Signup scam-don't get tricked into saying "yes" on the phone

[Ciel]

Saw this item on Yahoo-the new scam is a caller asking you "if you can hear me?" If you say yes and the caller is recording you, your yes can be used to sign you up for products or services fraudently.

"They're trying to get a recording of you saying 'yes,' " said Ron Mychaluk, a public relations manager with the Better Business Bureau of Central and Northern Alberta."They're going to take that recorded 'yes,' play around with that audio and make it seem to you, or a representative of a business, that you have paid for some advertising, a cruise or a big ticket item, and send you the bill."
'Don't fall into the trap'
In the past, the scam normally targeted businesses in an effort to rope them into office supply purchases they did not order. But it appears the scam is now targeting consumers.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/hear-phone...170047982.html

[maggiespice]

Oh, is that ever sick! You can't even pick up the phone now days without being worried you are going to get scammed! I guess the best thing to do is get caller ID, and then don't pick up the phone if you don't know who it is! What I also do as well is let the answering machine pick it up, and if it is that important a message is left. No message, not important.

[FallenPixels]

Unless I know who you are, not picking up the phone. I left everything except close friends and family go to voicemail.

But they would need more than a yes from you, you get the bill, ask them for proof of the time called and show it isn't you.

As the story says, they have done this for years with businesses. Look up a directory and say that 'Mary' or whoever approved the order. Reception signs for it, you are stuck with the bill

[Ciel]

I agree with letting almost all calls go to voicemail, even ones from relations who leave snarky remarks on VM because no one at home dropped everything to take their calls.
I have to let Mom know of the scam. She recently had someone call about the "government" & "solar energy" and when I asked her which level of government was named or what entity the caller represented, she said it was not given. So that seemed suspicious.
Will have to post a Post-It note by the phone-fewer words than a printout.

[FallenPixels]

My other half runs his own business from home. When you form a new business, they send someone out to make sure you are keeping the paperwork etc correctly so don't have issues later. They are auditors, but don't audit the actual numbers just look at your practices etc.

Anyway, we had someone call "from the government" saying we had overdue taxes and had to pay by credit card now or they would send the police. I handed the auditor the phone LOL

[mulock]

I screen all the calls I receive on my phone, and I only answers calls from numbers already added to my phone (contacts). If I don't recognize the number on my phone, I send the call to voicemail. If they leave a voicemail, great; if not, I couldn't care less. I also Google the phone number and if it comes up listed as a telemarketer, I add the phone number to my phone's "Blacklist" so no further calls from that number come through. I do the same thing for texts.

[web3]

After having my husbands identity stolen, I do answer phone calls from 1-800 numbers as I had a couple credit card companies call within a week and that set off the red flag of suspicion, but I thought they were scam calls. It wasn't until I received a notification in my mail that his mail was being forwarded, that I took all those calls seriously and will at least investigate any other weird 1-800 calls.
I answered a call the other day and the phone said CISS (?) He said he was calling from Consumer I... something something...don't' remember exactly but it was a couple days after reading that article on CBC. He then said "is this Mrs. Lastname?" I remembered that article and did not say yes but said "mmhmm" lol I don't think they could record that and use it to authorize anything but I am more cautious on the words I use when answering the phone.
Have to be so cautious.

[Shwa Girl]

After having my husbands identity stolen, I do answer phone calls from 1-800 numbers as I had a couple credit card companies call within a week and that set off the red flag of suspicion, but I thought they were scam calls. It wasn't until I received a notification in my mail that his mail was being forwarded, that I took all those calls seriously and will at least investigate any other weird 1-800 calls.
I answered a call the other day and the phone said CISS (?) He said he was calling from Consumer I... something something...don't' remember exactly but it was a couple days after reading that article on CBC. He then said "is this Mrs. Lastname?" I remembered that article and did not say yes but said "mmhmm" lol I don't think they could record that and use it to authorize anything but I am more cautious on the words I use when answering the phone.
Have to be so cautious.

I get suspicious when they ask, Is this Mr or Mrs Shwa Girl? I ask who is calling. If it’s a business that we did not deal with or that we did not ask to call us, I just hang up. Yes, hanging up is not polite. But they are bugging us when we did not ask them to bug us, so they are not polite either.

[Ciel]

Very few businesses with staff calling seem to identify THEMSELVES and who is doing the calling. To be asked "how are you tonight" on a phone by strangers who don't identify themselves first is a RED flag that call will be ended quickly by me.
Sort of like a random question on a public sidewalk-unless we are both waiting for the same door or bus, not likely to provide the answer sought.

[walkonby]

ty for posting this @Ciel

[barbis9]

I finally got rid of the duct cleaning calls - told them they were cleaned last week. I don't have call display but get annoyed when people call and don't leave a phone number on my answering machine.

[Davetherave]

We get calls all the time from these people, as soon as they hello sir i hang up, sometimes they have the nerve to call back and get a few choose words from me or my dw. Great thing we never hear from them again.

[Ciel]

Scam is expected to occur in the United Kingdom too.

The public is being advised either to hang up straight away upon being asked “Can you hear me?”, or just not pick up at all if you don’t recognise the number.
And if you do think you may have been caught out by the scammers, contact your bank or card provider as soon as you can.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/te...-35479816.html

[shop til I drop]

I get 5 calls a night from collection agencies. The previous 2 people who had my number I guess are in collections because they call each night for them. I am so annoyed. I am going to switch my number as soon as possible. I never want to be in collections but I am wary picking up the house phone because it is them who is calling.

[Redneck Charger]

Another reason why I love our Ooma phone system, If you are a company or person I don't trust, then I blacklist you, and the next time you call me you get the message "this number is out of service" We don't get too many telemarketers or nuisance phone calls anymore... Maybe 5 a year, maybe...