One other point to consider. Suppose these crooks want us to be so focused on not saying that one word that we forget and tell them everything else? Maybe that was the whole plan all along.
I would ask two question. First, how did you know it was a "black man"? Were you on some sort of video phone? Second, what does "black man" have to do with it? Are you insinuating that black people are more pron to scam than white people? Actually let us add one more question-would you have taken the time to say "white man calls"? Oh, and I don't buy the "not being racist" because you are being racist.
This whole "yes" thing irks me to no end, simply because people can't think anymore. It was on the news so it must be real. No, they get things wrong hundreds of times, not to mention the many times they have actually made the stories up.
Yes, people should be suspicious of any unknown caller who calls whether they ask questions or not. Yes, you should be careful about what you say and who you say it to. But not to the point that you become obsessed (or maybe I should say paranoid) with saying one word.
I agree, I went through the same 'phase' first time I heard about it, but rather than fight it, I figured I might use it as an advantage towards getting people to forget the actual rumor/myth and focus on the actual call by paying attention. So when I read about one of these posts on "don't say yes", I too will comment about it, but I will change the 'tone' towards a more useful one. :)
One other point to consider. Suppose these crooks want us to be so focused on not saying that one word that we forget and tell them everything else? Maybe that was the whole plan all along.
I had that same thought, that it was scammers who started the rumor and advanced it into a concern by purposely calling with questions like "can you hear me ok" . It certainly caused enough of a 'panic' that the media had to accelerate it further. Only time can answer that one.