Another new scam

[ferri]

I don't know if this has hit Canada yet, but I'm sure it will eventually.

'Can you hear me?' scam has police urging people to hang up immediately

"Can you hear me?" Police in several states are urging people to avoid answering this simple question from a phone number they do not know.

Authorities in Virginia say the question is aimed at getting unsuspecting victims to say "yes" -- an answer the frauster then records as a way to authorize charges on a phone, utility or credit card bill.

more here:
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/us-wor ... 7927-story

[DANSPEED]

CBS news explains the scam better...

But how can you get charged if you don’t provide a payment method? The con artist already has your phone number, and many phone providers pass through third-party charges.

In addition, the criminal may have already collected some of your personal information -- a credit card number or cable bill, perhaps -- as the result of a data breach. When the victim disputes the charge, the crook can then counter that he or she has your assent on a recorded line.

Just when I thought it was safe again to pickup the phone from unknown callers a new scam starts!

[Queen K]

And people wonder why calls are screened. We check all numbers before even picking up.

[Bsuds]

Apparently there is no proof anyone has been actually scammed by answering "yes" yet.

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

But I would hang up just to be safe!

[ferri]

What really bugs me is that someone saying, "Can you hear me?" leads to an automatic, "Yes." I hate talking on the phone anyway, so this really does it for me. LOL

[Bsuds]

They will constantly look at new ways to scam us. People need to always be on guard against this kind of stuff.
Some folks even after they are told will still fall into the trap.

[TylerM4]

Of all the scams to watch out for, this one would be low on my list.

A recording of your voice saying "Yes" provides authorization for very little. When was the last time you registered your voice with some sort of speech detection software? I've never done it.

The only time I've ever seen voice recording used is during a fraud investigation to prove it was/wasn't a certain person who called the bank. But that's done offline by a trained professional and he needs more than a single "Yes" to do it.

Long story short - This is just a scare article full of sensation to get views.

[DANSPEED]

Of all the scams to watch out for, this one would be low on my list.

A recording of your voice saying "Yes" provides authorization for very little. When was the last time you registered your voice with some sort of speech detection software? I've never done it.

The only time I've ever seen voice recording used is during a fraud investigation to prove it was/wasn't a certain person who called the bank. But that's done offline by a trained professional and he needs more than a single "Yes" to do it.

Long story short - This is just a scare article full of sensation to get views.

Maybe but people fall for stupid scams all the time like the Emergency or “Grandparent” scam where they’ll call and say they need cash to help with an emergency like getting out of jail, paying a hospital bill, or needing to leave a foreign country. I laugh my head off listening to these stupid fools, sorry stupid "victims," explain how they were duped out of money. "He said his name was Billy. I have a nephew named Billy" ... no sh*%t really! ... So at what point when your driving down to Western Union are you thinking this could be a scam?!!

I keep getting that Nigerian 419 letter scam saying a dead relative has left me millions in a foreign bank account. The letter is full of poor grammar, spelling mistakes and my last name is usually misspelled! The story is always ludicrous, something about a guy traveling through Europe was handed a letter from a banker. The letter has a hotmail address for the banker so you know it's legit! But people have lost billions falling for this scam.

Maybe I should stop giving out my name and number at Princess Auto!

[pmaria]

Stuff like this has been around for years. Many years ago I worked at a company where some of us in the office would fill in for the receptionist when she was on break. One day it was my turn, and a call came in asking if I would verify some information for a business directory. The final question was something along the lines of: Would you like to update your subscription? after answering a bunch of other yes no questions regarding the address etc, I said, yeah sure, just wanting to get them off the phone by that point.

A month later we get a bill from some directory service for $500. My boss calls them refusing to pay, and they play back a recording of me agreeing to pay it. I don't remember what happened in the end, but I am still always extra careful about random calls.

This one is really tricky, but I fail to see how that could be used against you if its just a random call?

[DANSPEED]

A month later we get a bill from some directory service for $500. My boss calls them refusing to pay, and they play back a recording of me agreeing to pay it ...

Yeah so don't pay it, where's the scam? I agree with TylerM4, having a few words recorded is worthless. It worked in the movie Sneakers because they were using voice recognition to unlock a door. I think these scammers are running out of ideas. They should just phone begging for money like charities do. I got a local call the other day and the caller ID name was the number. My phone rejected it. A number search came back to The Heart and Stroke Foundation. Odd they don't have a proper ID name. Maybe it was a scam too!