Russians have been warned about a new fraud scheme involving the replacement of contacts in phones. This was reported by the ECC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
Fraudsters send messages in messengers, disguising them as notifications from banks, delivery services, government agencies or acquaintances.
These messages contain a link to a file in .vcf format, which is used as an electronic business card. When you open such a file, the smartphone prompts you to save the contact or update an existing one. As a result, a new number may appear in the victim's address book or an old one may change, which allows fraudsters to impersonate acquaintances or official organizations.
A .vcf file is a standard business card format. It contains contact information: name, phone numbers, email, address, position, etc. When you receive a .vcf file (for example, from a new acquaintance or colleague) and open it on your smartphone, the system usually offers to save this contact to your address book. This is a convenient and legal way to exchange contacts.
Law enforcement officials noted that the process of saving a contact occurs quickly and often without unnecessary notifications, so the user may not even notice the change. In this regard, the Ministry of Internal Affairs advised saving the numbers of banks, government agencies and delivery services manually and not trusting sent files in order to avoid deception.
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