diff --git a/src/Model/Contact.php b/src/Model/Contact.php
index df3efa0c57..6f9ee4cdb6 100644
--- a/src/Model/Contact.php
+++ b/src/Model/Contact.php
@@ -1851,13 +1851,13 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 	 */
 	private static function handleDuplicates($nurl, $uid, $id)
 	{
-		$condition = ['nurl' => $nurl, 'uid' => $uid, 'deleted' => false];
+		$condition = ['nurl' => $nurl, 'uid' => $uid, 'deleted' => false, 'network' => Protocol::FEDERATED];
 		$count = DBA::count('contact', $condition);
 		if ($count <= 1) {
 			return false;
 		}
 
-		$first_contact = DBA::selectFirst('contact', ['id'], $condition, ['order' => ['id']]);
+		$first_contact = DBA::selectFirst('contact', ['id', 'network'], $condition, ['order' => ['id']]);
 		if (!DBA::isResult($first_contact)) {
 			// Shouldn't happen - so we handle it
 			return false;
@@ -1865,26 +1865,21 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 
 		$first = $first_contact['id'];
 		Logger::info('Found duplicates', ['count' => $count, 'id' => $id, 'first' => $first, 'uid' => $uid, 'nurl' => $nurl]);
-		if ($uid != 0) {
-			// Don't handle non public duplicates by now
-			Logger::info('Not handling non public duplicate', ['uid' => $uid, 'nurl' => $nurl]);
+		if (($uid != 0 && ($first_contact['network'] == Protocol::DFRN))) {
+			// Don't handle non public DFRN duplicates by now (legacy DFRN is very special because of the key handling)
+			Logger::info('Not handling non public DFRN duplicate', ['uid' => $uid, 'nurl' => $nurl]);
 			return false;
 		}
 
 		// Find all duplicates
 		$condition = ["`nurl` = ? AND `uid` = ? AND `id` != ? AND NOT `self` AND NOT `deleted`", $nurl, $uid, $first];
-		$duplicates = DBA::select('contact', ['id'], $condition);
+		$duplicates = DBA::select('contact', ['id', 'network'], $condition);
 		while ($duplicate = DBA::fetch($duplicates)) {
-			$dup_id = $duplicate['id'];
-			Logger::info('Handling duplicate', ['search' => $dup_id, 'replace' => $first]);
+			if (!in_array($duplicate['network'], Protocol::FEDERATED)) {
+				continue;
+			}
 
-			// Search and replace
-			DBA::update('item', ['author-id' => $first], ['author-id' => $dup_id]);
-			DBA::update('item', ['owner-id' => $first], ['owner-id' => $dup_id]);
-			DBA::update('item', ['contact-id' => $first], ['contact-id' => $dup_id]);
-
-			// Remove the duplicate
-			DBA::delete('contact', ['id' => $dup_id]);
+			Worker::add(PRIORITY_HIGH, 'MergeContact', $first, $duplicate['id'], $uid);
 		}
 		Logger::info('Duplicates handled', ['uid' => $uid, 'nurl' => $nurl]);
 		return true;
@@ -1985,7 +1980,7 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 		}
 
 		if (!$update) {
-			if ($force && ($uid == 0)) {
+			if ($force) {
 				self::updateContact($id, $uid, $ret['url'], ['last-update' => $updated, 'success_update' => $updated]);
 			}
 			return true;
@@ -2377,7 +2372,18 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 		$nick = $pub_contact['nick'];
 		$network = $pub_contact['network'];
 
+		// Ensure that we don't create a new contact when there already is one
+		$cid = self::getIdForURL($url, $importer['uid']);
+		if (!empty($cid)) {
+			$contact = DBA::selectFirst('contact', [], ['id' => $cid]);
+		}
+
 		if (!empty($contact)) {
+			if (!empty($contact['pending'])) {
+				Logger::info('Pending contact request already exists.', ['url' => $url, 'uid' => $importer['uid']]);
+				return null;
+			}
+
 			// Contact is blocked at user-level
 			if (!empty($contact['id']) && !empty($importer['id']) &&
 				self::isBlockedByUser($contact['id'], $importer['id'])) {
diff --git a/src/Module/Contact.php b/src/Module/Contact.php
index 04156daba9..198496a0eb 100644
--- a/src/Module/Contact.php
+++ b/src/Module/Contact.php
@@ -176,54 +176,16 @@ class Contact extends BaseModule
 
 	private static function updateContactFromProbe($contact_id)
 	{
-		$contact = DBA::selectFirst('contact', ['uid', 'url', 'network'], ['id' => $contact_id, 'uid' => local_user(), 'deleted' => false]);
+		$contact = DBA::selectFirst('contact', ['url'], ['id' => $contact_id, 'uid' => local_user(), 'deleted' => false]);
 		if (!DBA::isResult($contact)) {
 			return;
 		}
 
-		$uid = $contact['uid'];
-
-		$data = Probe::uri($contact['url'], '', 0, false);
-
-		// 'Feed' or 'Unknown' is mostly a sign of communication problems
-		if ((in_array($data['network'], [Protocol::FEED, Protocol::PHANTOM])) && ($data['network'] != $contact['network'])) {
-			return;
-		}
-
-		$updatefields = ['name', 'nick', 'url', 'addr', 'batch', 'notify', 'poll', 'request', 'confirm', 'poco', 'network', 'alias'];
-		$fields = [];
-
-		if ($data['network'] == Protocol::OSTATUS) {
-			$result = Model\Contact::createFromProbe($uid, $data['url'], false);
-
-			if ($result['success']) {
-				$fields['subhub'] = true;
-			}
-		}
-
-		foreach ($updatefields AS $field) {
-			if (!empty($data[$field])) {
-				$fields[$field] = $data[$field];
-			}
-		}
-
-		$fields['nurl'] = Strings::normaliseLink($data['url']);
-
-		if (!empty($data['priority'])) {
-			$fields['priority'] = intval($data['priority']);
-		}
-
-		if (empty($fields)) {
-			return;
-		}
-
-		DBA::update('contact', $fields, ['id' => $contact_id, 'uid' => local_user()]);
-
 		// Update the entry in the contact table
-		Model\Contact::updateAvatar($data['photo'], local_user(), $contact_id, true);
+		Model\Contact::updateFromProbe($contact_id, '', true);
 
 		// Update the entry in the gcontact table
-		Model\GContact::updateFromProbe($data['url']);
+		Model\GContact::updateFromProbe($contact['url']);
 	}
 
 	private static function blockContact($contact_id)
diff --git a/src/Worker/MergeContact.php b/src/Worker/MergeContact.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a5e28e5254
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Worker/MergeContact.php
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * @file src/Worker/MergeContact.php
+ */
+
+namespace Friendica\Worker;
+
+use Friendica\Core\Logger;
+use Friendica\Database\DBA;
+
+class MergeContact
+{
+	public static function execute($first, $dup_id, $uid)
+	{
+		if (empty($first) || empty($dup_id) || ($first == $dup_id)) {
+			// Invalid request
+			return;
+		}
+
+		Logger::info('Handling duplicate', ['search' => $dup_id, 'replace' => $first]);
+
+		// Search and replace
+		DBA::update('item', ['contact-id' => $first], ['contact-id' => $dup_id]);
+		DBA::update('thread', ['contact-id' => $first], ['contact-id' => $dup_id]);
+		DBA::update('mail', ['contact-id' => $first], ['contact-id' => $dup_id]);
+		DBA::update('photo', ['contact-id' => $first], ['contact-id' => $dup_id]);
+		DBA::update('event', ['cid' => $first], ['cid' => $dup_id]);
+		if ($uid == 0) {
+			DBA::update('item', ['author-id' => $first], ['author-id' => $dup_id]);
+			DBA::update('item', ['owner-id' => $first], ['owner-id' => $dup_id]);
+			DBA::update('thread', ['author-id' => $first], ['author-id' => $dup_id]);
+			DBA::update('thread', ['owner-id' => $first], ['owner-id' => $dup_id]);
+		} else {
+			/// @todo Check if some other data needs to be adjusted as well, possibly the "rel" status?
+		}
+
+		// Remove the duplicate
+		DBA::delete('contact', ['id' => $dup_id]);
+	}
+}