“Can you hear me?” phone call scam is hitting the nation, don’t let it fool you.
“Can you hear me?” are the words that you will initially hear when you pick up the phone and you are about to be scammed. This phone call scam has just recently come about and unfortunately has already fooled many. How they pull it off, is they call you from a number with a familiar area code and when you answer, the first thing they say is “can you hear me?” As you unconsciously respond with “yes” they record you and without your knowledge will use your “yes” as a confirmation to authorize charges on a phone, utility, or credit card charge.
Reportedly, without your knowledge, you could be charged for things you are completely unaware of. This is all because you said “yes”. If you call and try to deny the charges, they will playback the recording of you saying “yes” and will threaten to take legal action. This story has circulated around the media since the beginning of January and a few things should be cleared up for your awareness:
SO how worried should you be about the phone call scam? The Detroit Free Press reported the Better Business Bureau has tackled complaints from 62 people. Wisconsin’s BBB reports 50 people receiving such calls. In none of those reports, though, has an individual actually been scammed out of any money. Snopes, classifies this scam as “unproven” because it:
Has yet to identify any scenario under which a scammer could authorize charges in another person’s name simply by possessing a voice recording of that person saying ‘yes,’ without also already possessing a good deal of personal and account information for that person, and without being able to reproduce any other form of verbal response from that person.”
BUT, it’s still a good idea to not answer and hang up if you’re immediately met with a question that would warrant a “yes.” Prompting questions range from the infamous “can you hear me?” to “are you a homeowner?” Regardless of what the scammer intends to do with your “yes” simply answering can be a valuable resource for these call bots. Just by answering you have proven your phone number is active, and could possibly warrant a ton of annoying soliciting phone calls. The scammer could turn around and sell your phone number and others as sales leads to other questionable solicitors.
To avoid these scams, when you answer the phone and hear a question that warrants a ‘yes,’ hang up. If you think you might forget, don’t answer calls from strange numbers, unless you’re expecting one. At the end of the day, if it’s important they will leave a voicemail or a text.
The Better Business Bureau has also listed some helpful tips to avoid scams and unwarranted calls:
- Use Caller ID. Don’t answer calls from numbers you’re not familiar with. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.
- Scammers change their tactics, so be alert for other questions designed to illicit a simple “yes.”
- Write down the number and report it to the BBB Scam Tracker.
- Get on the Do Not Call Registry at DoNotCall.gov. Scammers ignore the Do Not Call list, but it could reduce telemarketing calls, making it easier to notice the ones that may be fraudulent.
