How Telegram became a hunting ground for criminals—and cops

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When federal agent Chris Janczewski was trying to strangle the flow of money to an al Qaeda network in 2020, he first considered infiltrating an invite-only forum or hunting for clues on the dark web. Then the Internal Revenue Service criminal investigator found the group talking openly about its scheme in a public forum on Telegram—one of the thousands of channels where people discuss illicit activities ranging from peddling child porn to selling stolen identities.

The terror cell had implored its followers in the forum to provide “the Mujahidin in Syria with weapons," and included a bitcoin address for funds. The discovery allowed U.S. authorities to seize money headed to Syrian terror cells and led to overseas arrests.

For years, law-enforcement agencies around the world have complained that Telegram turned a blind eye to illicit behavior. French authorities arrested its founder, Pavel Durov, last month, charging him with complicity in the trafficking of drugs and child sexual-abuse material and failing to comply with legal orders. The company long had a policy of ignoring subpoena requests from law enforcement.

But Janczewski’s case and others illustrate an awkward truth: Even as Telegram presented a haven for criminals, its accessibility has long made it a hunting ground for cops. In dozens of cases over the past five years, U.S. authorities have prosecuted criminals using their own words posted to Telegram channels, often fully public, a review of U.S.