Can You Hear Me?: A Costly Question

By:  Dorothy Riggs, CFE

Being one of the people who still have a landline, upon arriving home one evening last week I listened to messages left on my answering machine and heard an unfamiliar voice asking “Can you hear me okay?” a few times before hanging up.  I thought it was strange.  Then I remembered a recent news story warning viewers about an old phone scam with a new twist where fraudsters phone you, begin talking, then suddenly ask, Can you hear me?  If you answer ‘yes’ your response is recorded and used to make unauthorized charges on a utility or phone bill. In some cases, your recorded acknowledgement is all it takes to make you liable not only for charges on phone and utilities, but items like cruises, office supplies and business services also.  So, when answering work and personal calls beware if you don’t want to receive unwanted products and invoices to contend with.

In previous years this type scam usually targeted businesses.  Fraudsters would phone businesses, ask for the name of the employee with whom they spoke and  make their sales pitch.  If the employee refused the pitch, they would send office products anyway with an invoice, which included the employee’s name as the person who authorized the order.

Follow these best practices to avoid becoming a victim of the  “Can you hear me? or similar sams:

• If possible, avoid answering calls from unknown or unfamiliar numbers.
• If you answer a call and you don’t know the caller, don’t answer ANY questions at all.  Hang up immediately.  Especially, if they ask, ‘Can you hear me?” Don’t respond at all.  HANG UP!
• Avoid entertaining calls from solicitors.  If you are interested in their product or service conduct research and contact a reputable vendor or merchant using a phone number that you obtain from a reliable source.
• Never provide personal or financial account data to phone solicitors.