Here is another phone scam!

[xs11jack]

Police say answering the question “Can you hear me?” over the phone from an unknown caller can have serious consequences thanks to a new scam that is making the rounds in several states.

The scam has been reported in Virginia and Florida this year and in Pennsylvania in 2016, WNEP reported.
Authorities in Virginia say answering “yes” to the question can enable fraudsters to authorize charges to a phone, utility, or credit card bill.
Police say scammers record the “yes” response and play it back to victims who try to deny the charges while the scammers try to threaten legal action.
Law enforcement officials say the scam is a variation of one that began in late 2016.
“You say ‘yes,’ it gets recorded and they say that you have agreed to something,” Susan Grant, director of consumer protection and privacy for the Consumer Federation of America, told CBS News. “I know that people think it’s impolite to hang up, but it’s a good strategy.”




The Pittsburgh Better Business Bureau (BBB) reported in October that consumers complained to the BBB about unsolicited automated calls from “an employee” of a home security agency, cruise line, or social security firm, Fox News reported.
Scammers used phrases such as, “Are you the lady of the house?”, “Do you pay the household telephone bills?”, or “Are you the homeowner?”
Similar calls are being reported in Virginia with scammers asking the question, “Can you hear me?”
“Usually it has a familiar area code,” Officer Jo Ann Hughes with the Norfolk Police Department told WTKR.
Police suggest taking the following steps to avoid this scam:

1. 1. Do not answer the phone from numbers you do not recognize,
      
   2. Do not give out personal information,
      
   3. Do not confirm your number over the phone,
      
   4. Do not answer questions over the phone.

Police urge those who do get caught in a scam to hang up the phone and call 911 instead.
“A lot of times, victims do not want to come forward because they are embarrassed. They feel like, ‘It was my fault. I should have known better,’ and they are just embarrassed by it all together. So we do not get a whole lot of reports, unfortunately,” Hughes said.
Ole Jack

[ARMetals]

A shame people resort to bottom feeding like this.

I screen all of my phone calls because of this reason, and only answer when my family and friends call.

[Randy Bohannon]

I answer only calls from those who are in my contact list, all others leave a message maybe I'll call back or block you if you leave no message.

[trapper9260]

There is another one that they call and said about a vacation and that you use there service before and try to get to to get hook into it and said it is to FL .I told them I did not use you for any vacation and hung up.

[Goatwhiskers]

That's why my house phone has an answer machine, we never answer it. My cell, unknown area codes and numbers not on the contact list do not get answered. I've noticed some of my Drs use a reminder call service not in my area code, gonna talk to them about that. GW

[Soundguy]

If law enforcement treated this like a form of terrorism, and the govt went after the perps with a very determined stand, it wouldn't take long for the word to get out to quit calling US telephone numbers and scamming US citizens. After a few black helicopters zoom in and a seal team bust down your door, black hoods the perps and flies them out to a CIA back house, waterboards them till they confess, and then give up names and info of everyone they know doing something not kosher, and then executing them, or just simply.. 'disappearing' them...

I bet after a month of open 'hunting season' on scam artists ( including those that spread computer viri / trojans, I bet the people might re-think their position.

[472x1B/A]

^^^ This is what I have professed for decades. I truly think it would stop real quick. Yah have to put the 'fear' in some folks.

[Soundguy]

Absolutely. Make some very poignant examples very erly on and make the punishment total, severe, and final.

1st offense/ minor offense:

Suspended sentence of death, subject to review*, served as: Life, no possibility of parole, ever, period. Hard labor. Your labor is tracked. If you dont generate enough income thru your labor, to cover the expense of keeping you incarcerated alive, then you violate your suspended sentence condition, and are then subject to execution as original sentenced.

Any other level/# of offenses.

Death by: Firing squad, hanging, gas, lethal injection, electrocution... Your choice.

And that's "IF" you dont "resist" capture and accidental fall out of the black helicopter after being interrogated under extreme duress ...

A bet after a couple hundred Nigerian princes, bank officials and whatnot go splat, or get worked till they are 62# then executed.. This sort of thing might just slow down.

Heck, make it pay per view, and i bet the cost of this anti terrorist program would be in the black.

Would be lil a hard core version of Cops.

The perps play stupid games, and win stupid prizes..

[bob208]

around here readers are a big scam. put your card in the pump to get gas and they have your info. it is bad when you have to check out the pump before using it.

[dbosman]

The reason the phone soliciters still work is the phone companies like the money they pay for lines.

[kingstrider]

I never answer unknown calls so no worries.