SlowMist founder Yu Xian, known as “Cos” on X, warned Telegram users of heightened phishing attacks in the Telegram ecosystem. 

In an X post on Monday, Xian claimed that phishing links and scam bots can easily be spread between Telegram users due to the platform’s open source and free nature, claiming “the Telegram ecosystem is too free.”

TON 生态的钓鱼开始多了，Telegram 生态过于自由的特点，许多钓鱼链接（或 bot 形式）通过消息群组方式传播，空投等诱骗方式来批量钓走用户 TON 钱包里的有关资产（包括 NFT，特别的如 Anonymous Telegram Numbers，类似手机号，许多人用于创建 Telegram 账号，这个被钓走，意味着对应的 Telegram…

— Cos(余弦)😶‍🌫️ (@evilcos) June 24, 2024

Moreover, Xian says that a new method to lure users’ TON wallets has risen using “Anonymous Telegram Numbers.” these numbers are very similar to phone numbers and users can create anonymous accounts on Telegram. 

The founder of the blockchain security platform added that attackers can phish these numbers which will lead to the loss of the whole account and even the wallet associated with it. 

Xian suggests enabling an independent password, for example, two-step verification.

Moreover, a user with the X handle “amoy_Lw” criticized the gaming ecosystem built on Telegram: “this gaming ecosystem is in great conflict with Telegram’s development philosophy.” 

In addition, he stated that Telegram’s foundation promotes user privacy while games are trying to attract people “to create activity.” 

However, it’s not just the mini-games on Telegram that have triggered an increase in scams. Per a crypto.news report on June 21, scammers have been targeting cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Bybit, MEXC, and Gate.io, with fake stablecoins on The Open Network (TON).