- Telegram is experiencing the greatest growth in cyber scams and already accounts for 21% of global cases.
- In Spain, 22% of reported scams originate on Telegram, with online shopping as the main lure.
- Fake job offers have tripled, and 58% of these scams originate on Telegram.
- Meta remains the main focus of fraud and the EU is strengthening regulations to tackle online scams.
The landscape of digital fraud is undergoing a major shake-up: Telegram has become the platform where cyber scams have skyrocketed in the last year, both globally and in Spain. Criminals are gradually abandoning more visible social networks to operate in private and encrypted messaging environments, where they are much harder to track.
According to the fourth edition of Revolut's Consumer Security and Financial Crime Report , this messaging app now accounts for a fifth of all fraud detected worldwide and has established itself as a particularly attractive channel for complex scams, from fake job offers to phantom purchase schemes or impossible investments.
Telegram, epicenter of the growth of digital fraud
Globally, Revolut's study shows that fraud cases originating on Telegram have increased by 233% since 2024. This is not a small increase, but a very rapid escalation that has positioned this app as the platform where scams are growing the most in the entire digital ecosystem.
This surge means that Telegram now accounts for 21% of all scams reported to Revolut internationally . In other words, approximately one in five fraud complaints analyzed by the company originates on this messaging platform, which combines private chats, large groups , and a level of anonymity that complicates enforcement efforts.
The report's analysts warn that this encrypted environment has become particularly fertile ground for sophisticated scams . Cybercriminals exploit both the sense of privacy in online conversations and the speed with which messages, links, or purported business opportunities can be disseminated.
This dynamic, according to the entity, confirms a paradigm shift in the way online scams operate : fraud is gradually abandoning more open networks to move to encrypted messaging applications, where the level of supervision and reporting is significantly lower.
Spain: Telegram, the social network with the most reported scams
This phenomenon is not foreign to our country. In Spain, Telegram ranked as the social network with the highest number of detected scams in 2025 , accounting for 22% of all reported cases, according to data from the same report.
The financial institution explains that criminals are exploiting the platform's private and encrypted nature to scale their operations "very quickly." The result is a scenario in which more and more victims are coming into contact with scammers through chats and groups that, at first glance, may seem harmless or even trustworthy.
In Spain, the pattern is clear: scams related to online shopping are the most frequent . In 2025, they accounted for 53% of all reported frauds, more than half of the total. These scams range from fake stores and products that never arrive to cloned websites of well-known brands or popular e-commerce platforms.
This type of fraud typically relies on enticing offers, aggressive discounts, and well-crafted advertisements that redirect users to fraudulent websites. Once payment is made, the consumer is left without the product and without their money, and the possibility of recovering the lost amount is, in practice, very limited.
Fake job offers: a goldmine for scammers
Beyond shopping, the report identifies another particularly worrying trend: scams involving fake job offers have tripled globally . These types of scams already account for 22% of all fraud cases recorded in 2025.
Telegram plays a leading role here , where channels and groups dedicated to supposed vacancies, work from home, or "opportunities" to generate extra income with very simple tasks proliferate.
The modus operandi typically follows a similar pattern: a high salary or quick profits are promised in exchange for minimal tasks , such as rating products, writing reviews, or performing small online actions. In many cases, the victim is asked to make an upfront payment to access materials, training, or work tools, or is asked to make small transfers under the pretext of unlocking levels, commissions, or new phases of the supposed job.
Once a person has transferred enough money, those running the channel disappear without a trace , blocking the contact or closing the group, and then replicate the same scheme with new accounts and new victims. The current economic climate and the search for supplemental income have made it easier for these types of scams to find a particularly vulnerable audience.
The report underlines that the sense of closeness conveyed by a chat conversation , combined with quick responses and seemingly professional language, contributes to many people not suspecting anything until the damage is already done.
Meta remains the leader in volume, TikTok skyrockets
Although Telegram is the channel where fraud is growing the most, it is not yet the platform with the highest absolute volume . That role still belongs to the networks of the Meta ecosystem, which includes services like Facebook and Instagram.
According to Revolut data, Meta platforms accounted for 44% of all reported scams in 2025 , nearly half the total, making the company the leading source of digital fraud for the fourth consecutive year. The combination of a massive audience and a highly targeted advertising system makes it easy for scammers to continue finding fertile ground there.
The report also focuses on TikTok, whose fraud rate has increased sixfold in just one year . Although the absolute volume of scams detected on this network remains lower than that of Meta or Telegram, the growth rate is very high, suggesting that cybercriminals are beginning to exploit its short-video format and its enormous reach among young users more intensively.
Overall, the study paints a picture of an increasingly fragmented fraud ecosystem , where criminals do not commit to a single platform and adapt their tactics to the type of audience and the tools offered by each service.
Fraudulent advertising and millions in profits
The spread of fraud is not limited to private chats or direct messages. Online advertising has become another key lever for cyber scams , generating billions in revenue for the platforms that host these ads.
An analysis by Juniper Research, cited in the Revolut report, estimates that the parent companies of major social media platforms earned approximately €4.400 billion in Europe in 2025 from fraudulent advertising. These are paid campaigns promoting nonexistent investments, fake stores, sweepstakes that never take place, or service promotions that are actually designed to capture banking information.
The sophistication of these ads is increasing: advanced targeting techniques and artificial intelligence tools are used to mimic the visual identity of legitimate brands, personalize messages, and target particularly vulnerable profiles, such as job seekers or users interested in saving or investing.
In practice, this means that fraud is integrated into the regular flow of content we see daily , mixed in with legitimate advertising, making it extremely difficult to distinguish at a glance what is real and what is a carefully designed attempt at deception.
The regulatory response in the European Union and in Spain
Faced with this scenario, European and national authorities are taking action, although the financial sector itself insists that much remains to be done . The European Union is working on strengthening the regulatory framework through the upcoming Payment Services Regulation (PSR) and a specific strategy to combat online fraud.
These initiatives seek to clarify the obligations of digital platforms and payment service providers , strengthen supervisory mechanisms, and improve information sharing between banks, regulators, and technology companies to react more quickly to new fraud patterns.
In Spain, the Revolut report positively highlights the recently implemented regulations to combat digital scams , which emphasize cooperation between banks, telecommunications operators and social networks, as well as the obligation to adopt more stringent preventative measures.
However, the organization warns that the rapid growth of fraud on online platforms demands a redoubling of regulatory efforts . It calls for strengthening the responsibilities of platforms hosting content and advertisements, improving systems for detecting and removing suspicious campaigns, and moving towards a framework where prevention is as important as responding to fraud after it has occurred.
In this context, Revolut insists that user protection must become a shared priority across the entire industry , from banks and payment gateways to social networks and messaging applications, especially those, like Telegram, that have positioned themselves at the center of the new digital fraud landscape.
The picture painted by the latest data is clear: Telegram is now experiencing the largest surge in cyber scams, both in Spain and worldwide , with a significant number of fraudulent online purchases and fake job offers, while Meta remains the main focus of fraud by volume and TikTok is rapidly gaining ground; all this in an environment where deceptive advertising moves billions and requires constant strengthening of regulation and prevention measures to avoid always being one step behind cybercriminals.