A woman is going viral on TikTok after she alleged that her Samsung refrigerator was making eerie noises.
Felicia Zicardi (@feliciazicardi_) said she has one of Samsung’s bespoke smart refrigerators, which features some eyebrow-raising AI features. But she was recently spooked when she said she heard “whispering” noises coming from her appliance late at night.
“Ewww this is so creepy, does this happen to anyone else?!?” Zicardi wrote in the accompanying text overlay of her TikTok. As of Tuesday, her video had amassed more than 2.8 million views.
What’s up with Samsung’s smart refrigerators?
Zicardi said she couldn’t understand why strange sounds were coming from her refrigerator.
What’s worse, she said the noises happened after she turned off her fridge’s microphone, meaning the appliance’s voice recognition feature was temporarily turned off.
“Your microphone is now turned off,” read a message on the fridge’s screen. “Do you want to turn on the microphone to use the voice?”
When Zicardi went to hit “cancel,” though, she said the same message kept popping up. Then, one night, she heard noises coming from her fridge.
“[Does] anybody else have this problem with this thing?” Zicardi asked viewers.
A Samsung spokesperson told the Daily Dot that it’s working to get in contact with the affected customer. If you’re dealing with a similar issue, the spokesperson encouraged getting in touch with the brand directly at 1-800-Samsung.
They also said that viewers shouldn’t fret that their fridges are somehow listening to their private conversations.
“All Samsung smart home appliances—including refrigerators—are safeguarded by Samsung Knox, a holistic and multi-defense security platform that protects users’ data,” the spokesperson said via email. “Last year, the Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub+ became the first in the global home appliance industry to receive the highest rating of Diamond in the IoT Security Rating conducted by leading certification company UL Solutions. Five Samsung home appliances have received the same rating—setting an industry record.”
Samsung fridges are known to make weird sounds
According to Samsung’s website, you might hear a number of noises coming from your smart refrigerator, such as snapping, buzzing and humming, beeping, or whistling.
Since Zicardi didn’t document what the whispering sounded like, there’s no way of comparing it to the various sounds Samsung said you might catch. But it seems like hearing strange noises from your Samsung appliance is just a normal part of owning it. As a result, there’s likely no need to be alarmed.
In its write-up, Samsung said that the common culprits of these noises are the fridge’s internal fan motor, ice maker, or door alarm.
For example, Samsung said you might hear a “buzzing and humming” sound when water is filling the ice maker. “These sounds also describe the sound of the compressor,” it said. “It sounds just like a quiet engine or motor.”
Despite these explanations, Reddit users have similarly complained of strange noises coming from their Samsung appliances. Last year, for instance, someone in the r/appliancerepair subreddit said that their fridge made an “awful loud” sound.
In the comments of the redditor’s post, however, people assured the affected customer that this was normal. (Even Samsung only advised contacting its support team if the noises you hear are louder than normal or if they persist after a check-in.)
“Most likely a defrost issue, frost is building up around the fan blade,” one Redditor said.
“I have the same model and having this issue now,” another shared.
Viewers still think smart fridges are cursed
In the comments section of Zicardi’s video, several viewers said they were convinced her device was hacked.
“Who’s hacking ur fridge,” one person asked.
“Someone has most definitely been looking through your camera,” another added.
“Why would you get any of those smart devices? They are spying on you,” a third user said.
Others with a similar Samsung appliance said they’ve experienced similar issues.
“Got the same one and Alexa constantly goes off,” one woman shared.
“Yea ours kept yapping at night for no reason and started playing music so we turned that… off,” another viewer said.
And some were too disillusioned with the idea of a smart refrigerator to really care about the content creator’s plight.
“I’m too poor to have this problem,” one viewer quipped.
@feliciazicardi_ It’s the Samsung fridge, it will start clicking randomly as if someone typing or start speaking … #samsung #samsumgfridge ♬ original sound – feli
“A fridge connected to the internet has no place in my house,” another wrote.
“Some things just don’t need a screen,” a third added. “It’s to keep your food cold or frozen. That’s it.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Zicardi via TikTok comment.
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