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Telegram Purged Chinese Crypto Scam Markets—Then Watched as They Rebuilt
Last month, Telegram banned black markets that sold tens of billions of dollars in crypto scam-related services. Now, as those markets rebrand and bounce back, it’s done nothing to stop them.
Posts Elliptic shared with WIRED from Tudou Guarantee—now by some measures the biggest black market on the internet—show examples of money laundering services, offers of scam website development, and vendors selling stolen personal data that scammers use for targeting. “The channels in question predominantly involve users from China, where rigid capital controls often leave citizens with little choice but to seek alternative avenues for moving funds internationally,” the statement reads. Telegram's seemingly inconsistent approach to banning crypto scam black markets may have less to do with its principles of “financial autonomy” than with trying not to run afoul of the US government, says Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Asia Center.
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