Is Telegram safe?
Safe to use with care: Telegram is not end-to-end encrypted by default, groups never are, and scammers use it heavily, so don’t treat ordinary chats as private from Telegram.
Telegram is a legitimate, widely used app with good account protections such as a two-step verification password and passkeys. Ordinary chats and all groups are encrypted only between your phone and Telegram’s servers, and are stored there so they sync across devices.
Only Secret Chats are end-to-end encrypted, so only you and the other person can read them, and you have to start one yourself. The everyday risk is scams: fake support accounts, stolen login codes and investment pitches.
Telegram says Pavel Durov supports it financially and its team is based in Dubai after leaving Russia. Its privacy policy names Telegram Messenger Inc. as controller, with a parent company in the British Virgin Islands. Ordinary chats are stored on Telegram’s servers.[1][2][3]
The real risks
What Telegram itself says it collects, what regulators and courts have found, its security record and the scams that borrow its name. Each line links to the page it comes from.
What it collects
From Telegram’s own privacy policy:
- Your mobile number, profile name, photo and “about” text; optionally your birthday and a login email.[2]
- If you allow contact syncing, the names and phone numbers in your address book.[2]
- Messages, photos, videos and files from ordinary (cloud) chats, stored on its servers. Secret Chats are not stored there.[2][1]
- IP address, devices and apps you use, and username history, kept up to 12 months for security and anti-abuse.[2]
- Location only when you share it, use Live Location or People Nearby.[2]
- Ads in large public channels can be targeted by an approximate city or country worked out from your phone number or IP address. Private chats and contacts are not used for ads.[2]
App store label. Apple’s label, from developer Telegram FZ-LLC, lists no data “used to track you”. Data “linked to you”, all for app functionality, includes purchases, payment info, precise location, name, phone number, contacts, messages, photos and videos, audio and user ID.[3]
Regulators and courts
Fines, orders, investigations and lawsuits, newest first. A lawsuit is what the side bringing it alleges until a court decides.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| French investigating judges placed founder Pavel Durov under formal investigation over alleged complicity in crimes on Telegram and refusing to hand authorities information. This is an investigation, not a conviction; bail was set at €5 million.[5] | |
| Germany’s Federal Office of Justice upheld two fines totalling €5.125 million, issued in October 2022 against Telegram FZ-LLC, for lacking lawful reporting channels and a German contact. Telegram objected; Bonn Local Court was to decide.[7] |
Breaches and security flaws
- : Security firm ESET reported finding “EvilVideo”, a flaw sold on a criminal forum that disguised harmful Android apps as videos in Telegram for Android 10.14.4 and older. Telegram fixed it in 10.14.5 on 11 July 2024.[6]
In HARD’s Situation Room: Telegram Android call flaw could help compromise a phone; fixed in version 12.10.4 (6 Nov 2026).
Changes that matter
- : Telegram updated its privacy policy to describe ad tools that can target ads in large public channels and search by approximate country and city.[2]
- : Telegram changed its privacy policy: on a valid court order about a suspect in a criminal case, it may give that user’s IP address and phone number to authorities, and lists such disclosures in a quarterly transparency report.[2][4]
Scams that use Telegram
- Fake Telegram support
- Accounts on Telegram or other sites claim to be Telegram support. Telegram says it has no support accounts on other social media; official login help is @SmsTelegram.[1]
- Stolen login codes
- Someone asks you to pass on a code. Telegram’s login codes arrive only in the verified “Telegram” chat and should never be shared with anyone. If one arrives unasked, report it and do nothing else.[1]
- Bots asking for details
- A bot asks for your password, Telegram code or bank account number. Telegram says to treat bots as strangers and never give them these.[1]
- Someone pretending to be you
- A scammer copies your name and photo to ask your contacts for money. Report the impostor to Telegram’s @NoToScam account.[1]
- Crypto “investment” pitches
- A stranger or channel promises guaranteed returns and asks you to pay in crypto. The FTC says nobody can guarantee profits, and only scammers demand crypto payment.[8]
What to do
In order, with the place to find each one in Telegram.
- Turn on two-step verification.Settings → Privacy and Security → 2-Step Verification. Set a password and a recovery email, so a stolen SMS code alone can’t open your account.[1]
- Add a passkey.Settings → Privacy and Security → Passkeys. You can then log in with your phone’s PIN, face or fingerprint instead of an SMS code.[1]
- Hide your phone number.Settings → Privacy and Security → Phone Number. By default only people who have you as a contact see it; choose the narrowest option you’re comfortable with.[1]
- Check your active sessions.Settings → Devices (or Privacy and Security → Active Sessions). End any session on a device you don’t recognise or no longer use.[1]
- Use a Secret Chat for private talks.Open the person’s profile, tap “…” and choose Start Secret Chat. It is end-to-end encrypted, can’t be forwarded and stays only on the device you started it on.[1]
- Set a self-destruct timer.In a Secret Chat, tap the clock icon (in the message box on iPhone, the top bar on Android) to make messages delete themselves after a set time.[1]
When not to use it
- Don’t use ordinary Telegram chats or any group for anything you need kept private; they are not end-to-end encrypted. Use a Secret Chat instead.[1]
- Don’t send money to anyone you met in a Telegram channel or group who promises returns or asks for crypto.[8]
- In Australia, Telegram’s terms say users must be at least 18 to sign up.[9]
What HARD couldn’t verify
Claims you may see elsewhere that HARD couldn’t confirm from a primary source on 7 Nov 2026, so they aren’t in the record above.
- Reports from January 2026 say Bonn Local Court cancelled Germany’s €5.125 million fines because they named the wrong Telegram company; HARD could not find the court’s own notice, and the reports said the decision was not final.
- Later steps in the French case against Pavel Durov, such as changes to his travel limits, appear in news reports; HARD did not find a newer prosecutor’s statement.
- Australia’s eSafety Commissioner is reported to have fined Telegram in 2025 for responding late to a notice; eSafety’s page would not load for HARD to check.
- Job “task” scams are widely reported in Telegram groups; the FTC report HARD checked names texts and WhatsApp, not Telegram.
Questions
Is Telegram safe?
Safe with care. Your account can be well protected with a two-step password and passkey, but ordinary chats and groups are not end-to-end encrypted and are stored on Telegram’s servers. Use Secret Chats for anything private and ignore anyone asking for codes or money.
Is Telegram end-to-end encrypted?
Not by default. Ordinary chats and all groups use encryption between your device and Telegram’s servers, which lets them sync across devices. Only Secret Chats, which you start yourself one-to-one, are end-to-end encrypted.
Is Telegram safe to use?
For everyday chat and channels, yes, if you turn on two-step verification and check active sessions. Treat any account claiming to be Telegram support, and any bot asking for codes or bank details, as a scam.
Does Telegram give your data to police?
Its privacy policy says that on a valid court order about a suspect in a criminal case, it may hand over that person’s IP address and phone number, and it reports these in a quarterly transparency report.
Is Telegram Russian?
Telegram says most of its original developers came from St Petersburg, but the team left Russia over local IT rules and is now based in Dubai. Its privacy policy names Telegram Messenger Inc. as controller, with a parent company in the British Virgin Islands.
Is Telegram safe for kids?
The App Store rates it 13+, and in Australia its terms require users to be 18. Public channels and groups can expose children to strangers and scams, so it needs close supervision.
Messaging on HARD: Is WhatsApp safe?. All of them: Is it safe?
References
Primary sources only: Telegram’s own pages, regulators, courts and app stores. Each was checked on 7 Nov 2026.
- Telegram. Telegram FAQ. telegram.org, checked 7 Nov 2026
- Telegram. Telegram Privacy Policy, 21 Aug 2026. telegram.org, checked 7 Nov 2026
- Apple. Telegram Messenger on the App Store. apps.apple.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
- Telegram. Transparency Reports bot. t.me, checked 7 Nov 2026
- Paris prosecutor’s office (Tribunal judiciaire de Paris). Communiqué de presse: Pavel Durov mis en examen, 28 Aug 2024. tribunal-de-paris.justice.fr, checked 7 Nov 2026
- ESET. Cursed tapes: Exploiting the EvilVideo vulnerability on Telegram for Android (ESET’s own research), 22 Jul 2024. welivesecurity.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
- Bundesamt für Justiz (Germany’s Federal Office of Justice). Bundesamt für Justiz hält Bußgeldbescheide in Höhe von 5,125 Millionen Euro gegen das soziale Netzwerk Telegram aufrecht, 3 Apr 2023. bundesjustizamt.de, checked 7 Nov 2026
- US Federal Trade Commission. What To Know About Cryptocurrency and Scams, NaN May 2022. consumer.ftc.gov, checked 7 Nov 2026
- Telegram. Telegram Terms of Service. telegram.org, checked 7 Nov 2026