The Expert Podcast

Is the telegram messenger app a scam or a fraud or is it dangerous to use this is dave at active intel investigations no the telegram map is just fine there's nothing wrong with it it's not a scam it's not a fraud it's safe to use as long as you're performing due diligence and caution on the activities you take using the app and here's why i say this.

Many times when we investigate a fraud or a scam where somebody's lost money to a ponzi scheme or had their identity stolen or been hacked many times the scammers or fraudsters have used the telegram messenger app to start the conversation to continue the conversation or to exchange information and we believe the reason for it is is because it's anonymous you can use this with either no identity or fake identity.

But many cases where a person has sent tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bitcoin scam or a fraud and they say well the person contacted me on telegram or i communicated with them on telegram the reason for it is unlike a phone you had don't have a phone number you don't have an address you don't have a physical location to identify that person so scammers can use this to keep a distance to stay anonymous and still have a conversation with you many times these fraudsters are overseas in other countries.

So if you're using telegram that's fine just make sure you're not exchanging personal private information that could be used to do identity theft or other types of harm to you and also if you're investing in anything where you're sending money verify the identities of the person and the company separately from the app get a name get an address verify it's true verify the company if they're an investment company they have a website they have an address and don't just go by the street address on their website.

Many of these frauds will just pick an address from google maps where there's a commercial building that has offices in it and say we're at you know 25 5th avenue in manhattan well they may not be there obviously you can't physically go to any location if it's far away from where you live but you want to verify they're there how could you do that well you know you could call and have them prove that they're at the address you could even call a company that's in the same building down the hall and ask them look is this company down to haul from you.

We've had cases where somebody was being asked to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars and we recommended that you hire a courier mobile notary somebody local even a uber driver to go to the address walk in the door and ask if that company's there it might cost 40 or 50 dollars but that's a very cheap way to verify the identity of who you're dealing with.

So telegram app by itself is not problematic but you may find that people who are more scammers use the app because it gives them some val validation that they're using an app but also it gives them some secrecy behind who they are it's kind of like the same thing as a walmart money order right a walmart money owner isn't a scam by itself but many scammers use it to transfer money to themselves right.

So be cautious with the telegram app make sure you're using it correctly and you know telegram themselves they'll tell you how to protect yourself they have a lot of very good consumer protections on their app and on their website so you can heed those to make sure that your use of that particular messaging application isn't going to cost you money or lose your investment.