This last week I’ve gotten several spam calls which I don’t answer and they leave a voicemail in Chinese or some other Asian language. It’s so annoying!
I used to have a coworker that was fluent in Chinese. When they listened to the voicemail it was usually telling me I had a package at the Embassy and to call a certain number to arrange for redelivery.
In the past 2 days I have got a call on my cell from Russia and the Netherlands. I didnt answer either, but why would they think people would answer? I don’t get it. Wouldn’t they be better off spoofing a US number?
A friend recently got scammed when trying to sign up for a good deal on ESPN. Luckily the credit card company sent text questioning validity of gift card purchase, while still on the phone. The scammer was trying to help sort through setup steps, asking for Amazon password.
Something similar today–I got an email offering me Paramount+ for $2/year. Saying I’ve been “selected” for this. Didn’t click on the link but I assume they try to harvest your credit card details.
I got an Airbnb email that looked phishy. We had a nice stay over Thanksgiving, then got a notice we were being investigated for holding wild parties. Yeah right, a small, alcohol free gathering of seniors!
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Not a scam, but potentially a security risk. If you have an iPhone, disable this feature.
It probably can be a handy thing in some situations, but I disabled on my iphone. (Honestly it seems like Apple should have made that the default.)
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The “scam” is mostly the “hype” around it.
It’s about as much a security “risk” as your locked front door: When the doorbell rings, you can choose not to open the door in the first place, or choose not to invite someone in, once you see who had walked up.
But yes, for added security you could have a mason wall the door shut, and instead Rapunzel in and out. 
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Thank you for bringing up the typo in my post.
Now corrected. It was supposed to read “NOT a scam”.
I hate when I have to change my settings every time an update happens. My husband almost shared his entire contact list with someone… he was not pleased that the iPhone even enabled this feature. And yes, the default was to freely share with anyone.
ETA: “bringing devices together’ and “anyone for 10 minutes” were the defaults. Why?
Apple issued yet another update recently. Thankfully the update did not mess up the settings.
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Just to clarify - the feature only activates if you first bring your phone together with the other person’s phone. (Since you’re doing this because you might want to exchange contact information in the first place, limiting it to “existing contacts” only would defeat the purpose.)
Then YOU still have to actually AGREE to that specific exchange on your phone - it’s not something “everyone” can do unnoticed/unintended just by simply/accidentally touching your phone.
Yes to all of that… but here is a big “BUT”: when you are sitting at a dinner table, and the coworker happens to put their phone on the table next to yours… and not being aware that the feature is even enabled… some prompt appears on the screen… and you are busy with an important conversation…
Bottom line: those did not need to be default options.
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