The Telegram app has emerged as a platform facilitating underground markets for Southeast Asian crime syndicates, according to a United Nations report. This messaging service allows for the discreet exchange of illicit goods and services, enabling criminal organizations to operate with relative anonymity.
The app’s encryption features and user-friendly interface contribute to its popularity among these groups, raising concerns about the challenges law enforcement faces in combating organized crime in the region.
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Dominant criminal organizations in Southeast Asia heavily rely on the messaging app Telegram, which has facilitated a fundamental shift in how organized crime may undertake large-scale illicit operations, according to a UN report released on Monday.
This revelation is the most recent accusation made against the contentious encrypted app since Pavel Durov, the company’s CEO, was indicted by France under a strict new law that has no counterpart elsewhere for permitting illegal activities on the site.
Hacked data, like credit card numbers, passwords, and browsing history, are openly exchanged on a huge scale on the app, that utilizes extensive channels with minimal supervision, a report released by the UN Department for Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ) claimed.
Data-stealing malware and other cybercrime tools, such as “deepfake” software intended for deception, are also frequently marketed, and unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges provide money-laundering services, the research claims.
According to one Chinese advertisement, “We move 3 million USDT stolen from overseas per day,” was stated in the study.
The research stated that there is “strong evidence of vendors seeking to target multinational criminal organizations situated in Southeast Asia and underworld markets for data moving to Telegram.”
New UN Report Exposes Telegram’s Links to Multi-Billion Dollar Cybercrime Industry in Asia
SE Asia has become a key center for a multibillion dollar industry that uses fraudulent tactics to target victims worldwide. Numerous of them are Chinese syndicates run by people smuggled in for their labor, out of guarded compounds.
According to UNODC, the industry brings in between $27.4 billion and $36.5 billion a year. Durov, a Russian-born man, was accused of permitting illegal behavior on the platform, including the dissemination of child sex pictures, when he was detained in Paris in August.
The action has raised awareness of the criminal responsibility of software developers and sparked discussion about the boundaries between legal enforcement and free expression. An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by Telegram, which has around one billion members.
Durov, who is presently free on bond after his detention, stated that the app will provide users’ phone numbers and IP addresses to law enforcement upon request. He added that certain functionalities of the program would no longer be exploited for illicit purposes.
According to UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s deputy director for South Asia as well as the Pacific, Benedikt Hofmann, criminals could easily navigate the program.
As a result, “consumers now have a greater chance than ever before of having their data used in scams or other illegal activity,” he told a news agency.
According to the report, criminal groups in the region were forced to innovate due to the substantial profits they were making. As a result, they incorporated new technology and business models into their operations, such as deepfakes, malware, and generative artificial intelligence.
More than ten deepfake technology service providers have been found, according to UN Office on Drugs and Crime, who are “specifically targeted criminal organizations responsible for cyberenabled crime in Southeast Asia.”
In other Asian news, Telegram is allegedly the subject of an investigation by police in South Korea, which is said to be the nation hardest hit by deepfake pornography. The probe will focus on whether Telegram encourages online sexual offences.
Additionally, a news agency revealed last month that Star Health, a leading Indian insurer, filed a lawsuit against Telegram after a hacker exploited chatbots on the network to steal its data.
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