Security researchers have revealed a number of lookalike Telegram apps on the official Play store which were modified to contain spyware. Since removed by Google, these apps were promoted in Chinese and Uighur as faster than the original Telegram and had been downloaded tens of thousands of times. The spyware collects such user-related information as name, user ID, and phone number, after which the app connects to the command server. The malicious apps have functionality to collect the IDs, nicknames, names and phone numbers associated with the victim’s contacts.
Read more: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/evil-telegram-mods-removed-google/