A new Telegram scam has emerged, leveraging bots functionality of the application and offering fake earning schemes. Scammers impersonate official bots of popular digital wallet brands, tricking users into investing their money into non-existent ventures. Further, they simply cut any communications, leaving users with no money and no promised returns.
Telegram Bots Mimic Digital Wallet Brands, Promote Questionable Apps
Recent research reveals a new scam scheme that combines Telegram bots and fake earning schemes. Scammers create bots in Telegram that pose as the official bot of a specific digital wallet, and offer easy earnings after completing the tasks. Victims are asked to register in a referral system, provide access to their digital wallet, and perform simple tasks. They usually about installing a strange app from the APK file, playing same strange games, watching ads and so on. Additionally, the scammers actively encourage the victims to share this scheme with friends and family, promising generous rewards for each referred friend.
This scam mainly spreads through social media, comments under videos on related topics, and in fake communities. At the moment it is a local threat targeting Indonesian users. However, there is a good chance it will eventually spread to other countries, as the scheme is extremely easy to replicate. Initially, frauds may allow the victim to withdraw funds – mostly at the very beginning, and with small sums. This is done to lull the victim into a false sense of security and to convince them that investing is safe. After investing, the victim is asked to perform the tasks for which they are promised rewards. However, ultimately, the scammers obtain the victim’s confidential information, funds and wallet data.
How Does This Scam Work?
The entire scam process can be roughly divided into stages. The first stage is gathering an audience, which aims to attract potential victims. Scammers use social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok for this purpose. Often, a link to the Telegram bot is placed under themed videos on TikTok, such as those about Hamster Combat tap-game. Though, more promotion ways may appear further, including ones in Telegram itself.
Retaining The Victim
The next stage is pushing the victim into continuous participation in the scam. As mentioned earlier, frauds use Telegram bots that impersonate well-known digital wallet brands. Main part of all this is built on two things: completing tasks and introducing new people through referral links. Through the bot messages, they motivate the user to bring in as many new users as possible and do the tasks in order to increase the reward.
Moreover, there are specific minimum requirements that, if not met, leave the user without any reward. For example, the user receives 10,000 Indonesian Rupiah (~62¢) for each referred friend. However, the minimum number of referred users is 15, and the minimum withdrawal amount is 100,000 Indonesian Rupiah (~$6.15). Also, the victim should be subscribed to the Telegram channel led by scammers, otherwise they will not be rewarded at all.
Main Act of the Fraud
After attaching the victim to the scam, the bot starts sending them the tasks – installing certain programs from shady websites (as .APK files), browsing through pages that appear as phishing, and watching ads. There were legitimate earning schemes in the past that offered a certain pay for such actions, thus it does not look like a complete ripoff at a glance. Nonetheless, these older schemes never offered installing gambling apps, some dodgy games that collect a lot of user data, or, moreover, get to phishing websites.
Eventually, when the reward is getting closer to the withdrawal threshold, the bot simply stops communicating with the victim. At first, the tasks appear slower and slower, and at some point you will just see the message saying “no tasks available”. This is, in fact, the culmination of the scam.
Fake Community
To enhance their credibility, scammers have created groups on Telegram and WhatsApp where they post news and interact with users. Often, to join such a group, the victim must make an initial deposit. However, in some cases, scammers may add an interested user without requiring a deposit. In these groups, more experienced “investors” share stories and screenshots of their “earnings,” thereby increasing the trust of new victims.
Despite these Telegram bots and communities associating themselves with well-known wallets, they obviously have no real connection to them. As a result, after some time, users are left with nothing. When they attempt to withdraw funds, they are directed to customer support, which promises that everything will be done soon. Additionally, besides losing money, victims provide scammers with confidential information that can later be reused in other scams.
Another side of that fraud that is not that obvious is the outcome of the installation of shady APK files. While Google Play is not the most reliable app source, it will still stop the most blatant malware. But when you side-load an APK file, any checks are only on you. And that is the main problem here: victims are simply blinded by the rewards, and consequently pay no attention to what they install. This may – and will – result in data loss and identity theft.
Why Is This So Popular?
Although similar scams have existed before, they are currently experiencing a significant boom. There are several reasons, including widespread digitalization and the popularity of digital assets and tokens. For example, apps like “Hamster Combat” and similar ones attract users who are eager for easy earnings. Scammers exploit this trend by creating fake referral programs and investment schemes to lure users and gain access to their funds.
The second reason is the lack of sufficient moderation on social media platforms. As mentioned earlier, the primary source of this scam is social networks, where the audience is often not technically savvy. Consequently, users frequently encounter ads and comments containing links to fraudulent websites and apps. Although artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in moderation processes, scammers also use AI to bypass these measures. As a result, naive users fall victim to this arms race.
