Telegram, the popular messaging app, has emerged as a breeding ground for organised crime in India, raising serious concerns over its role in promoting organised crime.
Telegram, a widely used social media app, is under intense scrutiny in India due to its alleged involvement in various crimes. The platform has emerged as one of the most important sources for distribution of medical information, child pornography, price control and extortion. Cyber experts, law enforcement and former government officials have compared Telegram to the dark web for its alleged involvement in illegal activities.
The review comes after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France on August 24. French authorities are investigating Durov for failing to crack down on the platform, including exposure to child abuse material. The situation has spread globally to the problems that Telegram presents to law enforcement and digital content monitoring.
The Paris prosecutor announced on August 26 that the investigation into Durov included charges of criminal activity, viewing pornographic images of children, forgery, and not reporting information about children to the police. In response, Telegram reiterated its opinion, “It is absurd to claim that the platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform.”
Telegram was launched in 2013 by Pavel and Nikolai Durov. The platform now has 950 million users, up from 550 million in 2022.
How did Telegram become a hub for scams and fraud in India?
On July 24, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) unveiled a plan to manage market prices through the Telegram app. The head of the Telegram group was accused of taking a bribe of ₹20 million to control the price of steel products.
On May 3, two men from Bhopal were arrested for defrauding a local doctor of ₹38 million. They use Telegram to impersonate police and conduct fake interrogations.
On June 19, 2023, the UGC-NET exam, which had around 900,000 applicants, was cancelled the day after it was held due to a suspicious text leak on Telegram. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “We have compiled the questions with the UGC-NET questions for the first time and they match… All these activities are happening on Telegram today. It is difficult to detect the complexity of Telegram without advanced investigation,” Hindustan Times reported.
On May 3, 2023, several NEET-UG candidates were reported to have received advance copies of the test questions, sparking India’s biggest controversy and leading to government investigations and Supreme Court intervention.
Officials say they face serious problems due to Telegram’s anonymous feature. “One of the most common scams on Telegram is the scam where users are added to a group and asked to invest money in products through fake applications that act as legitimate products,” a senior officer from the Delhi police’s cyber crime unit told HT. Other crimes include buying fake SIM cards and sharing their content banking with cyber fraudsters through the Telegram app, the officer added.
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