Telegram is the most popular messenger for most people, containing a lot of interesting and useful information, but often just used for chatting. Many famous people have their own Telegram channels, which gather a huge number of subscribers. Scammers also dream of a large audience in their groups on Telegram, created for fraudulent schemes.
Telegram Scammers
When becoming Telegram users, scammers pursue only one goal - enrichment at the expense of naive users and subscribers. The first thing they do is buy or create a Telegram channel. Scammers choose channels that deal with:
- Investments;
- Business;
- Cryptocurrency trading.
Scammers start posting messages on the channel, attracting subscribers with fake giveaways of valuable prizes to lure as many victims as possible, offering to participate in a contest, but for this, it is necessary to subscribe to the channel. In most cases, this appears as a successful marketing move, raising no doubts among the audience or the Telegram channel moderators.
Thanks to this, the scammers' Telegram channel gains a large number of subscribers. When a new subscriber lands on the channel, they receive another message requesting them to subscribe to another channel, which is a sponsor. In most cases, this is a fake trader or fake investment broker promising astronomical profits in a short time. Supposedly, training and support are provided during the process.
Reacting positively to this information, users deposit money into scammers' accounts hoping for earnings. Naturally, after this, scammers block the user and even destroy the channel, leaving the victim without money, which cannot be recovered.
Financial Scam Channels
An integral part for scammers in Telegram channels are bots, skillfully disguised as well-known services offering financial services with high profits, which are guaranteed in most cases. You can encounter such a bot after advertisements on social networks that scammers place deliberately.
There is also a type of fraud known as scam landing, advertised in Telegram channels. This method involves replacing genuine branded websites with fraudulent ones organized to steal funds from subscribing users. Similarly, when following links to such sites, the user is offered registration involving:
- personal data;
- account information;
- bank card numbers;
- phone numbers;
- passwords may also be requested.
All these actions are aimed at stealing the subscriber's personal data or hacking their Telegram account. To carry out fraudulent activities, for example, towards people saved in contacts.
Also, in the expanses of Telegram, there are many channels offering to invest in projects with cryptocurrency and quick income growth - this resembles more the principle of a financial pyramid. Scammers, having collected the necessary amount, close the channel.
Scam Chats
There are a great many chats in Telegram. To understand which chat is assigned such a name, it is necessary to figure out what scam chats are:
- if you manage to recognize that the person you are communicating with is posing as another person or a representative of a well-known company, then they will have fake offers for services and goods that disappear immediately after payment;
- scammers often engage in black schemes of earning in Telegram channels, such as blackmail, extortion, and fraud, most often luring passwords from users for the payment system, allowing them to withdraw money from victims' accounts;
- often scammers manifest themselves in online stores, paying for goods, they write negative reviews on the site and demand a refund, obtaining a refund, scammers become owners of both the goods and money.
Fraud through Messengers
Usually, scammers, recruiting subscribers in Telegram channels, send fake or phishing messages offering to visit a site for financial transactions. For example, trading on a crypto exchange, investing in the future.
In most cases, going to such sites, registration requires entering personal data. Such an offer should definitely raise suspicion, and using such a link is not recommended, nor is registering on the site. To avoid becoming a victim of fraud through Messenger, it is necessary to follow some rules:
- carefully check sent links and files;
- use two-factor authentication to protect data;
- keep passwords and codes received through Telegram messenger secret;
- never download files automatically, it is better to do it manually;
- carefully study the name and links sent in messages.
If you discover fraudulent actions on Telegram, there is an opportunity to use the complaint option in the messenger's support service in the Telegram menu.