Cross-platform messaging app is seen as a safer alternative to WhatsApp, but has its flipside too
Telegram is the second-most popular cross-platform messaging application that’s widely used because of its enhanced privacy and encryption features. It even supports large group chat features up to a 2,00,000-person capacity. Telegram offers its users several features, including no limits on media sizes, end-to-end encryption in ‘secret chats’, and a bot API in order to encourage developers to create their own bots for Telegram.
Some advantages of Telegram over WhatsApp are:
Larger groups: WhatsApp supports 256 members in their groups while Telegram can have 2,00,000.
Secret conversations: Telegram basically encrypts the conversations you select as secret, this improves your privacy.
Free app: Telegram is completely free and there are no annoying ads on Telegram and provide an open API.
Privacy: Content can be destroyed manually or automatically without leaving any trace for both those who sent the messages and those who received the messages.
Scams on Telegram and their modus operandi
Telegram scams are fraudulent schemes that either take place within the messaging platform or draw users off the messaging application onto dangerous third-party sites and applications.
Scammers flock to Telegram due to its widespread acceptance and ease of use. Many a time, we see scammers posing as legitimate agents or employees of various corporations. Scammers will often create duplicate/fake versions of popular channels to lure in victims.
These groups will have similar names and profile pictures, have the same pinned messages and have admins with usernames that almost match legitimate ones.
People fall prey to scams that involve promotions, free giveaways and MLM-based schemes. Scammers often ask to take remote control of your laptop or device to ‘fix’ the issue and in the process collect all your personal and financial information.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency scams: Scammers pose as crypto experts on Telegram to scam victims out of coins, money or account logins. Posing as experts, they promise a guaranteed return on victims’ crypto investments.
As part of their scam, they show victims charts and graphs demonstrating that their investment is increasing (most of these members are either fake or paid social media influencers). The victim will be unable to withdraw their earnings as displayed in the wallet or dashboard, and the scammers will vanish and never respond in the groups.
Phishing using bots: Telegram has an open API and the ability to build and use bots on the platform. Having AI in place, they engage in realistic conversations, which make it hard to tell if you’re being scammed. i.e., a fake bot, SMS Ranger, poses as representatives from banks and digital payment applications. This bot calls and convinces the user to give up personal information, bank account logins, passwords and even OTP codes.
Tech-support scams: This scam involves scammers impersonating legitimate tech support agents. Scammers take remote control of victims’ laptop or device in order to fix the issue and in the process collect victims all personal and financial information.
Romance/sextortion scams: Social media creates an opportunity to engage in forbidden intimacies and forbidden behaviours. Scammers use this and start a relationship with user online to gain their trust and will ask victims to send them sensitive photos or videos, which they then use for blackmail.
Other types of romance frauds are: Proposal turns extortion, Pretty Woman is a Man, Making Gay Man Pay.
Safety tips on Telegram
Use a unique, hard-to-guess combination of at least 10 upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. To help you keep track of all your passwords, consider using a paid password manager.
Verify short URLs/links using https://www.unshorten.it or https://www.checkshorturl.com, even if it was sent by known sources.
Double-check a weblink before clicking or downloading attachments sent by unknown contacts, they will lead to an unfamiliar site (Hover over them and check) and verify all links using https://www.isitphishing.org or https://www.urlvoid.com.
To block an account, go to the user’s profile, click on the three dots at the corner of your screen and select ‘block user’.
To report an account, send a screenshot of the scam account and any other information to @notoscam on Telegram (or via their website) or alternatively, you can also send an email to abuse@telegram.org.
Secret Chats – Open Telegram ->; Tap the pencil icon (new chat) in the lower right of your screen ->;Tap New Secret Chat ->; select a contact to start a secret chat.
Disable Active Sessions: Open Telegram ->;Choose menu button in the upper-left corner of your screen ->; Settings ->; Privacy and Security ->;Active Sessions ->; Terminate all other sessions.
Sending Self Destruction Media: Open Telegram ->;Select a chat ->; Attach icon in the lower-right corner of your screen ->;Choose an existing image or take a new one ->; Stopwatch button ->;Select how long you wish your media to last->; Send button.
Locking Chats – Open Telegram ->; Choose menu button in the upper-left corner of your screen->;Settings ->;Privacy and Security->;Passcode Lock ->;Enable passcode. ->;Choose a passcode, and then Confirm.
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA): Open Telegram ->; Settings ->; Privacy and Security ->; Two-Step Verification ->; Set Additional Password ->;Enter a password and confirm ->; create Password ->;On the next page, enter a hint to help you remember the password and continue ->; Email address you want to use to recover a forgotten password->; Continue ->; Return to Settings and Finish.