“We handed over 44 photocopies of child pornography screenshots and a USB flash drive with screen recordings, including active links that share this material.” With this information in hand, the young woman reported it to the police. child pornography material which passed before her eyes when she entered Telegram Find out if her name has been mentioned in the app’s groups that share photos and videos of women without their consent. She wasn’t the only one who complained about something like that.

“Some women, trying to go to these channels and see if there are photos of them that were leaked without their knowledge, ended up in front of an open website, that is, anyone can visit it with a simple username. and password, and which contains endless child pornography material from both children in our country and abroad. This applies to boys and girls under the age of 13. We are talking about hard content, photos and videos,” she tells K. Kelly Ioannou, director of the International Cybersecurity Instituteadding that, most shockingly, the link didn’t even require a special account to access, it was available to everyone.

From sextortion to child pornography and the arms trade

The child pornography complaint was not the only one in the context of the Telegram scandal. A personal data breach of this magnitude has attracted the attention of many citizens who have filed complaints, anonymous and named, both with prosecutors and organizations such as the International Institute, which has recorded an increase in the number of complaints over the past two weeks, even for trade weapon on practice.

“A whole“ army of volunteers ”has been created who constantly disclose information and accounts of criminals,” notes Fotis Grondas, Legal Counselwhich took on several complaints.

“We have identified people, users by name and photo, who can share photos of their spouses and other relatives such as sisters or cousins,” adds Elektra Angeletopoulou, a professional comedian working alongside gender rights. According to her, in some conversations, the administrators understood that other people had infiltrated their groups, and invited other users to join private conversations, the entrance to which was paid, starting from 100 euros.

“All day, yesterday and the day before yesterday, I was constantly on the Internet. Everything that I collected, I sent everywhere, including to the prosecutor’s office for electronic crimes, ”a woman who wished to remain anonymous tells K. She herself voluntarily decided to scan the app and send folders with screenshots and links she found selling photos or personal information of many women. He states that he was not afraid to enter the procedure, as he knows how to protect himself. “It’s the least I can do,” she notes, nonetheless expressing her anger and disgust at what she saw in her eyes. Among other things, she singled out a group whose description advertises that weapons are sold with payment in bitcoinsafter interacting with a specific user.

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Technology that does not leave electronic traces

“When we see something like this, we must immediately report it to both the platform (report) and the authorities. Neither we nor our child need to interfere. The input of eyewitnesses is important,” Ms Ioannou says, emphasizing the importance of complaints. He even recalls that Telegram, thanks to the degree of anonymity it offers, has even been used by terrorists.

The number of complaints increases the pressure on the authorities, he says in turn Manolis Sfakianakis, President of the Institute, who headed the electronic prosecution department for many years. “The most difficult thing is to fight this type of crime. The criminals use technology that does not leave electronic traces, therefore it is very difficult for the police, and not only the Greek ones. They created systems based on anonymity,” he says, adding that only with joint police operations under the auspices of Europol or Interpol, such crimes can be dealt with.

Competent sources tell “K” that the Telegram application is already downloading accounts through which it carries out traffic without consent female personal material.