Recently, there have been many cases of Apple mobile phone users being scammed across the country, and these cases all originated from FaceTime video calls. Here, we remind the majority of Apple mobile phone users to be vigilant and be cautious about answering such calls!
Facetime call to cancel membership?
In February this year, Aunt Zhang, a citizen of Ya'an, received a FaceTime video call, the other party claimed to be the "customer service" of the Douyin platform, and after checking the personal information such as Aunt Zhang's Douyin account and mobile phone number, she informed Aunt Zhang that she had opened a membership on the platform and needed to pay a membership fee of 800 yuan per month.
Because Aunt Zhang usually takes her mobile phone to her grandson to watch short videos, she thinks that her grandson accidentally touched it, so she turns on screen sharing and asks for guidance. After some inquiry, the "customer service" said that Aunt Zhang's account was abnormal and needed to pay a "deposit" of 20,000 yuan, and said that after the "member" canceled, this "deposit" would be returned. So Aunt Zhang immediately transferred the money to the designated account.
But then, on the grounds of "operation error", the other party asked Aunt Zhang to transfer the funds in her bank card to the "CBRC account" for verification, and then return the funds in the original way after the verification.
Aunt Zhang, who had been brainwashed, was convinced of this and was ready to operate according to the instructions of the other party, but fortunately, the police warned in time to prevent Aunt Zhang from continuing to transfer money.
Facetime calls to turn off insurance?
Coincidentally, some time ago, Mr. Luo, who was also in Ya'an, also received a FaceTime call.
The other party claimed to be a "staff member" of Alipay and informed Mr. Luo that he had purchased an insurance policy from Alipay, and because the insurance was about to expire, he would automatically deduct 1,000 yuan per month if he did not cancel it in time.
In order to further deceive trust, the "customer service" induced Mr. Luo to click on the screen sharing function of FaceTime and instructed him to operate. (In fact, this insurance is a service opened by the Alipay platform for each user by default, and it is completely free)
Then, Mr. Luo asked the "customer service" how to cancel, and the other party said that because he had opened password-free payment, in order to avoid him being automatically deducted by the platform during the operation, he needed to transfer the money in the bank card to Alipay's "safe account", and the money would be returned in the same way after the insurance was successfully canceled. Hearing that the money would be returned the original way, Mr. Luo transferred a total of more than 80,000 yuan to the account provided by the "customer service" several times.
(Partial transfer records)
Due to the bank card transfer limit, Mr. Luo was ready to increase the transfer limit at the bank according to the instructions of the other party. At this time, the police who received the early warning order rushed to Mr. Luo's home for emergency dissuasion, and successfully saved 20,000 yuan.
Routine analysis: The above two fraud methods are all criminals who call the victim's phone through FaceTime, and then pretend to be the official customer service of a platform, fabricate reasons such as "verification of funds", "verification flow" and "payment of deposit" to induce the victim to transfer money, and in the process, the victim will be asked to turn on the screen sharing function of FaceTime to monitor and obtain the victim's account information in real time.
Note: Official customer service and government agency staff will not contact you through FaceTime, and anyone claiming to be "public security law" and "official customer service" asking for money transfer is a scam!
About FaceTime
What is FaceTime
FaceTime is a built-in calling software from Apple, and its function is similar to the commonly used WeChat video call. However, unlike WeChat, where you need to add friends before you can apply for a call, when your Apple device is connected to the Internet and the FaceTime function is turned on, as long as the other party knows your phone number or Apple ID, they can make a FaceTime call to you.
Why Use FaceTime to commit scams?
Because FaceTime calls rely on the network to realize, they can evade the interception of fraudulent calls by communication operators, and domestic Apple users are not familiar with this function, so criminals take advantage of the situation to attract traffic and commit fraud through FaceTime calls.
How to turn off FaceTime
Open the "Settings" on your phone's desktop, then tap the "FaceTime" option, and slide the switch. (Green is on, gray is off)
"Panda anti-fraud" warm reminder
Recently, fraudsters frequently carry out fraud through Apple FaceTime calls, please do not answer at will, and be sure to hang up decisively when encountering unfamiliar FaceTime calls! If there is no need to use this function in daily life, you can turn it off.
Source: Panda Anti-Fraud