Telegram

Phones, Internet, Computers and such.
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xandreu
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Telegram

Post by xandreu »

Does anyone here use the Telegram messaging app? (seems to be the main one most people use here).

Having a bit of an issue at the moment where the young (12 I think) daughter of a friend of mine was contacted by a school friend via Telegram, one thing lead to another and she was eventually asked to send explicit photos of herself to him. Thankfully she's pretty savvy and didn't send any. It was then that the person said they weren't the real owner of the account and they had hacked it. She told her parents straight away what had gone on.

The parents contacted the school who have spoken to the owner of the account in question who swears blind his phone must have somehow been hacked. To be fair, the guy is apparently well known and well liked in the school and most people are quite shocked that he would do something like this.

However, some things don't add up to me. Telegram is linked to specifically to your phone number, which is why there is no requirement to log in. Unless you set up 2FA (which most people don't).

So how is it possible that a message could come from his account without his knowledge? Even if someone else somehow managed to gain access to his phone, the messages would still show up as sent messages in his chat surely (unless they were deleted I guess). But he is an only child and only lives with his mother. He says he doesn't have many friends and certainly wouldn't let anyone use his phone.

Do any of you tech savvies have any insight into what could have gone on?
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Re: Telegram

Post by Darkcel »

Could of set up an exact account similar to his, did they verify that the account was under his number? I doubt he could deny it then
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Re: Telegram

Post by Freightdog »

I have telegram on two different numbers (one Cambodian, one UK) and could switch back and forth between both for a while. With one of the numbers, the SIM card is currently not functioning, but the telegram account is. Or was.

You don’t specifically say; Where in the world this occurred? Presumably, Cambodia.
In Cambodia, many locals are a bit naive with security. The other half bought a phone from one of the phone shops near 136. She’s not tech savvy, so the phone shop helped set it up for her.
What she wasn’t aware of is that it was set up using a backup of someone else’s phone. Her own messenger passwords were handed over (yes, dumb, but we know. Many locals haven’t a clue). But the Google account (web browsing and email) was from whatever phone and user who had it originally. It turns out the previous owner’s browser history, which was actually still being updated, was for some pretty unpleasant websites. I’ve since erased the phone and reset it back to factory settings.

I’m not sure if this really answers the question, but ultimately it’s just an app. And security is only as good as the person managing it. Too many people sell/trade phones without actually deleting and resetting them.
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ItWasntMe
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Re: Telegram

Post by ItWasntMe »

Sounds like the oldest excuse in the book.

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ItWasntMe
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Re: Telegram

Post by ItWasntMe »

Let's say it's quite far fetched that someone would hack his phone to gain access to his telegram in order to talk to kids.

He might have sold a phone without resetting it, or lost one, and that one is now being used by a pedo. Also quite far fetched.

Most likely he did it, he was dumb enough to think he could get away with a stunt like that, and now he thinks he can get away from that mistake by just claiming he was hacked.

IMHO.

Phone company should be able to show logs of position and phone model, so should telegram. Not sure if police here would get that involved but its not hard to verify.
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IraHayes
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Re: Telegram

Post by IraHayes »

Freightdog wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 11:45 pm I have telegram on two different numbers (one Cambodian, one UK) and could switch back and forth between both for a while. With one of the numbers, the SIM card is currently not functioning, but the telegram account is. Or was.

You don’t specifically say; Where in the world this occurred? Presumably, Cambodia.
In Cambodia, many locals are a bit naive with security. The other half bought a phone from one of the phone shops near 136. She’s not tech savvy, so the phone shop helped set it up for her.
What she wasn’t aware of is that it was set up using a backup of someone else’s phone. Her own messenger passwords were handed over (yes, dumb, but we know. Many locals haven’t a clue). But the Google account (web browsing and email) was from whatever phone and user who had it originally. It turns out the previous owner’s browser history, which was actually still being updated, was for some pretty unpleasant websites. I’ve since erased the phone and reset it back to factory settings.

I’m not sure if this really answers the question, but ultimately it’s just an app. And security is only as good as the person managing it. Too many people sell/trade phones without actually deleting and resetting them.
ItWasntMe wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 10:36 am Let's say it's quite far fetched that someone would hack his phone to gain access to his telegram in order to talk to kids.

He might have sold a phone without resetting it, or lost one, and that one is now being used by a pedo. Also quite far fetched.

Most likely he did it, he was dumb enough to think he could get away with a stunt like that, and now he thinks he can get away from that mistake by just claiming he was hacked.

IMHO.

Phone company should be able to show logs of position and phone model, so should telegram. Not sure if police here would get that involved but its not hard to verify.
This, IF he did actually sell a phone without resetting it, could be his only alibi.

Wether it is or not the overall effect of having, presumably, a lot at the school talking about it and bringing this into the open will have a positive affect on a couple of things:-

1. Phone security
2. Acceptable online behaviour and the fallout of Andy inappropriate behaviour.
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Re: Telegram

Post by Freightdog »

One thing about Telegram is that while the account is linked to a phone number, you can search for people by name, alone.

As I found recently while searching for a car, telegram and user attitude is pretty slack.

My points made previously should not be taken as being in defence of the ‘alleged’, but as a realisation that Telegram, and many other similar apps are actually a bit basic. The assumption I think, being that they will be used properly.

The girl is 12. It’s a pretty slack country, morally. But unless every member of CEO was from a hardline Puritan family where ideas of exploring sexuality never cross peoples minds until their wedding nights, I’d invite everyone here to remember back to when they were hitting puberty.

I agree, it’s likely he did it. And when challenged, having never had the imagination to think properly (of which phone dependency is a real factor, I believe), he blurted out the first response that came to mind- “It wasn’t me…”
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IraHayes
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Re: Telegram

Post by IraHayes »

Freightdog wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 11:15 am I agree, it’s likely he did it. And when challenged, having never had the imagination to think properly (of which phone dependency is a real factor, I believe), he blurted out the first response that came to mind- “It wasn’t me…”
This.... especially the bit about phone dependency fostering a lack of imagination.
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ItWasntMe
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Re: Telegram

Post by ItWasntMe »

One thing is not clear to me, is the guy asking for pictures also 12? That would change my stance for sure. She still shouldn't send pictures but I remember even before that age getting stripteases from the girls in my class.

So umm yes can't judge the Little man if that's so.

Complicated when all involved are minors.
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xandreu
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Re: Telegram

Post by xandreu »

I have since learned that one of the boys teachers at the school was contacted by someone claiming to be the boy in question, but this came from a different account. The teacher noticed that the person hadn't hidden his phone number in Telegram and she could see straight away that it wasn't a Cambodian number - after looking up the country code it was a Nigerian number.

So it looks like the boy might be innocent after all. It seems that his account has somehow been hacked and the person has got hold of all of his contacts in Telegram - which would include the girl he chatted to to ask to send pictures, and also his teacher. My guess is that he didn't realise the teacher was a teacher and assumed it was another female (child) friend of the boy.

I still don't have any idea how this could have happened though. I'm quite tech savvy but this one has beaten me. I know that a lot of e-waste ends up in places like Nigeria but I'm not sure if Cambodia sends its e-waste there. Maybe he threw away an old phone without wiping it and it somehow ended up there? It's a bit of a stretch of an explanation, I know, but it's all I can come up with.
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