Crime groups in Southeast Asia are finding success on Telegram

Powerful crime groups in Southeast Asia are widely using the messaging app Telegram, the United Nations said in a report on Monday. It says the use of the app has led to major changes in the way such groups conduct major criminal operations.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) prepared the report. Investigators say stolen data, including credit card information, passwords and browser history, are openly traded through the app. The app has many channels and little content oversight, the report said.

Criminals also sell tools on the app that are used for cybercrime, including so-called deeply fake software and data stealing malware. And criminal cryptocurrency Exchanges also do business with Telegram, the report said.

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

There are ‘strong indications that underground data markets are moving to Telegram sellers actively seeking out transnational organized crime groups in Southeast Asia,” the report said.

Southeast Asia has become a center for a multibillion-dollar online crime industry that targets victims around the world. Many industry members are Chinese criminal groups that operate from large, protected complexes and use trafficked workers. The industry earns between $27.4 billion and $36.5 billion annually, according to the UNODC.

In August, French police arrested Telegram leader Pavel Durov in Paris. Officials accused him of allowing criminal activity on the site, including the online distribution of sexual images of children.

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

After his arrest, Durov said the app would hand over users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to French officials who would file legal requests. He also said the app would remove some tools that have been misused for illegal activities.

According to the report, the huge profits made by criminal groups in the area have prompted them to change their ways. They have established new business models and added technologies to their systems, including malware, generative artificial intelligence and deepfakes, officials say.

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

I’m Caty Weaver.

Reuters reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in this story

browser – N. a computer program used to access sites or information on a network (such as the World Wide Web)

deep fake – N. an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone doing or saying something that was not actually done or said

malware – N. software designed to disrupt the normal operation of a computer

cryptocurrency – N. any form of currency that exists only digitally, that usually uses a decentralized system for issuing new units and rescheduling transactions, and that relies on cryptography to prevent fraudulent transactions

supplier – N. seller

fraud – N. the use of dishonest methods to defraud someone else of something valuable