How to report spam and impersonation on Telegram

What can you report on Telegram?

Almost everything you can see: a message, an account, a group, a channel or a bot. Telegram's FAQ says all its apps have Report buttons that send content to its moderators.

Reporting and removing are two different things, and this guide keeps them apart.

• A report asks Telegram to look. Telegram decides, in its own time, and may do nothing you can see.
• A ban is what a group admin does. It works at once, in that one group only.

If you are a member, do both halves: report to Telegram, then tell the group's admins. If you are an admin, ban first and report in the same action.

How do I report a message, an account, a group, a channel or a bot?

Start with the message. Telegram's FAQ gives the path for each app.

App	How to report a message
Android	Tap the message and choose Report
iOS	Press and hold the message, then choose Report
Desktop, Web, macOS	Right-click the message and choose Report

Then choose a reason. Telegram's moderation page adds that you can write a comment when one is needed. Use it. One sentence such as "copies the name and photo of our admin" helps a reviewer who has never seen your group.

An account, a group, a channel or a bot. Open its profile and look for Report in the menu. The exact place differs between apps and versions, so we do not give a path here. Telegram has said that it always asks you to select specific messages when you send a report, and that every reporting option accepts a comment, for example when you report a fake account. Pick the reason that fits, such as the one for a fake account, and select the messages that show the problem.

A private chat from a stranger. Telegram's Spam FAQ describes a Report spam button in the chat. Use it before you block the account.

A group you admin. Admins have a faster route, described further down.

Before you report, keep the evidence. Note the account's @username and take a screenshot of the message and the profile. A scammer can delete a message or change a name in seconds, and your group's admins will ask what you saw.

Which addresses does Telegram list for scams and impersonation?

These are Telegram's contacts, taken from Telegram's own pages in October 2026. They are not Targa's. We cannot see what is sent to them or change what happens next.

Contact	What Telegram says it is for
@NoToScam	"If a scammer is pretending to be you", according to the FAQ
abuse@telegram.org	The automated takedown address. Telegram asks you to include links to the content, in the form t.me/... or @...
dmca@telegram.org	Copyright complaints about a bot, channel, sticker set or other public content. Only the copyright owner or an authorized agent should write
stopCA@telegram.org	Listed on Telegram's moderation page, next to the abuse address, for reports of child abuse material
@SpamBot	For an account that was limited after spam reports and believes the limit is a mistake
The EU form	Telegram's guidance for the EU Digital Services Act describes a form for reporting illegal content. It asks for your name, contact details and an explanation

Three notes on that table.

First, Telegram's FAQ names @NoToScam for one case only: someone pretending to be you. If the copy imitates another person, an admin or a brand, the in-app report is the route Telegram documents for everyone, and the person or project being copied should contact @NoToScam themselves. Tell them. The fake admin scam explains how to check which account is the real one.

Second, check the handle before you write. Scammers copy official accounts too. Open the link from Telegram's own FAQ page, not from a message somebody sent you.

Third, no Telegram contact will ask for your login code or your password. If a "Telegram support" account does, it is the scam. See what to do when an account is hacked.

What happens after you report?

Telegram says little about this, and it is better to know that than to wait.

What Telegram's pages do say:

• Reports go to moderators. The Spam FAQ says reports of spam are "also checked by human moderators".
• If the moderators agree that an account sent spam, the account "becomes limited temporarily". A limited account can only write to people who have its number saved as a contact, and can reply to people who write to it first.
• For a first case, the Spam FAQ says the limit will most likely last "a few days or so". Repeated cases bring longer limits, and the limit can become permanent.
• Moderators are "more lenient when it comes to messages in groups", in the Spam FAQ's words, though spam and unwanted advertising there still lead to a limit.
• Accounts, bots, groups and channels that impersonate others or try to defraud users may be marked with a FAKE or SCAM label on their profile. For serious cases moderators can block or delete them. This is in Telegram's guidance for the EU Digital Services Act.
• For public content such as sticker sets, bots, groups and channels, the FAQ says Telegram performs "the necessary legal checks" and takes the content down "when deemed appropriate".

What Telegram's pages do not say:

• How long a review takes.
• That the person who reported will be told the result.
• How many reports are needed for a label or a limit.
• That a report removes the account from your group. It does not.

So treat a report as a signal you send, not as a fix. A limited account can still sit in your group and read the member list. A scammer who loses one account opens another.

What can an admin do without waiting for Telegram?

Everything that protects the group today.

1. Delete and ban in one action. Select the spam messages in the chat. Telegram offers one menu with a choice for each sender and each action: delete, ban, report or restrict. Choose delete, ban and report together. How to remove spam bots from a group covers large waves.
2. Check the Removed Users list. A banned account appears there. While it stays on that list, it cannot rejoin a supergroup through an invite link.
3. Read Recent Actions. The log covers the last 48 hours, including deleted messages. Look for what else the account did and which accounts joined with it.
4. Warn members. Pin one short notice: what the account was, that its links are not safe, and that admins never write first in private.
5. Report from the admin side as well. Telegram's Spam FAQ confirms that group admins can report users who post spam in their groups.
6. Close the way in. If the account came through an invite link, revoke the link. How to protect a group from scammers lists the settings that matter.

One limit to accept: an admin's powers stop at the group. If the scammer writes to your members in private, you cannot delete those messages. Your members can report and block, and you can remove the account from the group so it loses the member list.

How does a member report to the group's admins?

Telegram's Report button sends a report to Telegram, not to the admins of the group. The admins see nothing. So a member needs a second route.

• A report command. Many groups run a moderation bot, and some of these bots offer a command, often /report, that notifies the admins. Usually you send it as a reply to the bad message. How it works depends on the bot: who is notified, and whether other members see the command. Read the group's rules or the bot's own help before you rely on it.
• A message to an admin. Open the group's admin list and write to an admin you find there. Send the @username and the screenshot. Do not trust an "admin" who writes to you first.
• A message in the group. It is public, and the scammer sees it too. Use it when nothing else exists. It also warns other members.

If you run a group, decide which of these you want and write it in the pinned rules. Members see scams before admins do. They report when it takes one action and does not expose them.

This is the part Targa covers. In a group that runs Targa, /report calls the admins and the report is hidden from other members, so nobody sees who reported. Members can also forward a scam they received to the bot. Targa checks every message and every edit in the group, and each action carries a reason you can read with /why. Targa cannot see private chats, and it has no connection to Telegram's moderators. A report to Targa reaches your admins. A report to Telegram reaches Telegram. To see what your group shows to an outsider, run the free group check.

What should I avoid?

• Do not wait for Telegram before you ban. The two do not depend on each other.
• Do not argue with the account. Report, block, and tell the admins.
• Do not pay anyone who offers to get an account removed. Reporting is free, and nobody outside Telegram can speed it up.
• Do not send the same unfounded report many times. Telegram's EU guidance says it may stop processing notices from people who repeatedly send unfounded ones. One clear report with the right messages selected is worth more.
• Do not report an account only because you disagree with it. Reports are for spam, scams and illegal content.