Why Telegram Became Controversial: Why was Telegram shut down in India? Why has Telegram become the first choice of paper mafias or cyber criminals? Why is Telegram’s ‘Secret Chat’ feature a headache for security agencies? Can automatic fraud be done on Telegram?
Telegram 5 Secret Features: Just before the NEET UG re-exam to be held on June 21, 2026, the Government of India has launched a big digital strike on Telegram. On the recommendation of the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) of the Central Government has imposed a temporary ban on Telegram under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. This restriction will continue till June 22, 2026. Whereas its message edit feature will remain closed till June 30. But the question arises that what is it about Telegram that it makes the work of the miscreants and online fraudsters who leak papers easy and has become their first choice? Let us know which of its features are used by criminals as weapons…
Secret chat and end-to-end encryption
The biggest and most popular feature of Telegram is its Secret Chat. It has ‘end-to-end encryption’, which means that no third person can read the message except the sender and the viewer. Not even the Telegram company itself. Apart from this, it also has a timer to automatically delete the message (Self-Destruct). That is, after the conversation, the criminals make it disappear in such a way that no digital evidence (Digital Footprint) is found in the hands of the police or investigating agencies.
Username Based Contact
To create a group or talk to someone on WhatsApp or other traditional apps, it is necessary to have your mobile number with the other person, due to which criminals can be easily tracked, but on Telegram any person can start an account without showing his real phone number, just by creating a fake username. Taking advantage of this, fraudsters completely hide their real identity. Recently, the gang caught by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch, disguised itself in this manner and contacted around 1,000 students and committed a fraud of ₹ 21.5 crore.
automated bots
Telegram’s bots are actually automated programs or accounts that work like humans. Criminals set up these bots in such a way that they automatically add new people to the group, share fake links and demand money. For this, the criminal himself does not need to sit in front of the screen. Everything runs automatically in the background. Even if the police deletes one bot or channel, the criminals immediately create another bot.
File sharing up to 2GB
Most messaging apps do not allow sending files larger than a few MB, but on Telegram, users can share files up to 2GB at a time. This feature makes the work of criminals and paper mafia much easier. With its help, they send stolen data of millions of students, huge leaked documents or PDF files of entire papers to millions of people in a single click.
Message edit and delete feature
Messages sent on Telegram can be edited or deleted at any time. Ostensibly, it is for the convenience of common users, but criminals have used it as a means of committing fraud. In the case of NEET exam, NTA revealed that fraudsters used to put a simple file in the group before the exam. As soon as the exam was over and the actual paper came out, they would press the ‘Edit’ button and upload the actual paper in that old message. Since the timestamp of the message does not change even after changing the message on Telegram, students believed that the paper was actually leaked before the exam. To stop this fraud, the government has currently blocked this edit feature till June 30, 2026.