New Delhi:

Social media platform WhatsApp followed by Telegram and Instagram remains one of the favourite hunting grounds for online scamsters, as per the latest report from the Union Home Ministry.

In the first three months of year 2024, total 43,797 complaints regarding cyber frauds through WhatsApp were received followed by 22,680 complaints against Telegram and 19,800 against Instagram.

The annual MHA report 2023-24 reads that cyber fraudsters have been using Google services platforms for initiating these crimes. Google Advertisement platform provides a convenient facility for targeted advertisement from across the border.

“This scam, known as “Pig Butchering Scam” or “Investment Scam” is a global phenomenon and involves large-scale money laundering and even cyber slavery. Unemployed youths, housewives, students, and needy people are targeted, who are losing large sums of money (even borrowed money) on a daily basis,” it reads.

Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) has partnered with Google and Facebook for sharing intelligence and signals for proactive actions, like flagging digital lending apps and its signals and abuse of Google’s Firebase domains (free hosting) by cyber fraudsters, Android Banking Malwares (Hashes), among others.

Sponsored Facebook ads are extensively used by organised cyber criminals to launch illegal lending apps in India. Such links are proactively identified and shared with Facebook, along with Facebook pages for necessary action, it further reads.

I4C is making efforts for the capacity building of all pillars of criminal justice system i.e. Law Enforcement Agencies, Forensic Examiners, Prosecutors and Judges for imparting training in cyber security, investigation of cybercrime and digital forensics in institutes across the country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Paris:

Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov said Monday that the messaging platform had removed more “problematic content”, weeks after his arrest in France on charges of failing to act against criminals using the app.

Telegram’s search feature “has been abused by people who violated our terms of service to sell illegal goods”, Durov told the 13 million subscribers of his personal messaging channel.

“Over the past few weeks” staff had combed through Telegram using artificial intelligence to ensure “all the problematic content we identified in Search is no longer accessible”, he said.

Durov added that the platform had updated its terms of service and privacy policy to make clear that it would share infringers’ details with authorities — including internet IP addresses and phone numbers — “in response to valid legal requests”.

“We won’t let bad actors jeopardise the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users,” he said.

Durov was arrested on August 24 as he arrived at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on a private jet.

After days of questioning, he was charged with several counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content and released on a five-million-euro ($5.6 million) bail.

During the investigation he must remain in France and report to police twice a week.

Durov — who holds Russian, French and United Arab Emirates passports — initially criticised his arrest, but he has since announced steps appearing to bow to Paris’s demands.

On September 6, he said Telegram would alter its “people nearby” feature to present users with “legitimate businesses” rather than “bots and scammers”.

“This year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise,” he said at the time.

Durov, an enigmatic figure who rarely speaks in public, has a fortune estimated at $15.5 billion by Forbes magazine, but touts the virtues of an ascetic life that includes ice baths and not drinking alcohol or coffee.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

Stolen customer data including medical reports from India’s biggest health insurer, Star Health, is publicly accessible via chatbots on Telegram, just weeks after Telegram’s founder was accused of allowing the messenger app to facilitate crime. The purported creator of the chatbots told a security researcher, who alerted Reuters to the issue, that the private details of millions of people were for sale and that samples could be viewed by asking the chatbots to divulge.

Star Health and Allied Insurance, whose market capitalization exceeds $4 billion, in a statement to Reuters said it has reported alleged unauthorized data access to local authorities. It said an initial assessment showed “no widespread compromise” and that “sensitive customer data remains secure”.

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

The ability for users to create chatbots is widely credited with helping Dubai-based Telegram become one of the world’s biggest messenger apps with 900 million active monthly users.

However, the arrest of Russian-born founder Pavel Durov in France last month has increased scrutiny of Telegram’s content moderation and features open to abuse for criminal ends. Durov and Telegram denied wrongdoing and are addressing the criticism.

The use of Telegram chatbots to sell stolen data demonstrates the difficulty the app has in preventing nefarious agents taking advantage of its technology and highlights the challenges Indian companies face in keeping their data safe.

The Star Health chatbots feature a welcome message stating they are “by xenZen” and have been operational since at least Aug. 6, said UK-based security researcher Jason Parker.

Parker said he posed as a potential buyer on a online hacker forum where a user under the alias xenZen said they made the chatbots and possessed 7.24 terabytes of data related to over 31 million Star Health customers. The data is free via the chatbot on a random, piecemeal basis, but for sale in bulk form.

Reuters could neither independently verify xenZen’s claims nor ascertain how the chatbot creator obtained the data. In an email to Reuters, xenZen said they were in discussions with buyers without disclosing who or why they were interested.

TAKEN DOWN

In testing the bots, Reuters downloaded more than 1,500 files with some documents dated as recently as July 2024.

“If this bot gets taken down watch out and another one will be made available in few hours,” the welcome message read.

The chatbots were later marked “SCAM” with a stock warning that users had reported them as suspect. Reuters shared details of the chatbots with Telegram on Sept. 16 and within 24 hours spokesperson Remi Vaughn said they had been “taken down” and asked to be informed should more appear.

“The sharing of private information on Telegram is expressly forbidden and is removed whenever it is found. Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring, AI tools and user reports to remove millions of pieces of harmful content each day.”

New chatbots have since appeared offering Star Health data.

Star Health said an unidentified person contacted it on Aug. 13 claiming to have access to some of its data. The insurer reported the matter to the cybercrime department of its home state of Tamil Nadu and federal cyber security agency CERT-In.

“The unauthorized acquisition and dissemination of customer data is illegal, and we are actively working with law enforcement to address this criminal activity. Star Health assures its customers and partners that their privacy is of paramount importance to us,” it said in its statement.

In an Aug. 14 stock exchange filing, Star Health, India’s biggest player among standalone health insurance providers, said it was investigating an alleged breach of “a few claims data”.

Representatives for CERT-In and the Tamil Nadu cybercrime department did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

UNAWARE

Telegram allows individuals or organizations to store and share large amounts of data behind anonymous accounts. It also lets them create customizable chatbots which automatically provide content and features based on user requests.

Two chatbots distribute Star Health data. One offers claim documents in PDF format. The other allows users to request up to 20 samples from 31.2 million datasets with a single click giving details including policy number, name and even body mass index.

Among documents disclosed to Reuters were records related to the treatment of the one-year-old daughter of policyholder Sandeep TS at a hospital in the southern state of Kerala. The records included diagnosis, blood test results, medical history and a bill of nearly 15,000 rupees ($179).

“It sounds concerning. Do you know how this can affect me?” said Sandeep, confirming the documents’ authenticity. He said Star Health had not notified him of any data leak.

The chatbot also leaked a claim last year by policyholder Pankaj Subhash Malhotra which included ultrasound imaging test results, details of illness and copies of federal tax account and national ID cards. He also confirmed the documents were genuine and said he was not made aware of any security breach.

The Star Health chatbots are part of a broader trend of hackers using such methods to sell stolen data. Of five million people whose data was sold via chatbots, India represented the largest number of victims at 12%, showed the latest survey on the epidemic conducted by NordVPN at the end of 2022.

“The fact that sensitive data is available via Telegram is natural, because Telegram is an easy-to-use storefront,” said NordVPN cybersecurity expert Adrianus Warmenhoven. “Telegram has become an easier to use method for criminals to interact.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Paris:

The chief of Telegram Pavel Durov on Wednesday was charged by the French judiciary with a litany of violations related to the messaging app but allowed to go free while being banned from leaving the country.

Durov was granted conditional release against a bail of five million euros and on the condition he must report to a police station twice a week as well as remaining in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement following an hours-long hearing with two investigating magistrates.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

There is also no suggestion that Pavel Durov himself was engaged in making any illegal content (file).

The following day, a French judge extended Durov’s initial period of detention, allowing police to detain him for up to 96 hours.

Telegram has rejected the allegations against Durov. In a statement, the company said:

It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.

The case may have far-reaching international implications, not just for Telegram but for other global technology giants as well.

Who is Pavel Durov?

Born in Russia in 1984, Pavel Durov also has French citizenship. This might explain why he felt free to travel despite his app’s role in the Russia-Ukraine War and its widespread use by extremist groups and criminals more generally.

Durov started an earlier social media site, VKontakte, in 2006, which remains very popular in Russia. However, a dispute with how the new owners of the site were operating led to him leaving the company in 2014.

It was shortly before this that Durov created Telegram. This platform provides both the means for communication and exchange as well as the protection of encryption that makes crimes harder to track and tackle than ever before. But that same protection also enables people to resist authoritarian governments that seek to prevent dissent or protest.

Durov also has connections with famed tech figures Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and enjoys broad support in the vocally libertarian tech community. But his platform is no stranger to legal challenges – even in his birth country.

An odd target

Pavel Durov is in some ways an odd target for French authorities.

Meta’s WhatsApp messenger app is also encrypted and boasts three times as many users, while X’s provocations for hate speech and other problematic content are unrepentantly public and increasingly widespread.

There is also no suggestion that Durov himself was engaged with making any illegal content. Instead, he is accused of indirectly facilitating illegal content by maintaining the app in the first place.

However, Durov’s unique background might go some way to suggest why he was taken in.

Unlike other major tech players, he lacks US citizenship. He hails from a country with a chequered past of internet activity – and a diminished diplomatic standing globally thanks to its war against Ukraine.

His app is large enough to be a global presence. But simultaneously it is not large enough to have the limitless legal resources of major players such as Meta.

Combined, these factors make him a more accessible target to test the enforcement of expanding regulatory frameworks.

A question of moderation

Durov’s arrest marks another act in the often confusing and contradictory negotiation of how much responsibility platforms shoulder for the content on their sites.

These platforms, which include direct messaging platforms such as Telegram and WhatsApp but also broader services such as those offered by Meta’s Facebook and Musk’s X, operate across the globe.

As such, they contend with a wide variety of legal environments.

This means any restriction put on a platform ultimately affects its services everywhere in the world – complicating and frequently preventing regulation.

On one side, there is a push to either hold the platforms responsible for illegal content or to provide details on the users who post it.

In Russia, Telegram itself was under pressure to provide names of protesters organising through its app to protest the war against Ukraine.

Conversely, freedom of speech advocates have fought against users being banned from platforms. Meanwhile, political commentators cry foul of being “censored” for their political views.

These contradictions make regulation difficult to craft, while the platforms’ global nature makes enforcement a daunting challenge. This challenge tends to play in platforms’ favour, as they can exercise a relatively strong sense of platform sovereignty in how they decide to operate and develop.

However, these complications can obscure the ways platforms can operate directly as deliberate influencers of public opinion and even publishers of their own content.

To take one example, both Google and Facebook took advantage of their central place in the information economy to advertise politically orientated content to resist the development and implementation of Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code.

The platforms’ construction also directly influences what content can appear and what content is recommended – and hate speech can mark an opportunity for clicks and screen time.

Now, pressure is increasing to hold platforms responsible for how they moderate their users and content. In Europe, recent regulations such as the Media Freedom Act aim to prevent platforms from arbitrarily deleting or banning news producers and their content, while the Digital Services Act requires that these platforms provide mechanisms for removing illegal material.

Australia has its own Online Safety Act to prevent harm through platforms, though the recent case involving X reveals that its capacity may be quite limited.

Future implications

Durov is currently only being detained, and it remains to be seen what, if anything, will happen to him in the coming days.

But if he is charged and successfully prosecuted, it could lay the groundwork for France to take wider actions against not only tech platforms, but also their owners. It could also embolden nations around the world – in the West and beyond – to undertake their own investigations.

In turn, it may also make tech platforms think far more seriously about the criminal content they host.

Timothy Koskie, Postdoctoral researcher, School of Media and Communications, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, French local media said, citing unnamed sources.
They said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police had no comment. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was taking steps to “clarify” the situation and questioned whether Western non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would seek his release..

What is known about Durov and Telegram:

* Russian-born Durov, 39, is the founder and owner of messaging app Telegram, a free-to-use platform that competes with other social media platforms such as Facebook’s WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. The platform aims to surpass one billion active monthly users within a year.

* Telegram is influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It has become a critical source of information on Russia’s war in Ukraine, used heavily by both Moscow and Kyiv officials. Some analysts call the app “a virtual battlefield” for the war.

* Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VKontakte social media platform, which he sold.

* Russian and French media say Durov became a French citizen in 2021. He moved himself and Telegram to Dubai in 2017.

* “I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone,” Durov told US journalist Tucker Carlson in April about his exit from Russia and search for a home for his company which included stints in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.

* In the same interview, Durov said that, beyond money or Bitcoin, he had no major property such as real estate, jets or yachts, as he wanted to be free.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The government has issued notices to social media platforms X, formerly Twitter, YouTube, and Telegram to remove child sexual abuse material from their platforms in India, an official statement said on Friday. Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajiv Chandrasekhar said if social media intermediaries do not act swiftly, their safe harbour under section 79 of the IT Act would be withdrawn, implying that the platforms can be directly prosecuted under the applicable laws and rules even though the content may have not been uploaded by them.

“Ministry of Electronics and IT has issued notices to social media intermediaries X, YouTube, and Telegram, warning them to remove Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) from their platforms on the Indian internet.

“The notices served to these platforms emphasize the importance of prompt and permanent removal or disabling of access to any CSAM on their platforms,” the statement said.

The notices also call for the implementation of proactive measures, such as content moderation algorithms and reporting mechanisms, to prevent the dissemination of CSAM in the future.

“We have sent notices to X, YouTube, and Telegram to ensure there is no Child Sexual Abuse Material that exists on their platforms. The government is determined to build a safe and trusted internet under the IT rules.

“If they do not act swiftly, their safe harbour under section 79 of the IT Act would be withdrawn and consequences under the Indian law will follow,” Mr Chandrasekhar said.

The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, provides the legal framework for addressing pornographic content, including CSAM. Sections 66E, 67, 67A, and 67B of the IT Act impose stringent penalties and fines for the online transmission of obscene or pornographic content, the statement said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)