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Spam Group FaceTime Calls with over 32 members

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. The reason I think this happened is that every number was repeated once or twice. This is obviously pretty odd, and I would brush it off as spam or a prank but the fact that the same numbers were registered as being in the same call multiple times and that this caused there to be over the 32 person limit makes me think this is more than that. Anyone else have this issue or know anything about it?

iPhone XR, iOS 13

Posted on Mar 31, 2020 11:37 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 4, 2021 8:17 AM

I'm getting these MASS facetime calls... I don't know any of the numbers, but they're all my area code.

I picked up once and saw some people talking and hung up immediately.

I have no idea what this is and they won't stop.

How TF do I make it stop? 😩

183 replies

May 28, 2020 12:16 AM in response to madpowell96

This just happened to me! It happened at 1:40 am, and every time I was called, more and more people were added to the FaceTime. They called in a total of 5 times, so I ended up blocking all of them. Im not sure if this is a spam or some sort of prank call, but I’m gonna see if any other people, besides the people in this conversation, has had anything similar happen to them.

Feb 24, 2021 8:29 PM in response to MrIcedTea

I cannot speak for everyone else’s experience but 2 of the people involved in the 1st call admitted starting. They proceeded to ask the others if they would follow them on Tik Tok. When my 14 yo daughter heard what was happening, she confirmed that kids are actually doing this. Her words “prank” to merry new people. And with the pandemic I know for a fact some of these kids are up way late into the night. And trust me, it was very unsettling to me when they continued to do this at least 10 more times.

Jul 12, 2020 6:05 AM in response to Aidan_mp

This happened to me. First call came in at 12:57 am and continued until 2 am. Two people were registered in contacts from a soccer team I was on. I thought I was added to some groupchat by them accidentally. I messaged one and found out she was another victim. I turned my phone on airplane mode and when I woke up, I received 5 more calls. I was really done at that point and called Apple Support and was transferred to Tech Support. Received very few suggestions there other than talking to the complaint assistance at FDC. I also received a text message from one callers in a group chat with 28 other numbers. The word I was able to make out was definitely concerning. I’m ready to change my phone number.

Jul 15, 2020 12:09 AM in response to Aidan_mp

This happened to me (USA) around 2:40 in the morning. I immediately hung up but almost immediately after I pressed the button I was called back. Seriously creeped me out because none of the numbers were familiar to me at all. I was facetimed 4 times all in the span of one minute before I could block all the numbers! Some of the #s are from Wisconsin & Illinois, and there were some email addresses too. It stopped after I blocked them but I hope someone figures out who/what this is.

Aug 13, 2020 4:30 AM in response to Aidan_mp

this happened to me last night and a couple nights before that. it is VERY scary, i don’t like that there will legit be 30-50 people on it. I answered it one time & no one else was on the facetime, it was just me. It showed that people were “waiting”... meaning they hadn’t answered either. I blocked them all this morning. But i do not like that it is still going on because it concerns me that this is a hacker or something more!! & especially around 1am. like come on, i get freaked out enough, but i wouldnt answer any more calls from these numbers! because they legit are from all around the world & it’s just scary /:

Aug 21, 2020 6:24 AM in response to Aidan_mp

i got one last night. I suspect my phone number has been hacked or exposed in a data breach. It started months ago with texts and then has gotten more daring with FaceTime. The problem is folks respond to it not realizing that it is a Group FaceTime. Solution DO NOT ANSWER if you don’t know the no. If continues consider getting a new phone no. It’s a phishing scheme in a different way. Also never call back based on texts even if looks legit. Call your credit cards directly using phone number on back of card!

Sep 13, 2020 7:24 AM in response to Aidan_mp

Have received multiple(20-30)FaceTime calls the past 2 nights beginning around 2am. The first night I received a text about 5 minutes before the FaceTime calls started from one of the random numbers and all it said was “haha”. I haven’t answered any and have now disabled FaceTime. All of the numbers begin with the area code that is my area code. Has Apple offered any solutions other than disabling the app?

Oct 8, 2020 9:01 AM in response to Aidan_mp

To supplement this, recently in December I have changed my phone number, unknowingly with AT&T , to a number that some previous girl had owned and had put out to a lot of sources. Now in October I am experiencing these problems, but only after I began using WhatsApp for calls to someone. Extremely annoying repeated calls from FaceTime groups 20+ people ,I have no idea who they are. Did not answer , don’t plan to.

Oct 8, 2020 9:47 AM in response to J_Apple8

Interesting about the WhatsApp. I started using WhatsApp around March and had the spam calls around May, June. Don’t know if there is a correlation. I also have AT&T. I was getting the spam calls for a few weeks with 20+ callers. Turned off FaceTime for a week and haven’t had since. I never answered, but it did freak me out a little.

Oct 9, 2020 2:25 PM in response to EmilyF98

That’s pretty much exactly how it first happened to me, pretty unnerving. If your sister has Snapchat, I used that as an alternative to video call my friends after I disabled my FaceTime for a week or two in settings. I haven’t gotten another call since. I had the same thing happen to me though too, where if you go to the FaceTime app it shows that calls are still in progress and you can tap to join them.

Spam Group FaceTime Calls with over 32 members

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