Last week I answered the phone, in 10 seconds I'd been scammed!!!

[Omaha Steve]

I read about this on the national news last week the day after it happened. It fits the script perfectly. There was some noise. Then an operator said "Can you hear me?" "Yes." Went into a travel script. I tried to interrupt twice. No avail. I hung up.

I hope the info they had was for the previous person with our phone #.

OS

This phone scam just needs you to say ‘yes.’ Hang up instead

By Paige Yowell / World-Herald staff writer Feb 1, 2017 Updated 1 hr ago

If you get a call from a stranger asking, “Can you hear me?” hang up the phone.

That’s what the Better Business Bureau is advising consumers who might become victims of the latest scam it says is circulating the country.

Jim Hegarty, president of the BBB serving Nebraska, South Dakota, the Kansas Plains and southwest Iowa, said the region has already received hundreds of reports about the scam.

The con aims to get victims to say the word “yes” so scammers can record it. The affirmative response is used by the fraudster to authorize unwanted charges — whether it’s to a credit card, a cable or phone account or subscriptions.

FULL story: http://www.omaha.com/money/this-phone-scam-just-needs-you-to-say-yes-hang/article_9dcd0d0e-0ed8-5701-9aa1-7c0657f1c1c0.html

[leftynyc]

1. Thanks for the tip

I did get one of those irs calls but immediately hung up and reported it to the fbi.

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. You can get phone company to NOT alow 3rd party billing.

Might have to fight with them a bit, but legally they have to block 3rd party billing if you ask.

[leftynyc]

40. Another great tip

I'll be passing along. Many thanks.

[toddwv]

47. Vonage doesn't allow 3rd party billing.

https://businesssupport.vonage.com/app/articles/answer/3rd-Party-or-Collect-Calls-24991

[Omaha Steve]

48. We have that

[mikeysnot]

2. my office and cell phones are all over the internet

SO I don't answer the phone or say anything until I hear them. Most calls ring twice and don't leave messages.

Fucking happens 2-4 times a day, almost everyday.

[Doreen]

3. If I say no and wait for them to ask again and

say no again how many times before they get upset and hang up themselves?

[appleannie1943]

32. Our news said if someone asks, don't answer at all. Just hang up.

[Doreen]

36. Yeah, I would hang up.

[Angry Dragon]

4. Good heads up

[NightWatcher]

5. If you don't know the number, don't pick up.

If it's legit they'll leave a message.

[In_The_Wind]

6. That's the rule of answering phones around here.

[Grammy23]

8. We learned long ago to let the answering machine do its job!

We actually have two answering devices. One is the one that is with the phone set up. We also have phone service through our cable company so there is a voice mail system with that. We have a phone system that announces who the caller is, or where they are calling from. Or if their ID is blocked. So we never have to wonder who it is.....the phone tells us. If we do not know the caller or recognize the number it goes to the machine. If it is a legitimate caller, they will leave a message. Only once in a blue moon do scammers leave a message but when they do we listen to the message several times for grins and giggles.

Our cable was supposed to put the caller ID on our TV and did for a while. The cable got struck by lightning a while back and they havr never gotten it to work right since then, but our phone announces callers, so it doesn't matter that the tv caller ID part does not work right.

[Omaha Steve]

11. It came in after I made several call to Senators & Congress persons about Trump

It made sense that one was calling me back.

I should have used the usual "who's calling?"

Our phone and cable (same company with free unlimited long distance) were locked down already. Watching everything else like a hawk.

Fre LD makes it easy to call representatives.

OS

[sarge43]

23. Yup.

I don't answer any number not on my contact list. As you say, leave a voice or text message.

I also check the number on Google, nine out of ten it's a telemarketer or scam and I block it.

[tblue37]

38. I also check unknown numbers on Google. nt

[anneboleyn]

27. Caller ID, which we've had for over a decade, shows us who is calling (and "unknown" means do not

answer). We never use our landline anyway, and we rarely if ever get solicitation calls on our cell phones (which we wouldn't answer either)

[etherealtruth]

7. I need to share this with my mom, thank you!

[lunatica]

9. I'll keep that in mind.

I have Comcast which shows the number on the tv screen when the telephone rings and if there's a name attached to it that shows up too.

I only answer the phone when i know who it is.

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. I never answer any number I don't recognize..So won't have to worry about this.

[Initech]

12. Caller ID is your friend!

I don't answer any incoming calls if my caller ID lists the call as "unknown call", or "toll free number", or lists a 1-800 number, or lists anything of those variants. You can also set your cell to block calls from certain numbers. It is a thing of beauty.

[Skittles]

13. I just wait until they start talking

and save the $

[Initech]

16. I don't even answer.

But if I got that tech support one where they say "We have noticed a problem with your Windows", I would be like "I have 10 different Windows licenses in my house, to which are you referring?", that would shut them up pretty quickly!

[mopinko]

14. i saw a fb meme this morning that might help

answer the phone w "hello, you're on the air"

[Initech]

18. Ooh, I like it!

[mopinko]

25. ikr? i really am gonna start doing that.

[aggiesal]

42. I do that when I go to someone else's house for a party ...

The person on the other line always get's tongue tied and hangs up.

Within a minute the person calls back and is answered normally.
You then hear the story that the caller just dialed that number earlier
and got a "... you're on the air ..." message.

Always good for a few laughs.

[lpbk2713]

15. Thanks for the heads up.

I sent a link to the article to other family members.

[rurallib]

17. like many here we don't answer and if I am by the computer

I quick do a google search on it. Most of the time if I don't know the number, it shows up as a scammer.

I have been blocking such numbers (we got new phones.) and in the past week we have had about a dozen calls from blocked numbers.

[raccoon]

19. Thanks for the heads up. nt

[Ilsa]

20. I never say Yes. I was scammed 15+ years ago.

Can you hear me? "No." Works just as well, I think.

[Egnever]

21. Interesting scam but I don't think it would hold up.

Still not worth taking the chance.

[tblue37]

41. Because I am severely hearing impaired, I never can hear unless they speak loudly, slowly, and

clearly directly into the mouthpiece of their phone--and not always even then--so I am probably not in much danger.

Since a boosted landline phone directs a voice directly into my good (i.e., slightly less hopeless) ear and filters ambient noise, I actually can use the phone if the other party cooperates and speaks clearly enough--unless he has a thick accent of some sort. I can't hear well enough on a cellphone, though, to understand what is being said, do I use a cell only to call out to people who know me and understand that I am conveying information to them (e.g., "I am running late," or "I am here and waiting for you&quot , but they cannot talk back to me.

More often than you might think, my deafness is a blessing!

[KT2000]

22. thanks - think I got one of those

so I will check my accounts. Someone acted like they dropped the phone or something and their pitch was all about winning trips.

[oasis]

24. K and R

[Bernardo de La Paz]

26. Thank you for posting. . . nt

[NurseJackie]

28. I suppose anything is possible ...

http://www.snopes.com/can-you-hear-me-scam/

[pnwmom]

30. GMTA -- see below.

[pnwmom]

29. You might not have been -- SNOPES hasn't been able to confirm this,

even though it's been reported widely in the media.

http://www.snopes.com/can-you-hear-me-scam/

[NurseJackie]

33. Hi! (I'm 2 seconds faster than you!)

[NurseJackie]

35. If someone's going to rip you off in this manner, why would they BOTHER to get a recording ...

... this seems like a LOT of trouble to go through just to deceptively "prove" to someone at a later date that you said "yes" to approve a charge. People like this are going to take the money and get the hell out of dodge quickly. They're not going to stick around and dispute claims by providing false evidence.

In my opinion, this one just looks like another one of those BEWARE stories that people love to tell ... I guess it makes people feel like they're more in control over scary things in their life, even the things that have 99.999% chance of NOT happening.

Remember the "BEWARE OF PEOPLE IN PARKING LOTS WITH PERFUME BOTTLES" scare? Supposedly, the perfume bottle was filled with chloroform and you'd be taken away and held for ransom, or maybe it was your organs would be harvested, or was that the one where you were forced to work on a fishing vessel?

I can't remember ... but I can look it up.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/perfume.asp

Oh, there it is... they were being ROBBED!! Supposedly. And it was ether, not chloroform. (My bad.)

[pnwmom]

37. What made me skeptical is that there are so many questions

that could elicit a "yes." Like, is this so-and-so? If this scam were possible, you'd think people would be falling for it all the time.

[NurseJackie]

46. My son tells me that the "can you hear me" calls are actually ...

... human operated pre-recorded message snippets. And if you want to check to see if you're actually talking to a human, get them to repeat a phrase that they're not likely to have pre-recorded.

If you ask "are you a robot?" they likely have a pre-programmed response.

He wanted me to post this: http://www.soundboard.com/sb/itslenny

You can play your own pre-recorded messages to telemarketers and waste their time.

[appleannie1943]

31. KDKA, our local news, had a story on this last week.

[aggiesal]

39. What if I say "NO!"? n/t

[bucolic_frolic]

43. I got hit by this yesterday

Guy says, "Hello, Fred?" (used my first name, that's not it.)

I don't recall if I replied, or not, but if I said 'yeah' it's all I said. He
went into a spiel for donations to veterans, I listened then just hung up
because I get them all day long. Credit card transfers, back braces, and
"This is not a solicitation ...."

I leave the phone off the hook most of the time. I'd cancel it if I could get
internet elsewhere, like a library close by.

[gratuitous]

44. Wouldn't it be nice if Congress could do something about this?

Maybe work with telephone and cellular phone providers to quickly track down these operators? Why is the technology so freely available in the first place for scammers to mask who they are? Why can't consumers set their phones - easily and for free - to detect and reject any calls from masked numbers? If the technology exists for scammers to disguise themselves, the technology surely exists for our phones to detect that cloaking. Lacking that, why not have an easily accessible switch to block calls from unknown or unfamiliar numbers?

Somebody's making buckets of money off these scams that waste people's time and incur all these bogus charges. Phone service providers can't be all that happy to deal with righteously irate customers. The private sector is failing the American people. Why is government powerless to protect us? Don't they tell us that's their number 1 priority? Where is Congress? Where is the President?

[Donkees]

45. Just reply: "Be at the trash depot tonight with 10 grand, and we'll take care of the body"