A UN report highlights how Telegram is facilitating organized crime and cyber fraud in Southeast Asia, with criminal networks using the platform to trade stolen data, sell malware, and exploit deepfake software for cyber schemes.

Powerful criminal networks in Southeast Asia extensively use the messaging app Telegram which has enabled a fundamental change in the way organised crime can conduct large-scale illicit activity, the United Nations said in a report on Monday.

Telegram allegedly facilitated the transfer of "dirty" or "black" USDT in Southeast Asia as serviced by unlicensed VASPs in the area, and the platform has also been linked to an underground marketplace that has cyber-enabled fraud operations.

According to a Monday report from the UN, powerful criminal networks in Southeast Asia now extensively use Telegram to conduct large-scale illicit activity.

Criminal groups in Southeast Asia are using Telegram as a “key venue” to connect and conduct business, a new UNODC report revealed.

Powerful criminal networks in Southeast Asia extensively use the messaging app Telegram which has enabled a fundamental change in the way organised crime can conduct large-scale illicit activity, the United Nations said in a report on Monday.

The findings are the latest in a series of accusations implicating Telegram, whose CEO was recently arrested in France for allegedly allowing criminal activity to flourish on the platform. After the arrest — which led Telegram to agree to share some user data with law enforcement — several extremist groups moved to a new platform,