Criminal networks in Southeast Asia are increasingly using the messaging app Telegram to coordinate their activities, reshaping the dynamics of organized crime, according to a report released by the United Nations on Monday.

According to a Monday report from the UN, powerful criminal networks in Southeast Asia now extensively use Telegram to conduct large-scale illicit activity.  The app facilitates the trading of hacked data,

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.

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

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has released a new report on cybercrime in Southeast Asia. This is the agency’s second report on the topic. The UNODC published its first report on Southeast Asia in January and criticized Tether’s role in the region’s economy.

Telegram has become a hotbed for Southeast Asian criminal networks, facilitating the sale of hacked data, malware distribution, and unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges, according to a UN report exposing

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,

The United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) claims that hacked data, including credit card information, passwords, and browsing histories, is openly traded on Telegram.

Scrutiny of the app has brought attention to the criminal liability of app providers and the debate on where freedom of speech ends and enforcement of the law begins.

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.