The dangers of the yes trap phone scam

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Written by Gemini Notebook in the Safety Senior notebook, from Frank Delaney's videos, and copied here on 5 September 2026 with its source citations removed. Delaney, a former fraud investigator, runs the YouTube channel Safety Senior. The five rules from the same channel are in Five rules for answering an unknown call.

Answering "yes" to an unknown caller is a major safety risk, but the exact reasons why might surprise you. While a widely circulated story suggests that saying the word "yes" instantly allows scammers to drain your bank accounts, the truth is a mix of an overblown myth and some very real, modern dangers.

The caller's intent, the reality of the scam, and the specific dangers of saying "yes" break down as follows:

1. The Setup (The Reflexive Trap)

Scammers often open unknown calls with simple, friendly questions designed to get a quick, reflexive "yes" out of you, such as "Can you hear me?", "Is this the homeowner?", or "Are you there?". This is known as the "yes trap".

2. The Myth vs. The Reality

The Myth: For years, warnings (including older consumer alerts) claimed that scammers record your "yes" to use as a digital signature, splicing it into automated systems to authorize fraudulent charges or make account changes.
The Reality: Former fraud investigator Frank Delaney points out that in his 32 years of working fraud cases, he never saw a single victim who lost money simply because they said "yes" into a phone. Major consumer watchdogs like Snopes, the Better Business Bureau, and the AARP have also found no documented cases of anyone losing money this way. As Delaney notes, a recording of you saying "yes" does not authorize a charge unless a criminal already has your account details, and if they already have your details, they do not need a recording of your voice.

3. The 3 Very Real Dangers of Saying "Yes"

Even though the old myth is largely false, you should still never say "yes" to an unknown caller. Doing so exposes you to three critical risks:

It Puts Your Number on "Sucker Lists": Saying "yes" immediately confirms to an automated dialer that your number is active, that a live human is on the line, and that you are willing to engage politely. In the scam industry, these are classified as "confirmed live numbers". Your number is packaged with others and sold on the dark web to other scammers, meaning one simple "yes" can cause your spam calls to multiply exponentially.
It Hooks You Into the Script: The scammer's goal is to keep you talking past the first 30 seconds. Saying "yes" allows the caller to proceed with their script and go "fishing" for far more dangerous information, such as your passwords, date of birth, address, or banking details.
It Supplies Fuel for AI Voice Cloning: This is the most dangerous modern risk. With current technology, artificial intelligence only needs 3 seconds of audio to build a highly convincing clone of your voice. A clean, recorded "yes" provides scammers with high-quality vocal material. They can then use this clone to impersonate you in bank security voice-authentication bypasses, or call your family members pretending to be you in distress to extort money (often called the grandparent scam).

What to Say Instead

If you do answer a call from an unknown number, Frank Delaney recommends using "receive mode": speak as little as possible and let the caller prove who they are first.

If someone asks you, "Can you hear me?", use these safe replacements instead of "yes":

"Who is calling, please?" (why this one works best is in The power of the counter-question)
"I can hear you."
"I am listening." / "Go ahead."
Simply hang up. The safest response of all to any suspicious question is the sound of a dead line. Real callers will leave a voicemail; scammers won't.