In recent months, Ukraine has been actively discussing the need to ban the Telegram messenger due to its use for illegal activities. This app has hundreds of pages that openly sell illegal goods such as drugs, child pornography, weapons, and personal data. The process of buying such goods takes only a few minutes and is available to almost anyone.
According to information, published Forbes, Telegram has become attractive not only for millions of ordinary users in Ukraine, but also for drug dealers. This problem is confirmed by the data of the National Police, which revealed a criminal group in the Ternopil region. The organization earned about 20 million hryvnias by using the messenger to sell manufactured drugs.
Journalists learned from sources in the National Police that there are currently approximately 520 Telegram stores operating in Ukraine that sell narcotic substances. This platform attracts criminals with the convenience of creating new accounts and stores, as well as a high level of anonymity, which makes drug dealers confident in their own security.
The process of buying drugs through Telegram is simple: you choose a product, pay via a card with a fee or cryptocurrency, and then receive the coordinates of the place where the so-called “bookmark” was left. Forbes journalists conducted an experiment and were able to purchase drugs through one of these stores in 10 minutes.
The main source of drugs in Telegram is the laboratories that are engaged in their production and further sale through channels. Sometimes sales are delegated to third-party networks of Telegram channels.
According to the General Directorate of Intelligence, Telegram can be equated to the “legal darknet”. The head of the Cyber Police Department Yevgeny Panchenko also emphasized that through the messenger you can buy not only drugs, but also child pornography, weapons, personal data and pirated content.
The scheme of actions of traders is simple: they place ads on the Internet with a link to a chatbot in Telegram, which is more convenient to use than on the darknet. To date, Telegram remains the leader among platforms in terms of the number of illegal or malicious pages that distribute propaganda and prohibited materials. According to the Cyber Police, 45% of such pages are located in Telegram. In second place is TikTok (35%), followed by Meta, as well as the social networks Vkontakte and Odnoklasnyki, which are blocked in Ukraine.
