Illegal drug dealers are supplying customers across the United States by exploiting secret groups on the Telegram messaging app, whose co-founder and CEO has been arrested in France in an investigation into illegal activities.
Telegram groups for drug dealing are thriving despite efforts by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to shut down online drug sales that had brought thousands of arrests, a Newsweek investigation shows.
On Monday, French prosecutors said Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov was being held as part of a cyber-crime investigation for offenses conducted on the platform including illicit transactions, child pornography, fraud and the refusal to disclose information to authorities.
In a statement, Telegram said that it abides by EU laws and that its moderation is "constantly improving. "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse of that platform," it added.
A previous Newsweek investigation revealed that organs have been advertised on the platform.
Drug dealing groups on Telegram display photos and videos of substances they say they offer which include cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy pills as well as fentanyl, LSD and the date rape drug Rohypnol.
Some include menu-like lists of drugs for sale and their prices. They instruct interested patrons to send messages to their anonymous accounts to make their orders. Then, the dealers post screenshots of order tracking information which they claim is proof of delivery, though Newsweek was unable to verify whether the advertised products reached those locations.
A Telegram spokesperson told Newsweek: "Telegram actively moderates harmful content on its platform including the sale of illicit substances. Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring of public parts of the platform, AI tools and user reports in order to remove millions of pieces of harmful content each day before they can do harm."
Matias Dewey, an academic who has researched Telegram's impact on drug dealing in Argentina, called it the "messaging service par excellence" for drug dealing.
"Both sellers and buyers of all kinds of drugs find it very safe," he told Newsweek. "This is crucial: law enforcement is perceived as highly unlikely."
"Telegram, like other apps, is a global service, while law enforcement is local. Therein lies much of the problem," said Dewey, an associate professor of Latin American Studies at the university of St Gallen, Switzerland.
Newsweek was unable to identify the locations of the dealers.
It is illegal to sell controlled substances unless a company is registered with the DEA as a commercial carrier or has other specific licenses.
In response to Newsweek's questions, A DEA spokesperson highlighted a drugs seizure operation from May 2022 to May 2023 in which 3,337 people were arrested for working in partnership with two cartels who sell fentanyl in-person and on social media. More than 1,100 cases had involved social media applications including Telegram, the DEA said.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The customers
The groups obscure the names and addresses of their clients. However, Newsweek was able to see the name and address of one purported recipient who has been in trouble multiple times over drug offenses.
Meanwhile, a buyer outlined how easy it is to purchase drugs online.
The 27-year-old from Ohio, who spoke to Newsweek on condition of anonymity, said he sometimes buys narcotics on Telegram through the mail, or by meeting people in person who he has connected with on the social media platform. His drugs of choice include marijuana, opiates, the tranquilizer Xanax and the amphetamine Adderall.
"I can go on Telegram right now and I could get stuff anywhere globally," he told Newsweek over the phone. "Where's the will there's a way."
He explained that he initially sources Telegram contacts by relying or word of mouth or Reddit threads where people vouch for the legitimacy of their contacts to avoid occasional scammers before sending a message to the individual selling drugs.
The dealer will then in turn take steps to verify a buyer's identity, by asking them to send a video of smoking while holding ID. When the transaction is finalized, the buyer then sends money via cryptocurrency payments using the mobile payments application Cash App crypto or via traditional currency on another mobile payments app, Venmo or by sending cash through the mail.
He lists his delivery address to a friend's address with a fake name and the package arrives vacuum sealed to prevent identifying odors.
"You can get stuff through the mail very easily," he said, adding that the post office had only noticed that a package arriving to him contained illicit substance once, when they seized three pounds or $3,600 worth of marijuana. He said the post office sent him a letter notifying him that the package was seized but that he did not face any law enforcement action.
Newsweek contacted the federal United States Postal Service (USPS) and the Ohio and California branches of the USPS for comment.
Encryption
Telegram, a Russian social media platform, founded in 2013, uses end-to-end encryption, meaning no-one can read messages sent on Telegram or identify the characters lurking behind the groups who sell illegal substances to a global market, including individuals in the US.
Tim Mackey, an associate adjunct professor in the global health program at University of California San Diego, who is involved in a company that uses artificial intelligence to track drug sales online added that Telegram is a "focal point for illegal online activity" that is difficult to "directly regulate."
"As Telegram has servers worldwide, it may be harder to directly regulate compared to other US-based social media and communication platforms that can be pressured or fall within a law enforcement agency jurisdiction," he told Newsweek.
"However, on occasion we will see Telegram channels removed or taken down, but it is often unclear if it is the platform or the administrators that take this action.
"Regardless, Telegram is definitely a focal point for illegal online activity, particularly drug trading, of all the digital drug sellers we track, the majority also link to Telegram channels."
Update 8/27/24, 11:39 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from a Telegram spokesperson.
About the writer
Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more
