You can be a victim just by picking up phone, saying ‘ yes’

More consumers are being caught off guard by rising robocall scam

Frigid weather and brutal winter storms can get just about anyone ready to say yes to a cruise.

But is it possible that a simple “yes” to a basic question on a phone call — like “Can you hear me?” — could burn your wallet? Even if you don’t pull out your credit card or sign up for anything?

Many of us have heard warnings about a “Can you hear me?” scam. But just how does it work? Will you really lose money if someone records you saying “yes” to a basic question? Is it time to hit the panic button? Not necessarily. Consumer watchdogs report some fraudsters are pretending to be calling from a cruise line. Or a home security service. Or maybe the caller pretends to be associated with Social Security benefits somehow.

The conversation can start out innocently enough, with phrases such as “Are you the lady of the house?” or “Are you the homeowner?” Or they’re asking a lot lately: “Can you hear me?”

Many variations are being used in robocalls to get a consumer to engage and say “yes,” according to consumer watchdog groups. A recorded call could be setting you up to generate proof — you said “yes,” after all — that you signed up for a service.

Adam Levin, chairman and founder of CyberScout and author of Swiped, said the say “yes” trick is just another example of how creative robocallers and crooks have become.

“The caller begins the conversation by asking ‘ Can you hear me?’ ” Levin said. “If, and when you answer ‘ yes,’ the fraudster is off to the races. They simply combine the recording with other personal information they have either gathered from or about you, including credit card information.”

Even if they don’t have your banking information, the scammer might play back a person’s “yes” remarks and try to intimidate you into paying up, according to the Better Business Bureau.

The BBB nationwide noted in its alerts that this type of “yes” scam historically has targeted small business owners, but the BBB has been hearing more reports from consumers.

Some business owners report callers try to verify the business’s address. The person confirms the address and says “yes.” And suddenly the business gets invoices for $ 599 for an “optimal search engine” service. When the business owner says they never agreed to that, the company plays back the “yes” recording. But there’s another twist. The consumer could unknowingly be confirming the phone number connects with a live person and that “yes” makes the number ripe to sell as a lead, according to a spokesperson for the Federal Trade Commission. The lists might be sold to fraudsters, even regular businesses.

“The answer “yes” by itself is not valuable enough for you to be defrauded,” said Jan Volzke, vice president of reputation data at Hiya, which offers an app that provides its users with caller ID and spam protection services. Hiya also monitors unknown calls throughout databases to track activity of scammers and others.

To cause real problems, scammers would need more data, such as a matching list of credit card information about you or other data. And he doubts these callers have all that data just yet.

Consumers are warned that they should not divulge even what seems like small bits of personal information, as a thief can patch together information to obtain credit in a victim’s name or commit another crime, according to Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office.

Just as we’re told to simply hit delete when we get a spam email that directs us to click on a link, we’re now being told to just hang up on an unsolicited call.

Better yet, don’t pick up the phone and give fraudsters hope that a live one might be on the other end of the line.