Hi all,

The night before I was watching TV, I received a call....on my home phone...when I answered it sounded like an American speaking a foreign language..this is how it went down:


...HELLO? - me


..."alskdv askldfawpecakpc" - foreign language with american accent


...HELLO? - me


..."lkmlkasfdkla lksdamd" - foreign language with american accent

..CAN YOU SPEAK ENLGLISH? - me

..."Hello, sir, I'm sorry, I have the wrong number" - perfect american accent



My thought is that the CO was checking my phone records to see if the household spoke vietnamese, this would indicate to them potential fraud. I spoke english, which confirmed that the I was legit.

Today, we got the pink.

You might think I am paranoid, but I would not put it past the consulate at HCMC, they are very anal about everything.

R/

-Guy&Hoa

I'd have been screwed in that situation. I'd have fallen for the bait and attempted to speak Vietnamese. I swear, you and me would be better at rooting out fraud. These people are idiots.

Congratulations on the pink! I hope the rest of you experience goes smoothly.

Guy&Hoa

Do you have Caller ID? If the number is 011-848-822-9433 (main line) or 011-848-822-5572 (that's their fax line) or something very close to that, it could be them. Otherwise, it was probably just a wrong number. If you don't have Caller ID, call the phone company and see if they can tell you what the number was (they can tell you but they may not want to). Had you thought about it you could have *69 the number and called them back.

Living in LA, I've gotten use to wrong numbers where the person could only speak Engish to the extent "Wrong number" or "Sorry". Occassionlly in good English but usually in accented English. It would be interesting to know the answer.


Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26
I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11
I-129F RFE(s) :
RFE Reply(s) :
I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26
Touched: 2007-11-02
NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16
Consulate recieved ??????
Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11
Packet 3 received 2007-12-24
Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28
Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14
Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23
Interview Date 2008-2-27
Passed Interview 2008-02-27
Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05
Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)
POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles

I'm confused .. what if you spoke Vietnamese .. why would that be considered fraud .. especially if I am a Vietnamese-American, who can fluently speak English and Vietnamese .. sorry for my lack of understanding..

Your case is different that the OP's. There the OP is american, w/ limited if any Vietnamese skills as presented in his petition (I presume)...so if true and not truly a wrong #, the consulate called and attempted to verify that the story is true as stated in the original petition.

In your case....should you be submitted to the same type of "test" you would be expected to speak in Vietnamese, to prove that you indeed are bi-lingual as you claim.

The whole thing is a bit of a stretch...but who knows? I've heard of stranger things happening.

-P

ahhh! that does sound a bit of stretch and a lot of work by them...but hey, if they want to call and talk to me .. i'm more than happy to...

Hi,

I wish I did have caller ID to verify the caller. That would have solved it.

The thing that piqued my interest was that I was able to detect that the caller was an american speaking a foreign language. Plus the fact, I rarely get wrong numbers on my phone.

I must also take into account this incident could be totally unrelated.

Thanks for all the comments..

-Guy&Hoa

Not necassarily. I have caller ID and it doesn't show the whole number correctly when someone calls from Vietnam. I don't think there are enough characters on my phone to show it correctly, but I remember the numbers seemed to be completely off.

I doubt the Consulate pays for a calling card. Most Calling cards use a special access number. All Caller IDs will show that number, when you call it back some will give you a message saying it's a disconnected number or other message. Overseas calls made through normal phone co. will show the number. When Thi called me from Vietnam, it would show the local Vietnam access number, not her home phone.

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26
I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11
I-129F RFE(s) :
RFE Reply(s) :
I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26
Touched: 2007-11-02
NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16
Consulate recieved ??????
Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11
Packet 3 received 2007-12-24
Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28
Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14
Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23
Interview Date 2008-2-27
Passed Interview 2008-02-27
Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05
Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)
POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles