Police in Uzbekistan say fake voting links sent by hacked friends are taking over Telegram accounts, then used to ask contacts for money.
A message from a friend asks you to vote for their niece in a contest. The link looks harmless. Police in Uzbekistan say it is a trap, and cases of Telegram accounts being stolen this way have risen sharply. The Cybersecurity Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Tashkent City Department of Internal Affairs have issued a warning.
The messages do not come from strangers. They come from people you know, such as a friend or relative, whose accounts were already taken over. Typical lines include a request to vote for a child or grandmother, or a note that the family is entering a best mother or best grandmother contest. Because the sender is real, the request feels safe.
The link opens a fake page that copies the look of Telegram. It says it needs to check your vote, and asks for your phone number and the 5-digit login code Telegram sends you. Once you type that code in, the scammers get into your account.
Any Telegram user can be hit, especially anyone who gets a voting, gift or prize link from someone they trust. The damage often spreads past the first victim, since every stolen account is used to reach family and friends. People who have already turned on Two-Step Verification have an extra layer. It adds a password, so a stolen code alone should not open the account.
The steps are in the alert box above. The main idea is simple: a login code is private, and no contest needs it. If a link arrives from someone you know, call them before you tap. If you already entered your code, act fast and warn your contacts by phone, because messages sent from your account will look like they come from you.
The warning does not say how many accounts have been stolen. It also does not say how the first accounts were taken, or whether the same scheme is spreading outside Uzbekistan. The authorities ask citizens to follow basic digital hygiene and to warn the people close to them.
Never type a Telegram login code into a website, and call a friend before opening any voting link they send.
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