These tips will help you avoid personal data leaks and secure your profile from hacking.

Currently, the Telegram messenger is probably the most popular service among Ukrainian users. However, it is far from the safest resource for communication.

Recently, mass theft of Telegram accounts has become more frequent. The “kidnapping” scheme, as a rule, looks like this:

• from the contact list, a person receives a message about a gift – a subscription to Telegram Premium, which in itself costs money.
• when the user clicks on the link, he receives an authorization code supposedly to activate the subscription.
• however, as soon as the user enters the code, his account is immediately opened on the attacker’s computer.

Since the messenger saves all correspondence in the “cloud” and uploads the entire history, if you, for example, log in from a new device, attackers only need to have access to the verification code to gain access to the entire archive of user messages – and among them may be personal and confidential information.

How to protect your Telegram profile from being hijacked by fraudsters

Your account will be secure if you enable two-factor authentication, which will additionally require you to enter a password when attempting to log in. This is done through “Settings” under “Privacy”.

Come up with a password to protect your account, which will be asked every time you log into Telegram from a new device. It is recommended that it consist of a minimum of six characters, including upper and lower case letters.

Now, without this password, it will be impossible to log into your account.

What to do if you accidentally followed the link and sent the code

First, check the devices that have access to the account. This can be done in the mobile or web version of Telegram under “Settings” → “Devices” (or “Privacy” → “Active sessions”).

If you notice any suspicious sessions, terminate them. As a rule, they are characterized by an entrance from another city or even a country.

It is also not superfluous to make the phone number visible only to your contacts. In “Settings”, go to the “Privacy” section and check “My contacts”. You can also completely hide your phone number, including from those who have already added you to their contact list.

Learn more about Telegram Premium

We will remind you that the paid subscription appeared in the messenger this summer. Its main plus is availability. In many countries, in particular in Ukraine, it costs $2.99 ​​per month. For this money, users get various “goodies”, among which the ability to decode audio and video messages into text stands out.

To subscribe, go to the “Settings” section and go to the Telegram Premium tab. There you can learn more about the paid “chips” of the messenger;