The “Say yes” thing was covered in other threads. I mentioned getting a call in the previous century that tried to sell me something using that gimmick. In subsequent years it became clear no one was ever held to such a contract if it was challenged. You’d have to give them other information for them to gain anything from this scam, like a credit card number so it hardly seems necessary to get a recording when they can just submit a charge to VISA or whoever and count on some percent of people just paying it on their monthly bill.
I had something similar happen to me a few weeks ago.
I had multiple versions of that “The Border Patrol contacts you about a suspicious package that contains drugs in your name they received”, I knew it was a scam but was curious to see how far it would go.
At some point the “Border Patrol Agent” on the phone made me repeat his name, location, and “Border Patrol ID number” after that I just hung up, but I’m very curious what repeating the “Agents” name and ID number entails as part of the scam.
I’ve always doubted the warning stories about scammers recording you saying ‘yes’ and binding you into a contract simply because:
- Even if you avoid saying yes, they could just record some other word you say, and create a narrative around it that seems like you affirmed something (ie even if you say “No, I definitely do not”, they could just edit that into a conversation where they appeared to ask “You don’t want to miss out on this amazing deal”) - thus, ‘don’t say yes’ should be ‘don’t say anything’ - which is the same as ‘never answer the phone’.
- The Venn diagram intersection between people who are scammers, and people who would pursue a supposed breach of contract through court seems like it might be pretty slim.
That said, any such scam doesn’t actually have to try to legally enforce a contract; it only needs to threaten to do so, and some victims will comply.
Yeah, called the regular telco and switched it back. There was some talk from my corporate overseers of legal action of some sort but that was above me at that time and I don’t know what, if anything, ever came of it.
And yeah, had to pay that bill, the had the “recording” after all.
I keep hearing contradictory opinions on the veracity of the Yes or No scams; when I get an unexpected call & some1 asks for me by name, I always answer ‘what’s this about?’. If they keep repeating for me to affirm by name, I say ‘I don’t do calls this way; what’s this about?’. Finally if it’s 1 of them annoying solar panel assh0les who obviously thought the lesson of Glengarry Glen Ross was ‘don’t take no for an answer’, I say ‘give me the website & I’ll check it out’. Never agree to anything from an unexpected call.
The in-person version - “Can I have your business card?” 50/50 chance they don’t carry them.
You really shouldn’t do that. I know you feel it’s clever and entertaining to play games with these people, but the more you talk the better chance you have to get yourself in trouble. As DorkVader cautioned, they could record and edit and burn you as a result.
These days, there are a whole bunch of apps that can create a QR code for you to scan & import all of someone’s contact info. Ain’t no way I’m scanning anything from some door-to-door salesman