The Random-Number Text With a Mystery .txt File — What It Is and Why You Shouldn't Open It

A customer forwarded us a text this week from a number with no name attached — just (347) 899-5932 — with a single file: Ofle7JWBkVjaZDW5CcEU.txt, 8.0 KB. No message, no explanation, just a random string of letters and numbers as the filename and a text file attached to it.

That randomness is the whole point, and it’s worth knowing what this actually is before curiosity gets the better of you.

What this text is

This isn’t a misfire or a wrong number. It’s a probe. Scammers send messages like this in bulk to huge lists of phone numbers, many of which are dead, reassigned, or never checked. The attachment isn’t there to inform you of anything — it exists to get you to interact with the message at all: open it, preview it, or reply to it.

Any of those actions tells the sender your number is live and attached to a real person who reads their texts. That single data point gets your number flagged as “confirmed active” and sold or reused for the next round of scam or robocall campaigns — which is often worse than whatever this specific text was trying to do.

The tells

• The filename is gibberish. Ofle7JWBkVjaZDW5CcEU.txt isn’t a receipt, a document, or anything a real sender would name a file. Random alphanumeric strings like this are usually auto-generated by whatever script is blasting out the message.
• No message body, just an attachment. Legitimate texts with attachments — a photo from a friend, a document from a business — almost always come with a sentence of context. A bare file with nothing else is a red flag by itself.
• The sender is a plain 10-digit number, not a business. Real companies texting you (pharmacies, delivery services, your bank) send from a short code or a recognizable business name, not an unlabeled cell number.
• It arrived with no prior conversation. If you’ve never texted this number before and weren’t expecting anything from anyone, that’s reason enough to leave it alone.

What to do

1. Don’t open the attachment, and don’t tap anything inside it if you already did. A .txt file can’t run code on its own, but if it contains a link, treat that link like any other phishing link — don’t tap it.
2. Don’t reply. Not “who is this,” not “STOP,” not anything. Any reply confirms your number is active — see the FAQ below for why that backfires.
3. Report it and block the number. Forward the text to 7726 and use your phone’s “Report Junk” option, then block the sender.
4. If you tapped a link inside the file and entered any information, treat it the same as the fake Geek Squad renewal email scam — don’t call any number it gave you, and check your accounts for anything that doesn’t look right.

This one arrives by text instead of email, but it’s the same underlying playbook as the “we’ve blocked your account” phishing email: get you to interact first, ask questions later. If you’re ever unsure whether something on your phone or computer is safe to open, send us a screenshot or bring the device by our Marlboro shop — we’d rather look at it than have you find out the hard way.