Telegram grants access to moderation bots to control scammers

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Telegram has been looking for a means to be able to block cryptocurrency scams on their popular app. A golden opportunity to do so was provided as blockchain advisory firm AmaZix will now gain access for their moderation bot to discover and block these accounts. This service will be provided free of charge to help Telegram to reduce the risk of these scams.

The bot already came with 54,000 users who were blacklisted. This group of users were immediately banned from all accounts and groups that used the service. Many of these accounts were banned for impersonating administrators or posting offers that were clearly fake. The accounts were banned immediately from posting any fake giveaways or providing any links to websites that could potentially host fraudulent information or offers.

The concern is that once users accessed these fraudulent sites, that it would provide administrators at the fake accounts the opportunity to steal private keys, clone social media websites or gain other valuable pertinent information.

The benefits of using this moderation bot are quite extensive. It begins with the fact that it is updated in real time and moderated by a global team at AmaZix. This team will work with over 140 telegram groups in the crypto and blockchain industry to help identify these accounts.

In a statement, Jonas Karlberg, CEO at AmaZix, explained how the system will work. “Through our service, which takes the form of a bot that is added to a group, we offer free, real-time threat intelligence for Telegram. As soon as a user posts malicious content on any of the groups we monitor, they are automatically banned from all our groups, and added to our global blacklist.”

Karlberg explained that these scammers are quite sophisticated in how they operate. “As soon as a project gets traction, the scammers move in. Telegram offers the criminals complete anonymity, so they use it with absolutely no fear of reprisals.”

For now, the service only works in English. However, many of the features on Telegram do not require other languages, such as the forwarding of links or accounts. This should mean that the vast majority of scammer accounts should be tracked and removed without issue.

While having no formal relationship with Telegram, Karlberg explained that this is an opportunity for AmaZix to expand their market through greater access.

“Our hope is, by opening access and encouraging more people to use and contribute to our service, we will catch the scammers even more quickly. This will effectively discourage malicious activity on Telegram.”