By: Yash Goyal
Edited By: Manjiri Joshi
CNN-News18
Last Updated: January 12, 2023, 14:24 IST
New Delhi, India
Telegram is a popular messaging application with over a billion downloads globally. (News18 File)
In the post-Covid era, cryptocurrencies became a popular choice for a lot of investors as an asset class, with millions pouring their savings into digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
A lot of them were also duped on the pretext of generating huge returns in a short span of time.
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Now, the fraudsters have a new modus operandi to extract money from their victims — Telegram, a popular messaging application with over a billion downloads globally.
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At the time of publishing, a response from Telegram was awaited. The story will be updated when the response is received.
News18 gets you a step-by-step guide on how people are cheated on Telegram:
News18 spoke to victims and their families who have fallen prey to these scams and some even lost their lives. Hardik, a 19-year-old from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, died by suicide because of a fraud of Rs 1 lakh. His mother said, “My son could never take such an extreme step. The fraudsters killed him.”
Ankur Kaushik, another victim, told News18 that he was looted by swindlers on Telegram in a similar manner. “It was too late when I realised that I was being duped and I lost around Rs 1.5 lakh,” he added.
The cybercrime cell of Delhi Police has taken cognisance of these financial frauds. Several accounts have been tracked and traced. “The Delhi police was investigating such cases earlier, too, but a new modus operandi has now surfaced,” said DCP IFSO Prashant Gautam. “People are now being approached through the Telegram app. We are on to it and we will crack down on it.”
As per the Delhi Police, the origin of these crimes is mainly in countries such as China and Hong Kong. The Delhi police said the fraudsters use proxies to dupe Indian nationals. According to the investigation agencies, Chinese citizens or firms are involved in most of these scams and malpractices.
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Cyber experts said the money extracted from these fraudsters could be used for terror financing and money laundering. Cyber expert Amit Dubey said, “Most of these fraudsters use proxies and are sitting in countries like China. Eventually the money extracted by these fraudsters is used in money laundering operations and terror financing."
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