My Computer Consultant asked me to alert my friends to a NEW SCAM.

Your phone rings (usually but not limited to cell phones). There is usually a delay and some noise like the caller is having trouble with a headset.  A voice asks “Can you hear me now?”  The normal response is to say “Yes”.  DO NOT SAY “YES”!

The caller has information from your credit card and is recording you saying “Yes”.  Or he has several other things in mind, from selling you a resort time share, to a cruise to services you do not want. He then charges your credit card and when you dispute the charge, he plays a supposed tape from your “call” to him in which he ask if you agree to the charges and your voice is heard saying “Yes”. Your credit card company then drops the complaint and you are on the hook for the fraudulent charge.

Remember –   If the voice on the phone says “Can you hear me now”, HANG UP – Do not reply.

For further information type “Can you hear me scam” into your web browser and read the articles there.

NOTE: Just before I started writing this article I sent an e-mail to several friends advising them about this scam.  A friend in Australia replied that she forwarded my e-mail to one of her friends in Boston, who received a “Can you hear me” call just afterward –  and promptly hung up.  Score one for us!