Warning of Old but Still Effective Telegram Account Phishing Scam

Telegram is one of the messaging and calling applications that are highly rated for security. Data on this application is end-to-end encrypted, making messages difficult to be intercepted. As a result, more and more people in Vietnam are switching to using this application. According to statistics, by the end of 2024, it is estimated that there will be more than 17.6 million Telegram users in Vietnam, making our country the 6th largest globally in terms of this application's user base. Schemes to take over Telegram accounts As the number of users increases, fraudulent campaigns to take over Telegram accounts in Vietnam are becoming more common. According to the feedback from many readers of Dan Tri as well as Telegram users on social media platforms like Facebook, Zalo... recently they have often received many messages sent to their Telegram accounts, with the content: "Since your account has not been verified for a long time, please log in to the official website to verify your mobile phone number.

Along with that is a website link and a warning: "Avoid account cancellation, please confirm within 24 hours". It is noteworthy that the message is sent from an account named "Telegram", leading many to believe that this is the message sent from the Telegram application's own management team. I am concerned that my account will be locked, many users have clicked on the website sent in the warning message, without knowing that this is a trick of the scammers. The website being sent is actually a fake website, with an interface similar to the Telegram login page, but set up by scammers. This website will ask users to enter a phone number to log into their Telegram account. If users enter a phone number on the login page and click the "Next" button, scammers will use the phone number provided by the user to send to Telegram and request a new OTP password. One feature of Telegram is that in case the user does not activate the two-step security feature, the application will allow them to request an OTP code to log in to the account on new devices without needing a password. Taking advantage of this, scammers, after obtaining the phone number to log into the Telegram account, only need the OTP code of the application to log in and take over the user's account. Users, when they see the OTP code sent to their account from Telegram itself, have no doubt, thinking that the login page mentioned above is actually from Telegram, so they continue to enter the newly received OTP code on the fake website. But right after users enter the OTP code, their Telegram account will be immediately compromised. In fact, when Telegram sends an OTP code to the user's phone number, the application warns: "Do not provide this code to anyone, even if they claim to be from Telegram. This code can be used to log in to your Telegram account. If you did not request this code by logging in from another device, please ignore this message". However, many unsuspecting users did not pay attention to Telegram's warning, resulting in their accounts being hijacked by malicious individuals. After taking over a Telegram account, malicious actors will use it for fraudulent purposes, misappropriation of assets, or exploitation of private, personal content in Telegram messages for ransom purposes... Therefore, users should be vigilant against the deceptive tricks of bad guys to protect the security of their social media accounts. Guide to activate 2-step password on Telegram to avoid losing account To protect your account from the risk of being stolen, users should proactively enable two-factor security feature on Telegram. The steps are as follows:

• From the Telegram application interface, tap on the menu icon in the top left corner, select "Settings" from the displayed list.

• Find the "Privacy and Security" section on the next interface, then select "Two-Step Verification" and press the "Set Password" button.

Initialize and confirm the password in the pop-up dialog. In the "Password Hint" section, you can set a hint in case you forget your password. You can press the "Skip" button to skip this step. Enter your email in the "Recovery Email" field to recover your Telegram account in case you forget your password. Wait a moment, an email containing the OTP code will be sent to your inbox. Enter the received OTP code into the box on the application's setup interface. If you do not receive an email containing the OTP code, please check in the "Spam" folder in your mailbox to prevent the email from being filtered incorrectly. So, you have completed the two-factor authentication setup on the Telegram app. After activating two-factor security, every time you log in on a new device, you will need to enter both the OTP code and the two-factor password. This helps make your account more secure and prevent it from being stolen by bad actors.