Telegram, the famous chap app with 200 million monthly users, recently announced that they are about to launch a new crypto project called Telegram Open Network. The project has raised $1.7 billion in funding for its token sale so far. The services they are offering include file storage, VPN and encrypted browsing platforms, decentralized browsing and applications, moreover micro and P2P payment possibilities.

The real story begins on the 28th of February, a company named Telegram Open Network Limited was registered in Britain, under the name of Pavel Durov, who is the original founder of the genuine Telegram application. However it turned out that the company incorporated has nothing to do with Pavel Durov, nor with the official Telegram project. It was a fake company that claimed $1.3 billion in paid-up capital besides that it had Pavel as the firm’s sole shareholder, director and secretary. None of this was true, as it turned out after some speculation on Twitter. Later on, the official Telegram account has tweeted that it was not legitimate or connected anyhow to the founder of the app:

Apparently the fake company was meant to fish funds away from the genuine project, luckily it has been exposed before any trouble could have occurred. There were many red flags though that could have raised suspicion. The company listed Durov as British citizen, which is not true because he is a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis. Interesting fact is that originally he is born Russian, but he left his home country after he was forced out of the Russian social network VK – which he founded. Another warning sign was the $1.3 billion paid-up capital the company has claimed, as it would have definitely resulted in an insane tax bill. And that’s now something that fresh projects always try to avoid.

The fake company has already claimed one media outlet as victimas the online magazine Calvert Journar has published a piece on the company, speculating that Durov had been granted British citizenship, however with the official Telegram tweet the article has been corrected. Luckily no other victims been reported, lets hope these kind of fraudulent activities are not going to become regular.