The messaging app, with its lax moderation policies, is a playground for scammers looking to dupe investors with the promise of big returns.
This article is part of a series called Scam Season—a series where The Morning Context documents the unethical, unsafe and fraudulent aspects of tech businesses in India.
***
In July, while scouring the internet to invest in cryptocurrencies, HP came across a group on instant messaging app Telegram promising to double his money within 24 hours.
“First, I bought $5 in Bitcoin and they returned $10 in 24 hours. In the second round, I invested $50 and got $150. In the third, they asked me to invest $1,000 and said I would earn $250 per day over the next 30 …
Advait is a financial journalist and a former writer at The Morning Context. Here, he wrote on India’s banks, the wider financial services industry and the fintech ecosystem. He has previously worked with the Economic and Political Weekly, Business Standard, BloombergQuint and MediaNama, where he covered everything from the Reserve Bank of India to fintech policy.
Writer
advait@mailtmc.com
Mumbai