Telegram Scam Channel Using Your Brand? How to Report It

A customer sends you a screenshot. A Telegram channel carries your company name and logo, posts "exclusive" investment returns or a giveaway, and asks people to pay a deposit or message an "admin". You never made it. In BM people search this as "channel Telegram palsu guna nama syarikat saya", and in Chinese as "Telegram假冒我公司频道".

The short answer: report it to Telegram through the app and by email with precise links, warn your customers through channels you control, and point anyone who lost money to the National Scam Response Centre. Telegram makes the removal decision, so your job is to give it a clear, honest report and limit the damage meanwhile.

This guide covers what Telegram's rules say, which reporting route fits which problem, the evidence to collect first, how to warn customers, and what to avoid. It is general information for businesses, not legal advice.

Last checked: 5 October 2026.

#How Do You Report a Fake Telegram Channel Using Your Business Name?

Open the channel in Telegram and use the in-app "Report" option with the closest reason. Then email Telegram's takedown address, [email protected], with the exact t.me links and a few sentences explaining that the channel poses as your business and is taking money from people. Telegram's FAQ asks for those links in any email takedown request. If the channel copies a logo, photo or text your business owns, the copyright route is [email protected]. If the scammer is posing as you personally, the same FAQ says to contact @NoToScam. Telegram decides what happens next, and nobody outside Telegram, including AwareXone, can remove a channel for you.

#What Telegram's Rules Say About Scam Channels

Telegram's published rules are short, but the ones that matter here are clear. Its Terms of Service say that by signing up, users agree not to use the service to send spam or scam users, and not to engage in activities recognised as illegal in most countries.

• The Terms say channels that mislead users into joining through giveaways later refunded through a third party, such as a bank, may be terminated or given a scam label and removed from Telegram search.
• Telegram's developer documentation for channels describes two warning flags: one marking a channel as "probably a scam", and one marking a channel that many users reported as a fake or scam, with a note to be careful when interacting with it.
• The FAQ says Telegram processes legitimate requests to take down illegal public content, including channels and groups, after its own legal checks.
• The same FAQ says Telegram does not process requests about private groups and chats, which stay private among their members.

So a removal is possible, a warning label is possible, and doing nothing is also possible. Telegram does not publish how long a review takes or promise a reply.

#Which Route Fits Your Case?

Pick the route by what the channel is actually doing. Most brand scams need more than one, and each report should only claim what is true.

If the problem is a fake personal account rather than a channel, our guide to a fake Telegram account pretending to be you walks through that case. If a group is passing round your photos, see how to get photos removed from a Telegram group.

#Evidence Checklist Before You Report

Scam channels change names, delete posts or vanish and reappear. Capture everything before you report, because a report can prompt the operators to tidy up.

• The channel's public link (t.me/name), its display name, and any username it uses.
• Message links for the posts that use your name or logo. In most apps you can copy a link to a post in a public channel.
• Screenshots with the date, time and channel name visible, saved as images, not only in your phone gallery.
• The subscriber count and channel description on the day you found it.
• Payment details the scam asks for: bank account numbers, e-wallet details or crypto addresses shown in posts.
• Messages customers received from the channel's "admin", forwarded to you with their permission.
• Proof the brand is yours: your company registration, trademark certificate if you have one, and your official website and accounts.
• Every report reference, email sent and reply received, with dates.

#Step by Step: Reporting the Channel to Telegram

1. Report in the app. Open the channel and look for "Report" in its menu (the exact place varies by app version), then pick the reason closest to the problem. On a single post, Telegram's FAQ says to long-press on iOS, tap on Android, or right-click on desktop, then select "Report".
2. Email [email protected] from your company address. Keep it short: who you are, the exact t.me links, one or two sentences on how the channel impersonates your business, what it asks people to pay, and links to your official website and real channel.
3. If the channel copies material you own, send a separate notice to [email protected]. Telegram's FAQ says only the copyright owner or an authorised agent should submit these, and only for public content.
4. If the scam names you or a staff member as the person behind it, message @NoToScam from a genuine account with both links.
5. Write down each date and reference. Check the channel every few days and screenshot any change.

One accurate report from the rights holder carries more weight than a flood of vague ones. Keep the wording factual: "this channel uses our registered business name and logo to collect deposits for an investment scheme we do not run" is better than an angry paragraph.

#Warn Customers Before More People Pay

You cannot control how fast Telegram acts, but you can control what your customers see. Telegram's verification page says a link to your Telegram channel on your official website or other official accounts is one way to show a channel is genuinely yours.

• Post a short, calm warning on your website, Facebook Page, Instagram and any real Telegram channel: a fake channel is using our name; we never ask for deposits on Telegram; here are our only official links.
• List your genuine handles in one place on your website, so customers can check before they pay.
• Pin the warning in your real channel and repeat it after each new copy appears.
• Brief front-line staff so they give the same answer when customers ask, in English, BM and Chinese if your customers use them.
• Avoid naming or shaming individuals. Describe the scam, not a person you suspect.

The same playbook works across platforms. Our guide to fake pages that impersonate Malaysian businesses covers Facebook and Instagram copies of the same scam.

#If Customers Lost Money in Malaysia

Removal does not return money. Anyone who paid needs to act on the money first. The government's NSRC 997 page says to call 997 within 24 hours of discovering a scam, contact the bank, and lodge a police report at the nearest station. Put that in your warning post.

• MCMC's complaint page lists cheating by personation and financial fraud under the Penal Code as matters for the Royal Malaysia Police, and fraud under the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 for the Securities Commission.
• Your business can lodge its own police report describing the impersonation. It gives you a dated record that you reported the fake channel, which helps if a customer later blames you.
• CyberSecurity Malaysia's Cyber999 reporting channel accepts incident reports by online form, email, phone and its mobile app.
• Our explainer on what happens when you call 997 helps customers know what to expect.

This is general information, not legal advice. If the scam damages your reputation or you want to pursue the operators through the courts, speak to a Malaysian lawyer.

#What Not to Do

• Do not organise staff or followers to mass report the channel. Reports should be true and filed by people with real knowledge of the scam.
• Do not file a copyright notice for content you do not own, or describe the channel as something it is not. False claims undermine your real report.
• Do not join the channel to argue, post warnings inside it, or contact the operators. It alerts them and can expose your staff to abuse.
• Do not try to find out who runs the channel by tracking or hacking. Leave that to the police.
• Do not pay anyone who offers to "take down" the channel for a fee. No outside seller controls Telegram's decisions, and some of these offers are scams themselves.

#What If Telegram Does Not Remove It?

Sometimes the channel stays up. Telegram may decide it does not breach its rules, it may add a label instead of removing it, or a report may simply get no reply. The Telegram FAQ says it relies on volunteers for support, and it publishes no review timeline.

• Send one follow-up email to [email protected] with any new evidence, such as a police report number or more victims. Do not resend the same message daily.
• Keep your customer warning live and visible. For many businesses this does more than the removal itself.
• If you hold a registered trademark, our guide to trademark reports against fake brand accounts explains how rights-based reports work across platforms.
• If the channel reappears under a new name, start a fresh evidence file and report the new link.

#Make Your Real Channel Easy to Recognise

The best defence against copies is a genuine channel customers already know. Telegram's verification page says it generally verifies active official channels whose owners have notable verified accounts on at least two of the platforms it lists, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, and applications go through @VerifyBot.

• Link your real Telegram channel from your website and your verified social accounts.
• Use the same name and username across platforms so a copy stands out.
• Say plainly, in your channel description, that you never ask for payment by Telegram message.
• Secure the channel owner account with 2-Step Verification. A hijacked real channel is worse than a fake one; our guide to a hacked Telegram channel explains why.

#When a Case Review Makes Sense

Most businesses can file these reports themselves, and only Telegram can remove a channel. A second pair of eyes helps when copies keep returning, when the scam spans Telegram, Facebook and Instagram at once, or when you are unsure which rights you can rely on. SocialSafe by AwareXone reviews the case first, prepares rights-based reports through official platform and legal channels only, never files false claims and never asks for your passwords or login codes. It is best effort, and the platform makes the final decision. The impersonation removal service explains how it works, and our Trust Center sets out what we will and will not do.

#Frequently Asked Questions