Available since September, iOS 17 has powered a new feature, Live Voicemail, which beyond its practical aspect, can be misused to launch scams.
With iOS 17, Apple launched the Live Voicemail feature in its French version, which allows users to read the transcription of a voice message in real time. The tool, very practical as you will agree, can nevertheless be exploited by malicious individuals, especially since it is activated by default on iPhones. Fortunately, it is possible to protect yourself from this.
An iOS 17 feature that doesn’t protect you from scammers
The Cupertino company is very proud to offer iOS 17 users a more interactive experience. With Live Voicemail, Apple gives you the ability to read the written transcript of the voice message as the person you’re talking to is speaking. You can therefore, in real time, decide to finally answer the call, wait for it to end, block the caller or send a message to this person.
It’s convenient, sure, but it also opens the door to scammers who can exploit this feature. It creates a sense of urgency among users, given real-time decision-making, a feeling that hackers see as an opportunity.
A malicious individual can indeed leave an alarming voice message or incite you to action, in order to force you to make an impulsive decision, perhaps thinking that you are interacting with an official person or entity, like your bank for example.
If you are concerned, it is better to deactivate the option, and fortunately, it is easy
The CEO of the American spam blocker YouMail, Alex Quilici, explained to our American colleagues howABC7 that live voicemail could cause people to quickly pick up, afraid of losing money or missing an important opportunity, even if the call is fraudulent.
A fraudster could thus force you to press a key on your keyboard to confirm or not information, which would then force you to pick up.
For those who wish to protect themselves against such scams, there is a simple solution: deactivate live voicemail from your iPhone which, remember, activates it by default via iOS 17. To do this, simply: follow this short path:
- Go to “Settings”;
- then “Phone”;
- and tap “Live Voicemail” to finally deactivate the option.
Source : ABC7
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