Why do cybercriminals use Telegram? (lemmings.world)

submitted 1 month ago by Kagiruew@lemmings.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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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.?

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[-] Hexadecimalkink@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 month 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.

this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026

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