Criminal networks in Southeast Asia are flourishing in Telegram’s ‘underground markets’, the UN says

BANGKOKPowerful criminal networks in Southeast Asia are making extensive use of the messaging app Telegram, which has enabled a fundamental change in the way organized crime can carry out large-scale illegal activities, the United Nations said in a report on Monday.

The report represents the latest allegations leveled against the controversial encrypted app since France, using a tough new law with no international equivalent, charged its boss Pavel Durov with allowing criminal activity on the platform.

Compromised data, including credit card details, passwords and browser history, is being openly and widely traded with little restraint through the app, which has vast channels, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report said.

Tools used for cybercrime, including so-called deepfake software designed for fraud, and data-stealing malware, are also being widely sold, while unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges are offering money laundering services, the report said.

“We transport 3 million USDT stolen from abroad every day,” the report quoted an advertisement in Chinese as saying.

There is “strong evidence that underground data markets are moving to Telegram and that suppliers are actively seeking out transnational organized crime groups 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 with fraudulent schemes. Many are Chinese syndicates operating from fortified complexes staffed by trafficked workers. The industry generates between $27.4 billion and $36.5 billion annually, according to UNODC.

Russian-born Durov was arrested in Paris in August and charged with allowing criminal activity on the platform, including the distribution of sexual images of children. The move has put a spotlight on the criminal liability of app providers and has also sparked a debate about where freedom of expression ends and enforcement of the law begins.

Telegram, which has nearly 1 billion users, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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

Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC Deputy Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said the app provides an easily navigable environment for criminals.

“For consumers, this means their data is at greater risk of being caught in scams or other criminal activity than ever before,” he told Reuters.

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

UNODC said it has identified more than ten providers of deepfake software services “specifically targeting criminal groups involved in cyber fraud in Southeast Asia.”

Elsewhere in Asia, police in South Korea – estimated to be the country most targeted by deepfake pornography – have reportedly launched an investigation into Telegram, looking into whether Telegram encourages online sex crimes.

Reuters also reported last month that a hacker had used chatbots on Telegram to leak data from top Indian insurer Star Health, prompting the insurer to sue the platform.

Using the chatbots, Reuters was able to download policy and claim documents containing names, phone numbers, addresses, tax information, copies of ID cards, test results and medical diagnoses.