Several years ago, illicit services and online smuggling originated in a hidden and untraceable way in the so-called dark web. However, the constant closures of very low-profile or anonymous sites and the difficulty in attracting large volumes of customers to the dark web they have forced criminal organizations to seek alternatives to reach their markets. One of them is Telegramwhich is a completely legitimate free, open source, cloud-based instant messaging platform and is popular for its privacy.
The platform attracted the attention of cyber criminals and this is why they create groups in this apps to offer drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit card details, personal data and services of alleged hit men (scams). Some vendors are also offering fake COVID-19 vaccination or travel certificates, each for $260. Sexual content is also offered.
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Carlos indicates that it is “normal” that in the comments left by users on pornographic web pages links of Telegram groups where adult content is shared: “There are videos of porn actors, but there are others that look real and are leaked on the internet and shared. I only entered one of those groups once, I saw that there were people offering sexual services and that seemed strange to me and I left. There were hundreds of people in that group and not just from Ecuador”, he expresses.
What is worrying about these groups, according to Camilo Gutiérrez Amaya, head of the ESET Latin America research laboratory, is that they can be found in a matter of minutes and with just a few “clicks”. In addition, says the expert, what is most disconcerting is the number of users that this information reaches, since some groups have hundreds of thousands of members, opening the new illegal market to a large audience. Worldwide, the platform has more than 500 million active users.
In Ecuador, as of June 2021, there were 1,600,000 users. Besides, the apps It is among the ten most downloaded applications among owners of Apple devices.according to the Ecuador Digital State report.
If compared to the dark web, buying through social networks might seem less dangerous, or even legal, and this is part of the problem. Cybercriminals are using the underlying privacy protection in Telegram and other services. The use of virtual private networks (VPN) and other tools to evade capture, which complicates the tracking of those who use Telegram for malicious purposes, indicates María Sol González, an expert in computer science.
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He adds that even if the devices were seized it is unlikely that there would be enough or any hard evidence on the devices due to the ability to set the messages to disappear after a certain time. The specialist emphasizes that the problem is not platforms like Telegram, but the people who use them for malicious purposes.
Telegram is no stranger to the problem and has filtered some keywords that cannot be located in the groups that are created or in the suggestions, but the way the criminal community avoids this is by forming new words so that the products and services remain in search. In addition, Telegram allows its users to report lists or groups where illegal acts are carried out and blocks them after verification.
Fernando Checa García, a professor at the International University of La Rioja and a doctor in computer science, maintains that the “halo” that Telegram has is more “secure” than its peers such as WhatsApp, that it is decentralized and that it does not belong to a large company like Meta has led criminals to see in this apps a safer environment.
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“This is why public groups or lists are created that give space to irregular situations and offers. Although there are countries where the legislation can require Telegram to open these messages, but this, until now, has not been easy. In fact, the Russian Government (the founders of the apps they are Russian) has been trying for some time to be able to practice decryption or decrypt Telegram messages and has not succeeded”, he points out.
Although this apps it is quite secure, it could not escape a hack of its servers either. Although this situation is very complicated, since so far there are no known leaks or improper access to these servers.
Care while using Telegram
The pandemic and WhatsApp’s announcement about its data policies (which it later canceled) increased Telegram users. More and more people are concerned about the privacy of their messages and are looking for more secure options.
This is known to cybercriminals who also seek to carry out scams through this platform. ESET has found that there are services such as hitmen that tend to be false and what they are looking for is to steal data, especially banking data, from users.
Checa and González agree that people should not give sensitive data on these types of platforms if they are not sure who is behind the group. Also, don’t click on links strangers that can be shared in the application. Also, if they observe any type of illegal activity, report it through the official channels of the platform.
They also advise that when betting on a apps Messaging users should pay attention to the quality of the encryption of the messages, although they recognize that their use is determined by the number of contacts that use them.
“If family and friends use WhatsApp, chances are they will use it. There are people who use more than one or one for the family and another for work. Whatever we use, we must be careful with the information we share,” says González. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
