and west coasts to North Texas.

According to authorities the scam starts with a Chinese-speaking male calling an Asian-American business owner, threatening to hurt them, and damage their business if a certain amount of money isn’t paid. Usually the sum requested was in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The scammer often tells the business owner that he has ties to Chinese organized crime and refers to personally identifiable information about the business owner to give the appearance that a lot is already known about the business owner.

So far none of the people targeted were contacted afterwards and none of the threats have been carried out.

Authorities believe the phone calls in several offenses across the nation originated from China using internet phone services.

If you are a victim of this extortion scam, please call the Dallas FBI at (972) 559-5000 or your local law enforcement agency.

Source CBS Broadcasting Inc.