Pavel Durov Warns: New Extortion Wave Targets Telegram Users for Digital Assets
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, has issued a warning about a new wave of extortion emerging within the platform. The scheme involves fraudsters demanding that users surrender valuable digital assets—rare Telegram gifts, premium usernames, and distinctive phone numbers. Once acquired for mere dollars, these items can now fetch prices exceeding $100,000.
According to Durov, a growing number of malicious actors have begun to blackmail asset holders, in some instances threatening to expose private or sensitive information. Others have systematized the tactic—publishing compromising posts and demanding payment for their removal.
“This is both illegal and immoral, and it won’t fly with us,” Durov declared on his official channel. He emphasized Telegram’s commitment to combating such practices and confirmed that accounts involved in extortion would be permanently removed.
Victims of such blackmail are encouraged to collect evidence and send it directly to Durov via private message. However, as the Telegram founder noted, this option may be unavailable to some users due to the paywall feature. He explained that when the paywall is disabled, incoming messages exceed thousands per minute, making it physically impossible for him to review them all.
In light of this, Durov proposed an alternative: users should contact Telegram’s official support team via the @notoscam account, including the hashtag #blackmail in their message. This approach, he noted, would help ensure that the complaint reaches the appropriate moderator more swiftly.