The Interior Ministry called the heating and slowing down of the phone as signs of virus infection.

Heating of the mobile device and slowing down may be signs of infection with viruses. This was announced on July 14 by the Department for the Organization of the fight against the illegal use of information and communication technologies (UBK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

"There are several signs of infection of the device and the procedure for dealing with such a situation. <...> The phone behaves strangely: it has become noticeably slower, discharges quickly, restarts spontaneously or gets very hot, even when you are not using it. There may be incomprehensible pop—up advertising windows or notifications that did not exist before," the department's Telegram channel says.

Other signs of infection of the phone with viruses are the installation of unknown applications, the appearance of strange permissions in familiar programs, for example, requesting access to SMS, calls, location for a "photo album" or "flashlight". In addition, the victim may find unfamiliar numbers or messages in the call history that have not been sent before.

In such situations, the agency advised to disconnect the phone from the Internet. If there is a malicious application on the mobile device, then this step will help prevent the transfer of data to intruders. You should also call the bank and report suspicions of infection of the mobile device with malicious software that has access to the banking application or SMS. In this case, you must ask to block the cards. In addition, you should end all suspicious or unknown sessions and revoke access for unknown devices.

"Contact the police department at your place of residence! Take your device (not including the Internet) and your passport with you. To protect your devices from malware, be sure to use an antivirus. <...> To eliminate the malware, it is best to immediately contact a specialist at a service center or a cybersecurity specialist," the department stressed.

Give back the initiative: why scammers force their victims to call them back

The "reverse" phishing model allows you to bypass traditional protection mechanisms.

Earlier, on July 13, the UBK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia warned that scammers began attacking teenagers under the guise of school and university psychologists. Scammers send victims a phishing link to messengers under the pretext of having to undergo "psychological testing" or "verify data." After that, they intimidate teenagers by claiming that their personal data has been leaked online, and threaten them with criminal prosecution.