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    Joint Advisory On Social Media Impersonation Scams Involving Telegram

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    FRISCA FITRIA
    1) Telegram impersonation scams have increased, with scammers taking over victims' Telegram accounts by tricking them into providing login codes or clicking links. Once in control of accounts, scammers target victims' contacts too. 2) People should enable two-factor authentication, be wary of unusual requests from contacts, and report any suspected scams or compromised accounts to authorities. 3) Working together, the community can fight scams on messaging platforms like Telegram by taking precautions and reporting incidents.

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    Joint Advisory On Social Media Impersonation Scams Involving Telegram

    Uploaded by

    FRISCA FITRIA
    21 views7 pages
    1) Telegram impersonation scams have increased, with scammers taking over victims' Telegram accounts by tricking them into providing login codes or clicking links. Once in control of accounts, scammers target victims' contacts too. 2) People should enable two-factor authentication, be wary of unusual requests from contacts, and report any suspected scams or compromised accounts to authorities. 3) Working together, the community can fight scams on messaging platforms like Telegram by taking precautions and reporting incidents.

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    Joint-Advisory-On-Social-Media-Impersonation-Scams-Involving-Telegram

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    1) Telegram impersonation scams have increased, with scammers taking over victims' Telegram accounts by tricking them into providing login codes or clicking links. Once in control of accounts, scammers target victims' contacts too. 2) People should enable two-factor authentication, be wary of unusual requests from contacts, and report any suspected scams or compromised accounts to authorities. 3) Working together, the community can fight scams on messaging platforms like Telegram by taking precautions and reporting incidents.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    21 views7 pages

    Joint Advisory On Social Media Impersonation Scams Involving Telegram

    Uploaded by

    FRISCA FITRIA
    1) Telegram impersonation scams have increased, with scammers taking over victims' Telegram accounts by tricking them into providing login codes or clicking links. Once in control of accounts, scammers target victims' contacts too. 2) People should enable two-factor authentication, be wary of unusual requests from contacts, and report any suspected scams or compromised accounts to authorities. 3) Working together, the community can fight scams on messaging platforms like Telegram by taking precautions and reporting incidents.

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    of 7

    JOINT NEWS RELEASE BY SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE AND CYBER SECURITY

    AGENCY OF SINGAPORE

    JOINT ADVISORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA IMPERSONATION SCAMS INVOLVING


    TELEGRAM

    The Police would like to alert members of the public to a social media
    impersonation scam variant involving the messaging app, Telegram. Since January
    2023, at least 50 victims have fallen prey to this variant, with total losses amounting to
    at least $18,000.

    2 For this scam variant, scammers take over control of victims’ Telegram accounts
    by tricking victims into providing their handphone numbers and Telegram generated
    login codes. The scam works in the following ways using a compromised account of
    the victim’s known contacts:

    i. Victims are added into a secret Telegram chat by scammers pretending to


    be the victims’ known contact and are asked to provide a screenshot of their
    Telegram chat history. Unknown to victims, the screenshot will reveal a
    Telegram generated login code because the scammers will simultaneously
    trigger a Telegram login code for the victim’s Telegram account; or
    ii. Victims are asked by the scammer pretending to be a known contact to help
    him locate someone on Telegram and are instructed to search for specific
    usernames (e.g. login_not, not_this) in their chat history and provide a
    screenshot of the search results. The screenshot would invariably contain a
    Telegram login code; or
    iii. Victims are asked to help verify or unblock the Telegram account of a known
    contact that had been restricted by Telegram. To help verify or unblock the
    Telegram account, victims would send a request to a Telegram handle
    which masquerades as a ‘customer service bot’. The bot would then ask for
    the victims’ details (e.g. mobile number). Victims will then be asked for their
    Telegram login codes or are sent URL links masquerading as a verification
    button to allow their ‘friend’ to log in to the victim’s Telegram account; or
    iv. Victims are asked by a known contact to help secure a free Telegram
    membership. Scammers will trick victims into participating by clicking a link
    to allow the scammers to log in to the victim’s Telegram account, resulting
    in the victim losing access to his/her Telegram account.

    3 Once scammers take over the victims’ Telegram accounts, the scammers would
    proceed to target the victims’ contacts to repeat the same ruse to take over their
    Telegram accounts or ask for monies (e.g. loans) to perpetuate the scam. Victims
    would only realise they had been scammed after they discover that their Telegram
    account is no longer under their control or when the loan is not returned. In some cases,
    the scammers would have access to information, such as photographs or videos, in
    the victims’ Telegram chats. The scammers would then use the information to extort
    monies from victims and their contacts.

    4 The Police and the Cyber Security Agency Of Singapore would also like to
    advise members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures:

    a) ADD – Add the ScamShield App and set security features (e.g., enable two-
    factor (2FA) or multi-factor authentication for banks, social media, Singpass
    accounts; set transaction limits on internet banking transactions, including
    PayNow)

    b) CHECK – Check for the scam signs with official sources (e.g. ScamShield
    WhatsApp bot @ https://go.gov.sg/scamshield-bot, call the Anti-Scam
    Helpline on 1800-722-6688, or visit www.scamalert.sg).

    c) TELL – Tell authorities, family, and friends about scams. Report any
    fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately. Block and report the
    sender to Telegram. If your Telegram account has been compromised,
    report this to Telegram Support and inform your family and friends so that
    they do not fall prey to scammers who may use your Telegram account to
    impersonate you. Additionally, you are advised to report the Telegram
    takeover incident to SingCERT via the online incident reporting form at
    https://www.go.gov.sg/singcert-incident-reporting-form.

    5 If you have any information relating to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please
    call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at
    www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you
    require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.

    6 For more information on scams, members of the public can visit


    www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688. For more
    information on securing your Telegram account, members of the public can visit
    https://www.csa.gov.sg/alerts-advisories/Advisories/2022/ad-2022-013 for more
    information. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against
    Scams to safeguard our community.

    SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE


    CYBER SECURITY AGENCY OF SINGAPORE
    31 AUGUST 2023 @ 1.20 PM
    Annex A
    MO (i): Victims are added into a secret chat by scammers pretending to be a
    known contact of the victims. Scammers will then ask for a screenshot of the
    victims’ Telegram chat history. Unknown to victims, the screenshot will reveal
    a Telegram generated login code because the scammers will simultaneously
    trigger a Telegram login code for the victim’s Telegram account.
    MO (ii): Victims are asked by the scammer pretending to be a known contact
    to assist in locating someone on Telegram.

    Screenshot of Telegram login


    code after searching username
    ‘this_not’
    MO (iii): Victims are asked to help verify or unblock the Telegram account of
    the known contact that has been restricted.
    MO (iv): Victims are asked by the known contact to secure a free Telegram
    membership.

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