Scam alert: 'Can you hear me' phone scam currently defrauding US consumers set to hit British shores

[IlonaM]

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/can-you-hear-me-phone-scam-fraud-us-britain-police-pennsylvania-florida-uk-a7597106.html

'If someone calls and asks, ?Can you hear me??, hang up the phone immediately.

A major phone scam from the US is set to cross the pond and hit the UK imminently.

But police and call-blocking companies are warning the public about the dangerous phone call in the hope of preventing innocent people falling victim to the scammers.

Here?s how it works:

You receive a phone call from a local number

The voice on the end introduces themselves and the company they supposedly work for

They then ask: ?Can you hear me??

Your answer is recorded, and if you say ?yes?, your response will be edited to make it appear as if you?ve

agreed to a huge purchase.

You?re effectively being tricked into signing a verbal contract, much the same as clicking ?I agree? to terms and conditions online.

Voice signatures like these are legitimately used by companies doing business over the phone, but this is being exploited by scammers who have conned many Americans already, predominantly in Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

CPR Call Blocker has seen the scam rise in frequency and the company believes it?s only a matter of time before Brits start being targeted too, according to the Sunderland Echo.

?In our experience of working across the US and UK, scams spread quickly across the pond,? says Kris Hicks from CPR Call Blocker. He adds that it?s sensible for Brits to be on their guard ?as we have no doubt that fraudsters operating in the UK will soon start using these tactics.?

The scammers may try and charge you for products or services you?ve never used, and if you try and argue with them, they?ll play back their recording of you saying ?yes? and threaten to take legal action if you don?t pay up.

Another version of the scam sees the criminals using the person?s voice recording to authorise a stolen credit card.

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.'

[ianr]

This originates from CPR Blocker, who want to publicise their device and get more sales. A fuller version seems to have been released to at least many local newspapers. The Indie, which I gather is getting short of real journalists and, like most nationals, is in any case happy to pick up anything that'll fill their web space, reproduces it. Their naivete in citing the Sunderland Echo as source suggests to me that it's probably the work of an intern. From local or national news websites, it then of course gets nicely and freely disseminated at lower levels.

The payload message in the full original aricle is the para:

"One of the best ways to protect yourself is to register on the Telephone Preference Service and purchase a call blocker device such as a CPR Call Blocker which simply plugs into any land line and features a ?Block Now? button which ends an unwanted call and permanently blocks the number." https://www.cprcallblocker.com/blogs/news

[jaywalker]

Weird that one tactic I use against scammers is now a scam :-)

[ianr]

For the practical and legal realities of voice signatures in the USA see for example http://www.tradeharbor.com/what-a-voice-signature-is.html and https://www.esignlive.com/blog/when-to-use-voice-signatures/ and . The article looks like a crude scare sales tactic. If still in doubt, just begin each telephone conversation with "I will be using the following sound [insert chosen insrument sound, ad lib] instead of the affirmative word throughout this call." And record it as well.

Anyone want to buy a telephone recording kit and software, only ?99.99?

[Angelina]

yes.

does it count if I put it in writing?

oh.

no.

[Burbage]

Good grief. The Independent is not a newspaper, it's a flailing turdberg of clickbait.

In short, as others have almost pointed out, this is a marketing scam - which the Independent will have been paid to run. There is, though, a tiny nugget of something a bit like truth there. The 'verbal contract' is indeed a thing. Bbut consumer laws mean it can't be abused over the telephone to domestic addresses and so, for the most part, it isn't.

For businesses, however, it's different, and the verbal contract is a risk. But it is already a risk, and has been for over a decade, and there's no obvious way to stop it. I know at least two local businesses that have fallen prey to it, and if you google "opus energy verbal contract", for example, you'll find a bunch of business-owners grumbling about unscrupulous sales agents switching them to exorbitant tariffs without their permission. Opus Energy, being a thoroughly upstanding outfit, has no relationship with such agents and deplores their behaviour, though presumably they get paid somehow, and Opus isn't slow to put a block on the account if you try to switch it back. They will also send you a copy of 'your' contract, complete with forged signature, if you try to complain, suggesting the rogue agents aren't entirely unattached.

This is, apart from the lies and the forgery, mostly legal. However, for micro-businesses, such as newsagents, the laws to protect domestic consumer laws are supposed to apply. But you'd not know that from the regulator, who has, in the fine tradition of British regulators, failed to to anything much at all. They will, after a few months of prodding and once Opus' official complaints procedure (which is, unsurprisingly, not quick) has been exhausted (which, itself, takes an almost legalistic eye to accomplish), write a stiff letter forcing Opus to lift the block, but you won't get your money back, and nobody (because Plod takes less than no interest) will be done.

Sorry for the rant. This sort of thing makes me quite angry. All these sorts of things, as it happens - the Independent's attempt to gull vulnerable consumers, Opus Energy's persistent and unpunished duplicity, the apathy of Plod, Ofgem's bunch of overpaid uselessness or the calculated carelessness of government. From where I'm sitting, it's long been looking like an insidious epidemic of corporate fraud, determined to scupper every honest attempt to make a living on the part of humbler souls.

[ianr]

I'm doubtful that the Indy colluded. I think it was probably just another item hoovered up by its author to add to her portfolio. Chill out with more from her at http://www.independent.co.uk/author/rachel-hosie.

Your rant seems justified. I liked the way this dupee managed to sidestep them by finding out who the currently registered supplier for his new premises was, and contacting them to affirm a contract with them -- which conveniently trumped and blocked the nefarious transfer. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?471529-Tricked-into-an-Opus-Energy-Contract Obviously you need to act timeously to do that.

I had a problem that began with British Gas usurping my supply contract, with no third party involved other than EDF's incompetence in recovering it in the first instance, and dealing with the billing once they had. I had finally to resort to Subject Access Requests to get information from both of them. It took many months to get resolved and affected me very badly, including multiple threats of magistrates court actions and debt collector's letters. I should have had the strength to escalate it to Director level a lot earlier than I did.

Although they don't pursue individual cases, the Ofgem partner I wrote to seemed genuinely appreciative of the information I gave him. And they have fined energy companies millions for repeated breaches of customer care.

[Loz]

Really, this 'scam' seems entirely implausible. But, if in doubt, consult the oracle of real and bogus scams...

http://www.snopes.com/can-you-hear-me-scam/

[Abe_froeman]

So it's fake news. You'd think the 'journalist' responsible for this might have stopped to consider whether it made any sense before publishing such tripe.

[stringvest]

I wonder how they "charge" without details?

I get rid of "SALES" and "SURVEYS" easily ....

a) I tell them I am seventeen, they hang up because being under 18 I cannot enter into any agreement.

b) Tell them I'm deaf and waste their time making them repeat all the questions over and over

c) Put on a stupid "waynetta" voice and shout "I want an orange one! Can it work on the 24th floor?"

d) tell them I have no need to save money having recently won several million on the lottery!

[Jeremy]

Yep, sounds like a load of old crap to me. They extort money from you because they have a recording of you saying "yes"?

Who the hell uses landline phones these days anyway?

[Louisa]

Jeremy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yep, sounds like a load of old crap to me. They

> extort money from you because they have a

> recording of you saying "yes"?

>

> Who the hell uses landline phones these days

> anyway?

I still use my landline Jeremy. An awful lot of elderly people do too, and I think being vulnerable these scammers know this and are therefore more likely to use these tactics to target those people. I'm constantly receiving phone calls where no one answers or they ask me strange questions.

Louisa.

[TheArtfulDogger]

I get those strange question calls too Louisa

1 do I have ppi?

2 do I want a conservatory

3 have I had an accident

They all make the day go quicker in between calling the TV advertised life insurance companies, stair lift companies, magic stomach exercise machines and NCIS

😳

[JohnL]

stringvest Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> b) Tell them I'm deaf and waste their time making

> them repeat all the questions over and over

This is even better if prefaced by

"You What"

As it really annoys people.

[Mick Mac]

Jeremy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yep, sounds like a load of old crap to me. They

> extort money from you because they have a

> recording of you saying "yes"?

>

> Who the hell uses landline phones these days

> anyway?

Unfortunately we have just had one installed, after years without one, part of BT bundle. Very irritating.

[JohnL]

Mick Mac Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Jeremy Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Yep, sounds like a load of old crap to me. They

> > extort money from you because they have a

> > recording of you saying "yes"?

> >

> > Who the hell uses landline phones these days

> > anyway?

>

> Unfortunately we have just had one installed,

> after years without one, part of BT bundle. Very

> irritating.

I never use mine since my Mum passed away

She rang me every week on it :)

[Jeremy]

Louisa Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I still use my landline Jeremy. An awful lot of

> elderly people do too, and I think being

> vulnerable these scammers know this and are

> therefore more likely to use these tactics to

> target those people. I'm constantly receiving

> phone calls where no one answers or they ask me

> strange questions.

Fair enough on the landline usage, but I don't think this "scam" is real.. just doesn't sound believable to me. Who would believe that a phone conversation - actually not even a conversation, just a solitary "yes" - is a legally binding contract?

[JohnL]

Why does every news site in the US and UK have this.

is it some kind of newspaper bandwidth test ?

[ianr]

It's one of a long-ongoing series of tests orchestrated by aliens in order to assess aspects of the intelligence of Homo Sapiens. Why they persevere quite so long I don't know. Perhaps it's a longitudinal study.