Beware of this scam call doing the rounds

Have you ever been caught in a phone scam of some sort? I'm not talking about a prank call, I'm talking about scams where criminals catch you or some other unsuspecting person.

Next time you answer the phone and you don’t know who it is, it may be a good idea to hang up immediately - especially if they call and ask you, "Can you hear me?".

Although this scam is a major one in the USA at the moment, who knows - it could hit South Africa... so here's your heads up.

How it works is that a local number will call you, the person on the phone will then introduce themselves and the company they supposedly work for.

See: Telesales scams: Why call recordings should always be available

They then ask: "Can you hear me?", and as you answer "Yes", your response will be edited and then used to charge you for products or services without your knowledge.

Isn't it scary that in this day and age, we have to be so careful. It seems that there's a scam around every corner and if you're not wide awake, it's so easy to get caught.

I was with a mate who was trying to buy an iPhone off a buy and sell website recently and we found one that looked good.

I went with him and we met this really sweet girl who spun us a story about how she was pregnant and needed the cash.

Everything looked good and my friend was just about to hand over the money when he looked at the weather app, which showed every country in the world, except South Africa.

Also, some of the apps on the phone were actually even spelt incorrectly!

Surely that's a sign that something isn't right?