fraudulent family sharing accounts

I contacted apple support and they seem to know that this has been happening. They sent the problem up to engineering and had it fixed within a day. They also recommend setting up a 2 factor password protection for your devices.

I called Apple Support. Only waited about 10 minutes to talk to someone. They ended up having to escalate to a supervisor, who had to submit a request to Engineering to remove the id from the Chinese family share. They said it could take several days.

Strangely, I had already posted that my husband was having the same problem, but my post isn't showing up. Don't know is this is moderated, but I thought that was odd.

hbetts141 wrote:

Same story here. I did not accept any invite and my user info is correct showing me to be older than 13 yet I am included in a family share for a Chinese account that I did not join. I get email notifications related to my apple id being used for purchases that are not mine.

And are you sure those emails are legit? What address are they coming from?

People will send all sorts of emails purporting different things. Just because you get such emails doesn't mean what they say is actually happening.

What exactly is showing you are part of a Family Group? If its just an email, again what address is it coming from?

I guessed the emails were a scam and a phishing attempt but Apple verified them. The way I found that I was in family sharing was in my account settings where it listed family purchases with an account with a Chinese symbol as the Apple ID for my family sharing member.

Apple is attempting to remove me from that family sharing group but it’s not an easy fix.

Same story here. I did not accept any invite and my user info is correct showing me to be older than 13 yet I am included in a family share for a Chinese account that I did not join. I get email notifications related to my apple id being used for purchases that are not mine.

So far I am 1 hour and 45 minutes into phone calls and 1 visit to the apple store in trying to be able to get removed from this family share. Its a hack/fraud type situation, they just havent completed it well enough to access my credit card yet.

If I understand it correctly it allows other members to download already purchased apps and music from their family members so maybe thats the goal of the hack, to allow them access to items I already purchased. Either way, apple support should be able to remove me quickly and that has not been the case so far.

What did iTunes Support say when you contacted them ?

Just realized that I am in the same situation. Cannot download, update or change apps. In settings when I click on family sharing (which I have never setup) it says my apple ID is already part of a family group from china. I have no way of removing myself from said family group.

This has happened to me to and Apple is worthless helping me. I can't even get into my own family sharing cuz someone is using my email address and his name is all in Chinese. Gonna get me an Android phone and use my Google tablet!! I had Crystal trying to help me and she won't answer any of my phone calls to her extension. And I haven't been anything other than nice to her. Terrible Customer Service if any service.

My husband has the same problem. Under "Set up Family Sharing" it says he is already part of a share from an email in china. Chinese id's are attempting purchases. Luckily, CC is expired. My husband cannot update the cc, or any apps, or purchase anything because his ID is part of a family share we do not control. Looks like there is no solution to this. There is no option to leave the share, and he did NOT accept becoming part of some Chinese family group.

If you've accepted an invitation to join the family share you should be able to leave it : Leave Family Sharing - Apple Support

If you can't, try contacting iTunes Support (we are fellow users on here) : iTunes Store - Contact Us - Apple Support

Any updates on this thread? Im having the same problem!

What updates are you expecting from me ?

any update on how to get out? i am hving the same issue and i need to update / download new apps but can't.

were you guys able to remove yourself from the chinese family sharing?

I’m not sure why you are expecting an update from me, and I’ve never been in a Chinese Family Share. If you can’t remove yourself from it what did iTunes Support say when you contacted them ?

Were you able to fix it ?im having exact same problem