Telegram is a popular messaging app with over 800 million active users worldwide. The app is used for various purposes like chatting, community discussion, school announcements, etc. However, a problem with Telegram is people using fake accounts for financial scams and frauds.
Financial scams and similar frauds are more common in Telegram.
We’ll learn how to identify a fake telegram account.
👉 Key Points: How to Identify a Fake Telegram Account
- Fake Profile Picture and Suspicious Username.
- Messaging you to join any irrelevant promotional channel for stock market or crypto updates.
- Promising you money for completing silly tasks like subscribing to a YouTube channel or Converting a PDF into a Word file.
- Promising you money after investing in crypto or stocks.
- Asking for your banking details.
- Creating a false sense of urgency and using incorrect grammar & spelling is common in scammers and spam accounts.
It requests that if you have found such accounts block and report them – Go to Telegram > Tap on the username > Select a report from the menu > Send additional details and report.
Table of Contents
How to Identify a Fake Telegram Account
Identifying a fake telegram account is much easier than you think, there is a big difference between a genuine business and a fake one.
Look for these points to identify a Fake Telegram account.
#1. Analyse Their Profile
Here are some of the key points while analyzing their profile.
- Check if they use a fake profile picture of any celebrity, stock photo, or public figure. You can take screenshots of their profile using Google Lens to find if they are any public figures.
- Verify their phone number using Truecaller… often time Truecaller like apps, flags spam on spammy numbers.
- Suspicious Username: A random number, words, or any suspicious username could be a clear red flag.
#2. Check Their Message
Often people who are spamming or scamming people send very generalized messages, for example:
- A job offer that pays you X amount for 3-4 hours of work daily
- They send you links to promotional channels
- They will ask your banking details to send money (fake)
- Sending you spammy links
- Gives you random tasks and promises to pay you after completion. For example, subscribing to a YouTube channel or translating something from PDF to a Word document.
👉 Keep in mind, that no genuine business will ever contact you and start as we will pay you this amount for completing such small tasks. In my experience, no recruiter will ever use Telegram or WhatsApp as a messaging app for hiring an unknown person.
There are dedicated platforms for such recruiting like LinkedIn and Upwork.
#3. Creating a False Sense of Urgency
This is a popular technique scammers use, they won’t let victim use their brains by creating a false sense of urgency. So a victim could ignore the suspicion they have and follow the tasks the scammer is asking.
#4. Grammatical Mistakes & Incorrect Spellings
You will notice various grammatical mistakes and incorrect spellings in the scammer’s text. Often, they are trying to scam many people, which causes them such spelling errors. Vice versa, a genuine person would probably re-read the text and send it without mistakes.
#5. Last Seen and Bio
Check the person’s bio who is sending you the message. A genuine account would use this space to describe themselves or have a quote. While a spam and fake account uses this for promotional and spammy links.
It isn’t necessary but fake accounts keep their last seen hidden, although a genuine one can also keep the last hidden. Moreover, you’ll find fake accounts keeping their last seen hidden.
How to Report a Telegram Account?
It is important to report such accounts as they put various people under financial burden by scamming them. Here is a quick tutorial on how to report a Telegram account.
You can report a message by pressing and holding a message > Selecting Report > Reason for reporting > Additional details and report.
You can also report an account or channel:
- Use this direct link or search for @notascam on Telegram
- Start messaging by tagging the account you want to report
- Send the message with an additional detail… like if it’s a scam or spam account, etc.
And just like a normal message, send it!
Types of Telegram Scams
Here is a type of scam which are quite common on Telegram, if similar things are happening to you, it might be a potential scam.
- Crypto Scams: Nowadays, people are quite interested in crypto and blockchain, although scammers take advantage of the enthusiasts. Often by promising higher returns or claiming to be an expert then asking for money or asking you to join their channel, community, etc.
- Job offers: It is easy to spot, on a random day someone will message you to give you the job of completing a random task like translating or data entry jobs. In return, they will offer you money, which probably they won’t, they will ask for your bank account details or ask you for money upfront.
- Giveaway scams: In such scams, the scammers are often interested in your banking information or any personal information. However, you can block them or provide them with incorrect information but don’t click on random links they will send.
- Romance Scams: Scammers will develop a fake relationship with a person (victim) and ask for gifts, recharge, indirect money, etc.
- Celebrity Scams: Fake accounts of celebrities trying to phish you… If they are popular figures, their account will have a verification badge.
These were some of the common scams on Telegram.
Frequently Asked Questions About How to Identify a Fake Telegram Account
1. How to Know If a Telegram Account is a Bot?
On Telegram, the bot has the suffix bot which can be easily identified.
2. How Do You Know If a Celebrity Is Real on Telegram?
You can easily identify a celebrity account by seeing their verification badge (right tick) beside their name. Telegram verifies public figures, and popular channels that can be easily identified.
If there isn’t any verification badge beside their name, probably they are fake.
That’s it for this article, we hope you find it helpful…
If you have more queries we will be happy to help you in the comment section, thanks for reading!
