Telegram virus is a sort of online spamming campaign that takes place in Telegram. Last is a legit messenger that became enormously popular in the USA at the beginning of 2021. You can get this app on your phone (through Google Play or App Store), as well as on the personal computer, from the official website of this messenger. However, such a popularity surge is now used by cybercriminals. They created three pages (telegramdesktop.com, telegramdesktop.net, and telegramdesktop.org) which pretend to be original Telegram pages. In fact, these pages are untrustworthy counterfeits that offer you to use a fake Telegram app, that has embedded spyware/stealer functions.
Telegram virus: why is it active?
Like a lot of other credentials stealing campaigns, this one targets on valuable personal data. As victims say, they have lost access to their NordVPN and FileZilla accounts; other items which were stolen are banking data, keychains in Mozilla, Chrome, and Opera, and even cryptocurrency wallets. But since the fake Telegram app has spyware elements, it is easy for this virus to steal anything which is stored on your computer1.
Spamming in a legit Telegram with an offer to install the fake version of this messenger
The credentials for your Facebook/Twitter account may be used to perform different spamming campaigns, like one which takes place on Facebook right now. And the danger of banking data/cryptocurrency wallet stealing must not be explained, in my opinion. Losing hundreds and thousands of dollars is always an unwanted consequence.
Pay attention to the websites you are going to open. Addresses mentioned in the first paragraph are very easy to distinguish from the original one since the last one looks like “desktop.telegram.org” or just “telegram.org”. This advice will help you to avoid the Telegram virus injection, as well as prevent different other viruses from appearing.
How can Telegram virus be injected in my PC if I was not visiting these websites?
Pay attention to the programs you are installing on your PC. Such software types as abandonware, hacked programs, and untrusted utilities are a perfect container for different malware. They are distributed by users, who have no relation to the team of developers, and no one can prove that there is no additional “program” in the initial pack. But sometimes circumstances force you to use programs of this sort.
The example of bundle software installation
The programs which can be used to inject malware into your computer are usually available on unofficial websites and torrent trackers (ThePirateBay, eMule). Sometimes, the installation files of different applications are posted on the online forums. Remember: the programs that were changed in some way by the third party may contain whatever, and the consequences of the activity of this “whatever” may be awful.
| Name | Telegram virus |
| Appears as | Pseudo-advanced (or hacked) Telegram client |
| Threat type | Spyware, Stealer, Keylogger |
| Possible source | Spam in social networks, email spam, software bundling |
| Removal method | To remove possible virus infections, try to scan your PC |
Sometimes, viruses may be distributed originally – with the use of email spamming. You can get an email message from a delivery company (as you think). This message contains a typical notification pattern and the attached file, which pretends to be a delivery document. The virus hides right inside of that “document”, and the sender is just a disguised malware distributor, who named his email account “DHL Shipping”. Such tricky fraudsters may be detected by the mailbox name – it looks like something absurd, or so.
