Rossen Reports: Everything you need to know about the 'say yes' scam
You鈥檝e likely heard of the 鈥淐an Your Hear Me?鈥� or 鈥淪ay Yes鈥� scam, where scammers allegedly record you saying the word 鈥測es,鈥� and then use that recording to authorize fraudulent purchases.
Our viewer Donna emailed Rossen Reports asking about the scam. She wrote,
鈥淚 received a call from someone purporting to be a crime investigator. He asked if I ordered a package from Mexico. I said no. He asked me if I had a pencil to write down the case number. I said yes. He asked me to repeat the number. Suspecting a scam at that point, I repeated different numbers. He said thanks and hung up. I didn鈥檛 give any personal information, but then I did remember the 'Say Yes' scam. What should I do now?鈥�
We reached out to our cyber security expert, Jim Stickley, to get his insight on the call. He told us that he believed this was an example of a popular scam where someone claims to be an investigator or someone from Customs and Border Protection. They say they鈥檝e intercepted a package containing drugs 鈥� and that you鈥檙e in legal trouble because the package was heading for you before they intercepted it. From there, the caller asks for your private information or tries to get you to pay a fee. As for Donna鈥檚 call, Stickley suspects the scammer gave up when she started getting suspicious.
When we asked about the 鈥淪ay Yes鈥� scam 鈥� Stickley tells us, the whole thing is largely a myth that doesn鈥檛 make much sense from a financial fraud standpoint. Even if a scammer records you saying 鈥測es,鈥� that alone is not enough to make a fraudulent purchase. The Better Business Bureau also has not received any reports in its Scam Tracker that mention financial loss from the alleged scam.
Stickley believes the origins of the urban legend go back to telemarketers using automated systems to confirm the numbers they were calling belonged to actual people. But somewhere down the line, people confused that for a means to commit financial fraud. Long story short 鈥� he says it鈥檚 not something you need to worry about.
Have a question for Jeff Rossen? He鈥檚 answering your consumer questions every Friday in the new segment "Rossen Responds." Email your questions to him at [email protected].
