Fraudsters are 19 times more likely to attack Telegram users

On the eve of the New Year, attacks by fraudsters on Telegram users increased 19 times. In November-December 2024 alone, their number amounted to more than a thousand, while in the same period last year only 54 cases were recorded, the Coordination Center for .RU/.RF domains told Izvestia.

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Fraudsters use a variety of schemes to hack into user accounts: these include fake social payments for holidays, and New Year sales, and cheap tickets to Christmas trees, concerts and performances, said the center's project manager Evgeny Pankov. For example, in one scenario, fraudsters create Telegram channels in which they spread fake messages about opportunities for Russians to receive "pre-New Year's payments."

"We are talking about a decree allegedly signed by the president to pay all Russians 17,490 rubles, in others - about 10,000 rubles under the fictitious state program "Gift to Every Home." To make it more believable, scammers use official wording and often accompany the posts with a photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin," said Yevgeny Pankov.

Users are then offered to undergo a "simple verification" to receive a payout. As a rule, it looks like following a link or sending a code, which is supposedly needed to confirm identity, he explained. The link hides a phishing site where the user is asked to enter a phone number and a code from an SMS that comes from Telegram to log into the account. This is how fraudsters gain access to the account, he explained.

With the sale of tickets for Christmas trees and concerts, the scheme is about the same, the expert added.

Telegram, compared to other messengers, provides users with variability in the exchange of information: public channels, public chats, bots. This is used both by real companies and honest users, and fraudsters posing as the former and the latter, said Evgeny Egorov, a leading analyst of the digital risk protection department of the F.A.C.C.T. company. Evgeny Egorov.

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Personal intrusion: fraudsters' attacks on Telegram users have grown 19 times