Recently, there has been an increase in cryptocurrency and blockchain-related fraud on Telegram, where users are promised money. Konstantin Larin, head of the "Cyber Intelligence" department at the cybersecurity integrator "Bastion," told Gazeta.Ru about this.

"These schemes often target gullible and inexperienced users who may not always know how to recognize a scam. In such conditions, it is easy to fall victim to fraudsters, losing not only money but also personal data. Recently, bots and fake token giveaways have become particularly active," said the expert.

One new type of fraud in Pavel Durov's messenger involves inviting users to Telegram bots with fake rewards. Fraudsters send users referral or direct links to bots on Telegram, promising to credit virtual currency for completing certain actions, such as subscribing to a channel or inviting friends.

"The fraud occurs at the stage of withdrawing funds. The victim cannot withdraw the received funds as the coins turn out to be fake. As a result, the victim only wastes their time while the fraudsters increase their channel subscriber base," Larin noted.

The second scheme involves fake token giveaways. This strategy, unrelated to fraudsters, is called Airdrop and is used to attract attention to new coins.

In the case of fake Airdrops, the fraudster sends the victim a small amount in TON with a message indicating that to receive the funds, they need to follow a link. After clicking on it, a phishing login form to the TON Wallet opens, and the entered data is transferred to the fraudsters, who gain access to the victim's account and wallet to steal funds.

The expert noted that the seed phrase might be requested separately, as well as an authorization request. Entering only the seed phrase can compromise the wallet and result in loss of funds. An authorization request poses a potential threat of credential theft.

"As a result, the fraudsters gain access to the victim's account, including chat history, and to the TON wallet, from which they withdraw all available funds. To avoid falling for fraudsters' tricks, it is important to always be cautious with received links and requests for personal data," Larin warned. He recommends not entering personal data on suspicious sites and not trusting promises of easy profits.