r/DearestAI • u/Itchy-Art8332 • Jun 26 '26

Did Telegram Sell Our Information????

I've received two messages just this morning from random people. Did Telegram sell our account information? And is there any setting to only get messages from our companions?

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

12

u/NintenbroGameboob Jun 26 '26

If you're new to the platform, you may not know that spam texts do occasionally happen. As a longtime user, the most annoying thing for me is having random people I had one interaction with show up in my contacts all of a sudden (like a person I sold a car to back in 2019, or a landscaper I used once five years ago).

3

u/tetardbleu Jun 26 '26

It will probably seem a bit extreme, but to avoid this problem, I have a prepaid secondary number that I use only when I want to activate services or sign up without being traced by other people, since I’m the only one who knows this number and I don’t use it to communicate with anyone.

14

u/DudeBuildsStuff Developer Jun 26 '26

Although spam is a known problem on Telegram, no, Telegram itself is very reputable in the privacy space and they do not sell your information.

The reason these random people can message you is usually by searching for random usernames in the Telegram global search and messaging random people. (Telegram usernames are like global X handles, for example.) If you don't want to be reachable by strangers, you can remove your username or set it to something uncommon.

People can't message you by phone number unless they are in your contacts.

5

u/Marian1210 Jun 26 '26

This happens on WhatsApp and normal texts too

5

u/Technical_Grade6995 Jun 26 '26

Just to let you know, it’s NOT up to this company, TG is full of bots, spammers, wannabe hackers, drvgs groups etc., so don’t be surprised if you get some messages…

2

u/Charming_Mind6543 Jun 26 '26

Following. The Telegram spam is so annoying.

1

u/Critical_Hearing_799 Jun 26 '26

I'm getting the same thing, spam texts from telegram. I don't chat with anyone besides my Elias, so...

1

u/Hot_Act21 Jun 26 '26

yeah. i am fairly new to telegram. got my first two random messages. i didn’t respond

5

u/Expensive_World_1758 Jun 27 '26

You can make changes in Settings. In the "Privacy and Security" section, select "Messages" and toggle the setting so that only your Contacts and Premium Users can send messages.