FaceTime Group Call Spam Plaguing Apple Customers

FaceTime group call spam has been recently affecting Apple users, and they’re harder to block than individual numbers (via ArsTechnica).

FaceTime Group Call Spam

The spammers call up to 30 numbers at once, and when the victim hangs up they are immediately called back by a different spammer. Unlike other iPhone settings, FaceTime calls can’t be limited to only those numbers in a user’s contacts.

A thread in the Apple support forum shows that people have been afflicted with these spammers since at least 2020.

Sick to death of it. I answer one face time on it and was a young teenage girl. Other time random art on walls are creepy old men. Makes me feel sick. I do not want to be part in any of these scams or if they are trying out random numbers. But how can you stop it. Should I report to the police? How can I stop this? Please someone help me.

So far there isn’t much of a solution. Numbers can be blocked individually but there are no tools that go beyond that other than disabling FaceTime completely. Participants in a group call can’t be blocked all at once. FaceTime can be turned off on iOS by going to Settings > FaceTime and turning the toggle off.