Narrative:

Five minutes prior to scheduled departure time we were waiting for ramp to close the forward cargo door. A female voice came over the flight interphone informing us they were about to close the cargo door and said once the door was closed we could release brakes. Once the door was closed we completed the before pushback checklist. The female ramp employee called the flight deck again and said they were ready and asked for the brake release. As soon as she said that a male voice got on the interphone and said 'ready for pushback and brake release.'the female was not our tug driver but a ramp employee trying to get an early brake release. I informed our tug driver this was against SOP; dangerous; and should not happen again.unfortunately; this is not the first time this has happened to me.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Airline Captain reported an unknown individual asked the crew to release the aircraft brakes for pushback; resulting in a ramp safety issue.

Narrative: Five minutes prior to scheduled departure time we were waiting for ramp to close the forward cargo door. A female voice came over the flight interphone informing us they were about to close the cargo door and said once the door was closed we could release brakes. Once the door was closed we completed the Before Pushback Checklist. The female ramp employee called the flight deck again and said they were ready and asked for the brake release. As soon as she said that a male voice got on the interphone and said 'ready for pushback and brake release.'The female was not our tug driver but a ramp employee trying to get an early brake release. I informed our tug driver this was against SOP; dangerous; and should not happen again.Unfortunately; this is not the first time this has happened to me.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.