TonNomads

1️⃣3️⃣ Telegram turns 13 today. For over half that time — 7,5 years — it's been one of the 10 most downloaded mobile apps in the world. A whole generation has grown up with it 💪 🎂 Happy birthday, Telegram!

🍌 How scammers are making up a new biography for Nikolai Durov ⚫️ Over the past few weeks, mentions of a mysterious AI project called VISION, supposedly linked to Nikolai Durov, have been popping up here and there. As part of our #antiscam series, we decided to take a closer look — and what we found is a pretty unusual example of just how far scammers are willing to go to make a fake project look legitimate. ⚫️ The story they picked is actually quite convincing. More than a year ago, Pavel Durov said that his brother was working on his own “thinking AI,” something different from conventional LLMs. No public details have surfaced since, and it looks like scammers decided to fill that information vacuum themselves. ⚫️ The “project” has its own website, while Nikolai Durov has effectively been given an entirely new online identity. There is a personal résumé-style page listing VISION as his latest project, a LinkedIn profile supposedly belonging to Durov with a matching bio, and — to make the whole thing look even more convincing — an 80-page whitepaper allegedly written by him. ⚫️ The document starts falling apart pretty quickly once you look at it closely. There are plenty of inconsistencies, while the most interesting part — how this new “thinking AI” is actually supposed to think — is described surprisingly superficially. Meanwhile, dozens of pages are spent on much more basic technical details, including hashes and various record formats. We also asked ChatGPT to review the technical side of the whitepaper separately, and its assessment was highly skeptical as well. ⚫️ The biography raises similar questions. As Full Metal Jetton reported last year, very little is known about Nikolai’s life today: he lives in Dubai, got married, and became a father. And given how private he has always been, it is pretty hard to imagine him suddenly setting up a personal landing page and actively promoting a new project online. 💡 The biggest red flag comes at the very end: the project’s website lets you connect a TON wallet and sign a transaction. Needless to say, do not do that. As always with #antiscam, the advice is simple: stay vigilant, verify what you see, and don’t trust something just because it looks convincing. @thedailyton

💬 UPDATE: The reason Telegram briefly disappeared from the App Store is now clear. Apple says it temporarily removed Telegram after its review found CSAM content that violated the App Store’s strict safety guidelines. The app was restored after Telegram…

💬 UPDATE: The Telegram app is now back on the App Store Globally. @TonNomads

✈️JUST IN: THE TELEGRAM APP HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM ALL APPLE APP STORES GLOBALLY.

✈️JUST IN: THE TELEGRAM APP HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM ALL APPLE APP STORES GLOBALLY.

✈️JUST IN: THE TELEGRAM APP HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM ALL APPLE APP STORES GLOBALLY.

🇦🇫😈

💣 Russia has designated me as a “terrorist” for refusing its demands for mass surveillance and censorship on Telegram. Under Russian law, I’m banned from “publishing information on the Internet” 😌 Russian officials are clearly confused about who can ban whom from the Internet 😉

🌟 BREAKING: Durov is buying up war-themed gift models. Seems like he’s getting prepared for WAR 🔫 He’s gonna show Russia that he’s indeed a terrorist 😂

🌟 Our founder is based!

A message to the government from Telegram & Durov 🖕

😏 Russian authorities have announced that they have opened a criminal case against Telegram founder Pavel Durov, accusing him of facilitating terrorist activity. According to the statement, Russian investigators intend to place Durov on an international wanted list, but this does not mean he is currently internationally wanted. Any actual international notice would require a separate procedure and is not confirmed at this time. The announcement also claims that Ukrainian intelligence services allegedly used the Telegram dating bot "Дайвинчик / Leo" to recruit Russian citizens through social engineering and psychological manipulation. Russian officials say dozens of people aged 12–22 were detained in connection with alleged sabotage, arson, and other crimes. Russian authorities can fuck off and do something actually useful. @telelakel

Not a good news at all 😕

Imagine buying a Telegram username for $224 in 2023 and watching bids climb past $461K about 3 years later. That's exactly what's happening with @polymarket username on Telegram right now. 305,000 $GRAM highest bid, that’s almost half a million dollars. Could it be the Polymarket team bidding this username? 👀 Anyway, Telegram usernames are one of the most underrated assets in this space, and auctions like this keep proving it. @TonNomads