Don’t pay any lip service to new telephone scam

Can you hear me? That question seems innocent enough to most of us as an opening line to a typical telephone conversation. But in today’s sleazy world of creatively cunning consumer con jobs, there is nothing innocent about the casual query.

According to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and officials from about 10 other states, the new year has ushered in with it a telephone scam against consumers – many of them elderly – that has come to be known as “Can You Hear Me?”

The fraud, according to DeWine, is designed to trick telephone respondents to utter the simple response, “Yes,” and then use that sound bite as authorization to place charges on their phone or other bills or to distribute their names and numbers to other potential fraudsters.

In reports to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, consumers generally say the calls appeared to have come from a local phone number, such as a number showing a 614 (Columbus) or 330 (Akron) area code. Some said the callers claimed the consumer had won a vacation or cruise to lure them into their nefarious trap.

TIPS TO AVOID SCAM

Before this scam grows out of control, the attorney general and the Better Business Bureau believe consumers can foil the ripoff by taking healthy doses of forethought, skepticism and common sense before and after accepting any incoming calls.

Specifically, the BBB recomends:

Do not answer calls from numbers you do not recognize.

If you do answer and are asked questions that seem to be fishing for a “yes” or “no” answer, do not respond and hang up immediately.

Never give out any personal information over the phone when you are unsure of the caller.

Make a note of the number and report it to BBB Scam Tracker to help warn others.

Check bank and credit card statements regularly for unauthorized charges that may have originated from such a scam.

Report suspicious or unwanted calls to the Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry, and register your home and mobile numbers to the national Do Not Call list.

Savvy consumers should keep those tips and rules in mind whenever their cellphone or home phone rings. Above all else, they must not pay lip service to any such shady bamboozlers.