Multiple FaceTime users have reported being overwhelmed with spam or prank group FaceTime calls, in which individuals are called by large numbers of spammers. When a person hangs up, a different number immediately calls them back.
Some users report this behavior being repeated over and over.
Instances of the prank have been reported on Apple’s forums as well as on Reddit. One post on the Apple Support forum notes that:
“Starting around 2 am this morning I began receiving group facetime calls from a mix of numbers in my contacts and random numbers I didn’t have saved. Since then I’ve received about 7 more calls throughout the day. The calls only ring once or twice before ending. What’s even more interesting is that, after going back through the numbers involved in the calls in the ‘recents’ tab of the facetime app, there were more than the 32 total people involved with the highest being 59.”
Others then chimed in to report similar incidents involving spam FaceTime. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to put a stop to these attacks. As Ars Technica reports: “FaceTime doesn’t have the ability to accept only FaceTime calls coming from people in the user’s address book. It also requires all numbers in a group call must be manually blocked for the call to be stopped.”
Users can turn off FaceTime, but that also means not being able to make or receive genuine calls. As Ars notes, the issue could be more easily solved if Apple allowed users to group block numbers in a group call. However, this is not currently possible. The best solution is likely to switch off FaceTime and wait for the spam calls to move on. Until Apple institutes a more official way of dealing with the problem, that is.
Have you experienced this issue? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Ars Technica
