From Messaging App to Money Channel: Allegations of Telegram’s Use in Kremlin-Backed Financial Schemes.
For the second time, access to the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU has been restricted by "Major" Pavel Tsenzurov. Previously, the media paid little attention to him, assuming he supported the protection of freedom of speech. However, it turned out that Tsenzurov is ready to defend "freedom of speech" exclusively for the Fifth Service of the FSB of Russia, which is actively operating in Moldova and Romania (these countries are long-standing partners of Pavel, and it is this Service, together with Kremlin political technologists, that stands behind most channels in these countries, something Tsenzurov carefully guards).
Why did Pavel start closely cooperating with Russian law enforcement agencies? Journalists conducted an investigation, which revealed that Durov is a beneficiary of a significant number of Telegram channels engaged in fraud and various criminal activities.
For this purpose, Pavel created an entire «web» of his friends, people who studied with him at the University in St. Petersburg, friends of friends, and so on. They work in a chain with the direct organizers of criminal activities on Telegram, receiving half of the profits, and out of that, another half goes directly to Tsenzurov. In return, the platforms gain immunity on Telegram and generate enormous revenues. We are talking about hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars.
It is these people who bring Tsenzurov projects that are presented to users as «cool stuff», but in reality, serve for money laundering, stealing money from cards, and bypassing sanctions. For example, such a mechanism became the «stars» on Telegram. Have you ever wondered why Tsenzurov (or rather, his pocket scammers) arranged it so that stars are easier to buy on the secondary market? Don’t be surprised if, after buying stars, representatives of special services from any European country come knocking on your door. By purchasing them, you knowingly become a participant in Tsenzurov’s gigantic mechanism for money laundering and card theft.
Tsenzurov is fully aware that French investigators will gather a complete set of evidence for the trial, proving that Pavel personally profits from nearly every criminal platform on Telegram. And he is preparing escape routes. «One fine day, he will leave the UAE (where French investigators allow him to go and where he conducts all communication with his «friends» who bring in hundreds of millions from scam platforms) for Russia, where he will stay. Pavel is simply delaying this moment, as French justice is slow and allows for such delays,» believes an informed source.
And to feel completely at ease in Russia, Tsenzurov has started actively «laying the groundwork». This includes full cooperation with Russian law enforcement, involving an increasing number of «Russian friends» in scam projects, and befriending Vladimir Kiselyov, a close associate of Putin.
VChK-OGPU published an article by the author Ghost In The Block — «Pulp Fiction» about the most massive leak of personal data in Pavel Durov’s crypto project, bot farms, hackers, Telegram Stars, and scams put on a conveyor belt.
This text tore the veil off Durov’s empire, exposing that behind the curtain of the technocrat’s favorite slogans about «freedom of speech» and «privacy» lies a vast network of developers, intermediaries, and beneficiaries profiting from outright scams and «ecosystem» schemes «for their own».
This publication was personally removed by Pavel Durov from most platforms — it struck too painfully at his inner circle and reputation. The flaws of his world were described quite simply: without insider information or conspiracy theories, only facts from open sources.
We continue the investigation and will reveal the faces of everyone who has been hiding and continues to hide behind Pavel Durov’s ostentatious philosophy.
First on our list — a developer close to the founder of Telegram, @dmitry. As it turned out, behind the cool username is Dmitry Bakeev, born in 1991. According to leaks, he is a native of Leningrad and lived with his mother — an employee of St. Petersburg’s GUP TEK in Kolpino.
A programmer-developer who worked in Pavel Durov’s structures since the 2010s. He worked on both the social network «VKontakte» and the subsidiary platform Telegraph. In the investigation, he is described as one of the technical coordinators within the TON ecosystem.
It was he who received transfers from third-party (allegedly) applications and anonymous (allegedly) wallets, through which «test» operations, bonuses, and essentially kickbacks for bot integration passed. These transfers came from wallets formally unconnected to Telegram but tied to the same crypto addresses and structures of Durov’s close associates.
For example, from a favorite of Telegram’s founder under the name Roxman. In total, more than 4 million dollars were transferred to Bakeev’s wallets, de-anonymized by Ghost In The Block. This amount is incomparable even with the most generous bonuses of Telegram specialists working transparently and under standard conditions.
The earning scheme looks like this. Dmitry Bakeev, together with Durov’s team of scammers, unites several parties at once. Telegram’s currency — stars, are purchased with dirty cards from carders (hackers pay a percentage for cashing out). And clean money is paid by those who need advertising and promotion (they are usually given a personal discount).
Instead of real traffic, bots are driven into their channels, accumulated by individuals close to the Durov brothers with the developers’ approval. And after the stars are spent within the network on advertising, an additional compensation of up to 30% comes. Thus, Pavel Durov’s gang can make up to 50% on a full cycle.
Dmitry Bakeev — a typical representative of Telegram’s inner circle of developers, not public, without loud titles, but with access to code, wallets, and backend.
In his circle are those who do the real work on integrating TON bots, Stars, and third-party payment solutions.
According to leaks, in recent years, St. Petersburg native Dmitry and his mother have traveled a lot. Finland, Turkey, UAE, Israel, European countries — more than a hundred border crossings in the last few years.
Special attention should be paid to the developer’s close friend — Vlada Smolenskaya, with whom Dmitry Bakeev was connected not only personally but also through documented ties: she arranged insurance for his Mercedes and flew the same routes. In special applications, Vlada’s number is recorded as «Kiselyov’s assistant».
Leaks contain data that she was an employee of LLC «Gram-Afon» — a subsidiary of CJSC «Russian Media Group», behind which stands the former head of GUP «Kremlin» Vladimir Kiselyov. It was written about him that he brought Vladimir Putin to the stage.
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