The cross-platform messaging app is seen as a safer alternative to WhatsApp, but it has its drawbacks
Post Date – 12:45 AM, Tue – 12/06/22
Telegram is the second most popular cross-platform messaging app, widely used due to its enhanced privacy and encryption features. It even supports large group chats with a capacity of up to 2,00,000 people. Telegram offers several features to its users, including unlimited media size, end-to-end encryption in Secret Chats, and a bot API to encourage developers to create their own bots for Telegram.
Some advantages of Telegram over WhatsApp are:
Larger groups: WhatsApp supports 256 members in its groups, while Telegram can have 2,00,000 members.
Secret conversation: Telegram basically encrypts your chosen secret conversations, which improves your privacy.
Free app: Telegram is completely free, there are no annoying ads on Telegram, and it provides an open API.
privacy: The content can be destroyed manually or automatically without leaving any traces for the person who sent the message and the person who received it.
Scams on Telegram and their modus operandi
Telegram scams are fraudulent schemes that take place within the messaging platform or lure users away from the messaging app to dangerous third-party sites and apps.
Scammers have flocked to Telegram due to its wide acceptance and ease of use. Many times we see scammers posing as legitimate agents or employees of various companies. Scammers often create duplicate/fake versions of popular channels to lure victims.
The groups will have similar names and profile pictures, have the same canned message, and the admin’s username nearly matches the legitimate one.
People fall prey to scams involving promotions, freebies, and MLM-based schemes. Scammers often ask to take remote control of your laptop or device to “fix” the problem, collecting all of your personal and financial information in the process.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency scams: Scammers pose as crypto experts on Telegram to scam victims of coins, money, or account logins. Posing as experts, they promise to guarantee victims a return on their crypto investments.
As part of their scam, they show their victims charts and charts proving their investments are increasing (most of these members are either fake or paid social media influencers). Victims will not be able to withdraw the earnings shown in the wallet or dashboard, and the scammers will disappear and never reply in the group.
Phishing with bots: Telegram has an open API and the ability to build and use bots on the platform. With AI, they’ll have lifelike conversations that make it hard to tell if you’re being scammed. Namely, the fake bot SMS Ranger poses as a representative of banks and digital payment apps. The bot calls and convinces users to provide personal information, bank account logins, passwords and even OTP codes.
Tech Support Scams: This scam involves scammers posing as legitimate tech support agents. Scammers remotely control a victim’s laptop or device to fix the problem, collecting all of the victim’s personal and financial information in the process.
Romance/Extortion Scams: Social Media Creates Opportunities to Engage in Prohibited Intimacy and Prohibited Behavior. Scammers use it and build online relationships with users to gain their trust and ask victims to send them sensitive photos or videos, which they then use as blackmail.
Other types of dating scams include marriage proposals turned into blackmail, pretty women being men, and making gay men pay.
Safety Tips on Telegram
Use at least 10 unique and difficult-to-guess combinations of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. To help you keep track of all your passwords, consider using a paid password manager.
Use https://www.unshorten.it or https://www.checkshorturl.com to verify the short URL/link, even if it is sent by a known source.
Check web links carefully before clicking or downloading attachments sent by unknown contacts, they will lead to an unfamiliar site (mouse over them and check) and use https://www.isitphishing.org or https:/ /www Verify all links to .urlvoid.com.
To block an account, go to the user’s profile, click on the three dots in the corner of the 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 you can email abuse@telegram.org.
Secret Chat – Open Telegram -> Tap the pencil icon (New Chat) in the bottom right corner of the screen -> Tap New Secret Chat -> Select a contact to start a Secret Chat.
Disable active sessions: Open Telegram ->; select the menu button in the upper left corner of the screen ->; settings ->; privacy and security ->; active sessions ->; terminate all other sessions.
Sending self-destructing media: open Telegram ->; select a chat ->; the add-on icon in the bottom right corner of the screen ->; select an existing image or take a new one ->; stopwatch button ->; choose how long you want the media to last ->; Send button.
Lock Chat – Open Telegram -> Select the menu button on the top left corner of the screen -> Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Password Lock -> Enable Password. ->;Choose a password and confirm.
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA): Open Telegram ->; Settings ->; Privacy and Security ->; Two-step verification ->; Set additional password ->; Enter password and confirm ->; create Password ->; under A page, enter a hint to help you remember your password, and continue ->; the email address you want to use to recover a forgotten password ->; continue ->; go back to settings and finish.