The Telegram app hosts “underground markets” for Southeast Asian criminal gangs: the UN

The report outlines the latest charges to be brought against the controversial encrypted app since France, applying a tough new law that has no international equivalent, accused its boss Pavel Durov of enabling criminal activity on the platform

Reuters

October 7, 2024, at 13:10

Last modified: October 7, 2024, 1:10 p.m

The Telegram app logo can be seen in an illustration taken on August 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

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The Telegram app logo can be seen in an illustration taken on August 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

In a report on Monday, the United Nations said powerful criminal networks in Southeast Asia make extensive use of the Telegram messaging app, which has enabled a fundamental shift in the way organized crime can conduct large-scale illegal activities.

The report outlines the latest charges to be brought against the controversial encrypted app since France, applying a tough new law that has no international equivalent, accused its boss Pavel Durov of enabling criminal activity on the platform.

A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that hacked data, including credit card details, passwords and browser history, are openly traded on a massive scale on an app that has extensive channels and little moderation .

The report found that cybercrime tools, including so-called deepfake software designed for fraud and data-stealing malware, are widely sold, and that unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges offer money laundering services.

“Every day we transfer stolen USDT 3 million abroad,” the report quoted one of the Chinese advertisements as saying.

There is “strong evidence that underground data markets are moving to Telegram, with providers actively seeking to target transnational organized crime groups based in Southeast Asia,” the report said.

Southeast Asia has become a major hub for a multi-billion dollar industry that targets victims around the world through fraudulent schemes. Many of them are Chinese syndicates operating in fortified facilities staffed by trafficked workers. According to UNODC, the industry generates between $27.4 and $36.5 billion annually.

Russian-born Durov was arrested in August in Paris and accused of facilitating criminal activity on the platform, including distributing sexual images of children. The move drew attention to the criminal liability of app providers and sparked a debate about where free speech ends and law enforcement begins.

Telegram, which has nearly a billion users, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Following his arrest, Durov, who is currently free on bail, said the app would hand over users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities making legal requests. He also said that the app will remove some features that have been used for illegal activities.

Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC deputy representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said the app provides an easy-to-navigate environment for criminals.

“For consumers, this means that their data is more at risk than ever before of being used for fraud or other criminal activity,” he told Reuters.

The report noted that the sheer scale of profits made by criminal groups in the region required them to innovate, adding that they had integrated new business models and technologies into their operations, including malware, generative artificial intelligence and deepfakes.

UNODC said it had identified more than 10 deepfake software service providers “specifically targeting criminal groups engaged in cyber-enabled fraud in Southeast Asia.”

Elsewhere in Asia, police in South Korea – estimated to be the country most targeted by fake pornography – have launched an investigation into Telegram to see if it is contributing to online sex crimes.

Last month, Reuters also reported that a hacker used chatbots on Telegram to leak data from India’s top insurer Star Health, prompting the insurer to sue the platform.

Using chatbots, Reuters was able to retrieve policy and claims documents containing names, phone numbers, addresses, tax details, copies of ID cards, test results and medical diagnoses.