Why do cybercriminals use Telegram? (lemmings.world)

submitted 4 days ago by Kagiruew@lemmings.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Whenever I glance at darknet forums, people there always use Telegram for instant messaging. This seems like a strange choice for their use case, considering that Telegram is neither secure nor private[1], being centralized with Russia-controlled servers[2], phone number registration, no encryption for personal chats by default in mobile client and no encryption at all in desktop client[3], etc.

So why do they use Telegram instead of actually secure and private alternatives, like Delta Chat, XMPP+OMEMO, etc.?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Hexadecimalkink@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 days ago

Telegram is less policed than the American apps with backdoors. It's popular with many people making it easy to connect. (It has a lot of good features). The options you listed all have adoptjon challenges for non-technical people.

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

this is probably the actual reason.

telegram doesn't give a flying fuck about anything that happens in the app, and refuses to moderate much of anything i'm aware of.

paired with the popularity and familiarity people have with it, it makes for a perfect platform provided the cybercriminals take their opsec seriously.

this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026

32 points (90.0% liked)

Asklemmy

53113 readers

561 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS