The St. Joseph Police Department is warning area residents about a phone scam circulating in which the scammer records your agreement then demands payment for unwanted purchases.

“People call and ask ‘If you can hear me okay?’ or ‘Can you hear me now?’; kind of like the old commercial to make it seem like maybe there’s a bad connection,” said Sgt. Roy Hoskins, Crime Prevention Officer with the St. Joseph Police Department. “Then when you say ‘Yes’ they record that and later use it as a form of consent in agreeing to a product or a service.”

He said they use the recording to claim you signed up for something and then bill you.

“Make sure you don’t answer any questions from someone you don’t recognize,” Hoskins said. “If it’s something out of state or out of the area you don’t recognize it or you aren’t expecting that call, a lot of times I don’t even answer it.”

The Better Business Bureau on Monday, issued an alert regarding the old scam with a new twist.  It said historically the scam has been directed towards business but BBB has been hearing the phone reported from consumers.  Hoskins said as of yet, the St. Joseph Police Department has not heard of anyone locally that has been impacted by the scam.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we got something like that around here,” Hoskins said. “The scammers are always trying to stay a step ahead of us.  Specifically with technology we’re always trying to catch up to what they’re doing and figure out how to defeat that type of scam.”

Hoskins said the best thing to do is to not answer the phone if you don’t know the number and never answer questions if you are unsure who you are dealing with.

For more information on the scam CLICK HERE to read the warning from BBB.