The number of thefts of Telegram accounts has doubled

In the first three months of 2025, only one of the Russian-speaking groups of intruders stole more than 887,000 user accounts from Russia and other countries, while in the second half of 2024 the same group stole more than 1.2 million profiles, Maria Sinitsyna, senior analyst at the Digital Risk Protection department at F6, told Izvestia..

Tricksters without borders: scammers have found new vulnerabilities in Telegram

There has been a surge in cybercriminal activity due to the May update

She noted that this is data on only one of the groups, and at least six similar ones were discovered in total, which act against Telegram users. To achieve their goal, criminals seek to use both fresh news stories and proven tricks: the promise of cash prizes and free subscriptions, voting, access to a private channel, and others, encouraging people to enter confidential information on fake resources.

Recently, for the first time, the company recorded a "combo scheme" in which a stolen account automatically begins to distribute fraudulent links, the expert said.

"The attackers hijack Telegram user accounts, and then send messages to the contact list offering to take a survey on behalf of the United Russia party for money. To do this, it is proposed to download a fake mobile application with an Android Trojan, after installing it, criminals get the opportunity to withdraw money from the victim's accounts," Sinitsyna said.

After hijacking an account in a messenger, criminals receive information from correspondence. They send messages to the contact list, user groups, and channels if the account had administrator rights, asking for financial assistance or links to phishing and fraudulent pages, the expert added. In addition, stolen accounts are sold through marketplaces in the web dashboard or Telegram bots.

The growing number of thefts of Telegram accounts is a dangerous trend, especially given the scale with which cybercriminals operate, said Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications.

"One of the reasons for the vulnerability of users is the insufficient level of protection of the accounts themselves. Telegram should continue to develop protection tools such as login notifications, advanced privacy settings, and anti—phishing," the deputy told Izvestia.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

In order of harm: the number of thefts of Telegram accounts has doubled