Andy GreenbergJun 23

A month ago, Telegram banned the two biggest black markets for crypto scammer services, hosted on its platform, which had done $35 billion in transactions.

Then it watched those markets rebuild to their previous size and has done nothing to stop them.

https://www.wired.com/story/telegram-purged-chinese-crypto-scam-markets-then-let-them-rebuild/

Telegram Purged Chinese Crypto Scam Markets—Then Watched as They Rebuilt

Last month, Telegram banned black markets that sold tens of billions of dollars in crypto scam-related services. Now, as those markets rebrand and bounce back, it’s done nothing to stop them.

WIRED
Show threadAndy GreenbergJun 23
After its takedowns last month, crypto tracing firm Elliptic warned Telegram that the scammers and their enablers would just shift to the next-biggest markets, and shared an extensive list of their channels and usernames with Telegram. It declined to ban any of them.
Show threadAndy Greenberg

Instead Telegram sent me a statement about helping users achieve "financial autonomy" in China despite capital controls there.

But Elliptic points out these markets offer scammers money laundering, stolen data for targeting and other assorted illicit services like prostitution.

Jun 23 at 5:06pmWeb
Show threadAndy GreenbergJun 23
The operations that use these markets enslave tens of thousands of people across SE Asia. As former prosecutor Erin West puts it, Telegram has "the ability to shut down a scam economy and the trafficking of human beings. Instead, they’re hosting Craigslist for crypto scammers.”