Can You Hear Me?

Telephone scammers are now recording your answer "yes"
To the question "can you hear me?
After you hang up, they use your pre-recorded "yes" as authorization
to sell you just about anything.
Several major news services are reporting on this.
Authorities urge people to simply hang up without saying a word.
To learn more, Google "Can you hear me?".

saw that on last night's news. Just one more thing to try to remember at this age.

OK, so they record your yes answer. What do they access to get money from you? That's the one step that's missing in your post.

I'll be sure to answer no then.

Why do people keep answering the phone? Our new answering machine is somehow smart enough that it doesn't even show the robo-calls. We only know how many we get daily when we're here to hear it. We get far more garbage calls per day than legitimate calls.

here's the story

Unfamiliar Phone Number? You May Not Want to Answer

Better Business Bureau warns of new scam
By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff
Posted Jan 27, 2017 12:16 PM CST

(NEWSER) ? If you get a phone call from an unfamiliar number and someone asks whether you can hear them, you may want to just hang up. The Better Business Bureau is warning people about the "Can You Hear Me?" scam, in which people are recorded answering "yes," WDTN reports. That recording can be used to sign victims up for a product or service, and the scammers then demand to be paid, using the recorded "yes" as supposed confirmation of an agreement. "I know that people think it?s impolite to hang up, but it?s a good strategy," a consumer protection expert tells CBS. Another option? Don't answer the phone for unfamiliar numbers at all?scammers don't often leave voicemails.

The BBB's official recommendation: If you get any unsolicited robocalls, hang up. If you're on the Do Not Call list and you still end up on the phone with a company asking any questions (other examples: "Are you the homeowner?" or "Do you pay the household telephone bill?"), don't say "yes," "sure," or "OK," and don't press any buttons?even if a recorded message is telling you to press a button to be placed on the Do Not Call list. If in fact it is a scammer on the line, any sort of response, whether verbal or a button press, will just confirm your phone number is indeed active. If you think you've been targeted, write down the phone number and file a scam report with the BBB's Scam Tracker and the FTC's Do Not Call list?and check your credit card and other accounts for unwanted charges.
more here

They also use other questions that will bring a yes answer. Are you the homeowner? Is this the lady of the house?

We no longer have a land line, cell's only. If the phone number is not in our contact list it goes to voice mail. I also utilize the block feature for those 8xx numbers.

I always like to mess with them,guess I better stop before I end up buying something.Got a call a few weeks ago when I was in a meeting at work,well it was over but a few of us were still standing around BSing, and the caller was a women asking about a vacation. I started asking her what she was wearing, her measurement and told her about farm boys knowing what to do and so on...Then I hung up. Had the whole room rolling on the floor. Fast forward till that evening and wife ask if the travel agent called me about our trip...Oops!

We got a scam call at 3:15 the other morning....talk about being pizzed.....

What they can do is use the recording of your voice saying "yes" as a "fill in the blank" statement.

They can later cobble this together as proof that you agreed to purchase their product, they will say you are under contract, send merchandise, and demand payment.

If you refuse to pay they turn it over to a collection agency and credit bureau... Let the fun begin!

Hmmm, somehow I doubt they'd be very successful, but a guy never knows right?

I always start asking,Is this a recording?

On the rare occasions when I answer an unknown number, I answer the phone in Japanese and keep talking in Japanese. It drives them nuts to the point they usually hang up on me.

We do not have a landline either and like you if your number isn't saved in my phone I do not answer. If it is important they would leave a message. I get no messages ! All they are is bs calls !

That is not new. Several years ago I had a go around with the yellow book people that recorded a yes from one of my operators that answered the phone when I was at lunch. I instructed anyone that answered the phone to never use the word (YES) in any form when they do not who is on the other end.