Ot - warning of phone scams

Richard King · Jan 29, 2017

I just saw this on the news. I have gotten all sorts of strange phone calls lately and I usually hang up. There is a new one as shown on the news link. They say "Can you hear me" ? You say "yes" and they hang up and they can use you simple Yes to sign you up for unwanted purchases.

They also recommend you don't answer unknown numbers and let them roll over to your voice mail. I get calls from unknown numbers from my local area code and local exchange. I answer "Hello" and get a hang up or nothing. As the report says, the scammers are recording your answers. So it's best to just not say anything and hang up. Rich

Beware new "can you hear me" scam - CBS News

Larry Dickman · Jan 29, 2017

Maybe I'll write another unread letter to the FCC. It would be nice to put the kibosh on all this roboasshole shit altogether.

lars66 · Jan 29, 2017

And Richard forgot to mention they start out speaking soft and when they are told you can't hear them the volume is turned up so they ask if you can hear them now, expecting you to say yes.

SIP6A · Jan 29, 2017

This is why ALL calls need to be filtered through voice mail

Chip Chester · Jan 29, 2017

If they haven't blocked the number, my phone displays apparent city of origin.
If it's somewhere I have no known customers, I answer: Go ahead, Seattle, you're on the air!
Or: Domino's Pizza, can you hold?

Snopes.com is of the opinion that most of the churn on this topic is due to news reposting rather than frequency of occurrence.

Chip

SteveF · Jan 29, 2017

Chip Chester said:
...............

Snopes.com is of the opinion that most of the churn on this topic is due to news reposting rather than frequency of occurrence.

Chip

Which is why you must ALWAYS remember that Snopes in ONE guy who does the web pages and his wife who does the research.

I can tell you that I've gotten one or two calls a week for the last 4 - 6 weeks. The phone number is always spoofed to my area code and the first three of my phone number. I hit call back once and talked to a kid who was wondering why these strangers kept calling him back so I explained spoofing to him.

BTW - One way to defend yourself is to call the phone company and block ALL third party charges to your phone number.

Steve

SteveBausch · Jan 29, 2017

Only happens to elderly white people with money.

Everbody else has someone to talk to.

I can imagine falling victim to this, but now that I've been warned, my response will be:

You have a bomb in your call center.

Scottl · Jan 29, 2017

I ditched my landline and bought another prepaid cell for home use only. Because it is a prepaid contract they can't bill anything by getting the voice mail to answer.

For those of you who have been scammed, complain to the FCC, your state telecom regulation board, your provider, and your state's Attorney General.

Even the providers can be a little coy. Recently Verizon notified some copper line users in the area that their service would be disconnected after a certain date if they didn't switch to fiber. I researched this for a relative and in Mass. it turns out that if your copper service is switched to fiber with no changes it is still governed by state regulations but if you switch to FIOS Digital Voice you are on your own. I told her to be sure to state that she was only agreeing to the physical change, not changes in service. The "telephone over fiber" is indistinguishable from FIOS and even the equipment and literature call it FIOS. Buyer beware!

Chip Chester · Jan 29, 2017

SteveF said:
Which is why you must ALWAYS remember that Snopes in ONE guy who does the web pages and his wife who does the research.

I can tell you that I've gotten one or two calls a week for the last 4 - 6 weeks. The phone number is always spoofed to my area code and the first three of my phone number. I hit call back once and talked to a kid who was wondering why these strangers kept calling him back so I explained spoofing to him.

BTW - One way to defend yourself is to call the phone company and block ALL third party charges to your phone number.

Steve

Does this mean that those dozen or so calls were this scam, trying to get you to say the word "yes" by starting with "Can you hear me?" Or is it just a dozen standard spoofed robocalls for nonexistant policeman's fund hockey tickets, offers to increase your Google ranking, or various business funding deals?

I'm not sure that it matters if Snopes is a small outfit or not. They have the straight scoop on virtually every email topic my aunts and uncles forward my way...

And yes, blocking third-party charges to your number has always been a good idea. The lady at the Psychic Hotline mentioned you would bring that up.

Chip

ManualEd · Jan 29, 2017

What kind of stuff can they sign you up for, or charge you for, just for a "Yes" in a phone call?

azmachining · Jan 29, 2017

mmmmm hmmmm

azmachining · Jan 29, 2017

Well in Canada they can charge you for all kinds of things with a recording of you saying yes...

azmachining · Jan 29, 2017

Lets all play on Manual Ed's paranoia.

azmachining · Jan 29, 2017

Seriously though, automated calls is where they can burn you Ed.

jamscal · Jan 29, 2017

I'm having some trouble posting. Can you guys read this?

ManualEd · Jan 29, 2017

azmachining said:
Seriously though, automated calls is where they can burn you Ed.

Except for charging me one of those "premium rate" things for the 1 minute phone call, which a two minute conversation with any Customer Retention department will get rid of, what can they do?
They have none of my payment info, or address to send me anything.
If they come up with an address and send me stuff, it goes straight in the trash.
If it works for Jury Duty it ought to be good enough for spam.

Bondo · Jan 30, 2017

I want to buy a auto dialer so I can put all these spammers into that system so it's harder for them to call out.

Sent from my 2PS64 using Tapatalk

Scottl · Jan 30, 2017

azmachining said:
Lets all play on Manual Ed's paranoia.

There used to be a common practice called "slamming" where a salesman would call a person (on a land line) and then hang up as soon as the person spoke with them and use that as authorization to switch long distance carriers.. After numerous complaints the practice was cracked down on.

Ot - warning of phone scams

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