In Russia, fraudsters have started offering people free household appliances using cunning schemes to gain access to victims’ personal data and bank accounts, reports Evgeny Tsarev, an expert in information security and IT law at RTM Group.

According to him, attackers offer to send household goods via a courier and send people a file to download an application that supposedly helps track the delivery of the package. While in reality, it is a malicious file and allows scammers to access the victim’s data.

“This is a very good scheme for an attacker, since information posted in household chats is often perceived with trust. The attacker’s task is to force you to install some applications. These applications are distributed in the ARC format, that is, it is a regular application installation file for mobile devices,” he said, adding that the mobile application can give the attacker various capabilities, including remote control of the device, reading SMS messages, sending them to a specific server, accessing photos, etc.

Tsarev emphasizes that today banking applications have a higher level of security, but access to SMS messages can be a serious threat, since many banks use SMS to log in to user accounts. He recommends installing apps only from a limited number of trusted sources, such as Google Play, the Apple Store, and Rustore, to minimize the risk of installing malicious software.

He also said that scammers often use social media groups, where people sell products or donate their unwanted items, to spread their malicious links. These groups attract a large number of followers and are an ideal place for scammers to find their victims. For this reason, it is important to be careful when installing apps and not trust suspicious offers.