According to the UN, the Telegram app provides “underground markets” for Southeast Asian crime gangs

BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) — Powerful criminal networks in Southeast Asia are making extensive use of the messaging app Telegram, which has fundamentally changed the way organized crime can carry out large-scale illegal activities, according to a United Nations report on Monday.

The report represents the latest allegations made against the controversial encrypted app since France accused its boss, Pavel Durov, of allowing criminal activity on the platform under a tough new law with no international equivalent.

Hacked data, including credit card details, passwords and browsing history, is widely traded openly through the app, which has widespread channels with little moderation, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report said.

Cybercrime tools, including so-called deepfake fraud software, and data-stealing malware are also widely sold, according to the report, while unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges offer money laundering services.

“We move 3 million USDT stolen from abroad every day,” the report quoted an advertisement in Chinese.

There is “strong evidence that underground data markets are shifting to Telegram and providers are actively trying to target transnational organized crime groups based in Southeast Asia,” the report said.

Southeast Asia has become a major hub for a multi-billion dollar industry that targets victims around the world through fraudulent schemes. Many are Chinese syndicates operating from fortified camps staffed by human trafficking workers. According to UNODC, the industry generates between $27.4 and $36.5 billion annually.

Russian-born Durov was arrested in Paris in August and accused of allowing criminal activity on the platform, including distributing sexual images of children. The move has put the criminal liability of app providers in the spotlight and also sparked a debate about where freedom of expression ends and enforcement of the law begins.

Telegram, which has nearly a billion users, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After his arrest, Durov, who is currently out on bail, said the app would share users’ IP addresses and phone numbers with authorities making legal requests. He also said the app would remove some features that have been abused for illegal activities.

Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC deputy representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said the app was an easy-to-navigate environment for criminals.

“For consumers, this means their data is at greater risk of being fed into fraud or other criminal activity than ever before,” he told Reuters.

The report said the sheer scale of profits made by criminal groups in the region has forced them to innovate, adding that they have integrated new business models and technologies such as malware, generative artificial intelligence and deepfakes into their operations.

UNODC said it had identified more than ten deepfake software service providers that “specifically target criminal groups involved in cyber fraud in Southeast Asia.”

Elsewhere in Asia, police in South Korea – believed to be the country most affected by deepfake pornography – have reportedly launched an investigation into Telegram to examine whether it facilitates online sex crimes.

Reuters also reported last month that a hacker had used chatbots on Telegram to leak the data of leading Indian insurer Star Health, prompting the insurer to sue the platform.

Using the chatbots, Reuters was able to download policy and claims documents containing names, phone numbers, addresses, tax details, copies of ID cards, test results and medical diagnoses.