Telegram is one of the best messaging apps on the market but is also a nest of bots and scammers trying to steal sensitive information.
In recent years, Telegram has quickly become one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. With 550 million monthly active users, Telegram was the 7th most downloaded app on the Apple and Play stores in 2021. Although Telegram still pales compared to WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging app with over 2,1 billion monthly users, it still represents a powerful rival.
Unfortunately, Telegram is slightly more dangerous than WhatsApp, as it does not implement end-to-end encryption from the start. This means that scammers and bots can easily access someone’s data when provided with some pieces of information. In this article, we’ll see some of the most common Telegram scams in 2023.
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Crypto scams
By far the most common Telegram scams involve cryptocurrencies. Telegram hosts many channels and groups on the subject, pullulating with scammers ready to take someone’s life savings.
“Crypto experts”, for example, will pretend to have some sort of insight and convince users to invest in their exchange. Once enough users have put their money into an account, the “expert” disappears with all the money.
Other channels will pretend to be official pages of famous cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, and provide “discounts” on the purchase of crypto assets. In order to receive the “discount”, however, users need to place their banking information, which will be used by scammers to steal all their money.
Finally, another common Telegram scam involving crypto is the so-called “Pump and dump” strategy. Again, some self-professed “crypto experts” will provide crucial “inside information” to channel users, making them buy and sell specific assets. In reality, the “expert” placed a bet on those assets, therefore artificially driving the price in his favor.
Phishing and fraud
Telegram channels are also nests of AI-powered bots. These bots are infamous for their phishing attempts at real users, trying to steal sensitive information.
These bots will pretend to be representatives of banks and financial institutions, texting users with a false sense of urgency about an imminent attack on the user’s account. The bot will then request the user’s bank information in order to stop the “attack”.
“Friend in need”
Finally, another common scam on Telegram is faking the identity of a friend or a family member of the user, asking them for help.
In this case, scammers will research the user’s friend base, trying to impersonify them as best as possible. This “friend” will be in urgent need of financial aid, asking money for rent or for an upcoming car payment.
As in all cases stated above, these scammers must immediately be blocked and reported to Telegram for their removal.
