A Telegram user expresses outrage after being required to pay a fee to receive an account verification message, criticizing corporate greed and noting customer support was ineffective.

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  "detected_at": "2026-08-30T23:22:18+00:00",
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    "name": "Telegram",
    "domain": "telegram.org"
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  "data": {
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    "stage": "none",
    "awards": 0,
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    "topics": [
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    "post_id": "1w2wota",
    "summary": "A Telegram user expresses outrage after being required to pay a fee to receive an account verification message, criticizing corporate greed and noting customer support was ineffective.",
    "category": "pricing",
    "comments": [
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Telegram/comments/1w2wota/comment/p6w2682/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 9,
        "author": "Plastic-Cap-7169",
        "excerpt": "Personally i delete the app for a couple of days. Then i reinstalled it and it didn't ask for money",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-31T00:02:36.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Plastic-Cap-7169/"
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      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Telegram/comments/1w2wota/comment/p6wbe8o/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 4,
        "author": "C0NIN",
        "excerpt": "In case it helps and if you're on Android, try using the APK from the official website instead of the one from Google's Play Store.",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-31T00:57:20.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/C0NIN/"
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      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Telegram/comments/1w2wota/comment/p6xh45z/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 3,
        "author": "XbyT-25",
        "excerpt": "Pueden instalar un apk antíguo y saltar el cobro, ya después actualizan desde la olay store",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-31T05:42:55.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/XbyT-25/"
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        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Telegram/comments/1w2wota/comment/p6xmdsa/",
        "depth": 0,
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        "author": "Nogardtist",
        "excerpt": "looks like a scam",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-31T06:27:52.000Z",
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        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Telegram/comments/1w2wota/comment/p6xdx0y/",
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        "author": "Nouthila-wilde",
        "excerpt": "Also this is not the official support - I guess it’s from the same sender bc of the logo - like j had - just block it - there is an other support from freelancers they are very helpful/ it’s a bot calls in German freiwilliger support ( you can choose language-)",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-31T05:16:10.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Nouthila-wilde/"
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        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Telegram/comments/1w2wota/comment/p6xdpz8/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 0,
        "author": "Nouthila-wilde",
        "excerpt": "It might be a fake - please contact tg suppprrr - I recently also had a message from tg but it was spam - do not sent money - tg never asked for money - i had a warning that my account would get deleted in 12 hours -",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-31T05:14:36.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Nouthila-wilde/"
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    ],
    "evidence": [
      "[post] The laughable fee has been paid, however, no week-long Telegram Premium subscription was activated.",
      "[post] Your personal messages blocked behind a micro-transaction. Corporate greed within Telegram reached a new height."
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    "post_date": "2026-08-30T23:22:18.000Z",
    "post_kind": "image",
    "post_text": "I found myself in a situation where my Telegram app would constantly crash the second I ender the chat with my relative (even with quick look) because I had sent too many pictures as files (apparently 20 is too many) and decided deleting and redownloading would fix it (which it did); however, the cranky road and disappointment I had discovered along the way were many and unexpected. \n\nFirst, after asking for the account phone number, Telegram asked for an email address, explaining that the verification code would be sent to that email address, not as a cell message. I tried two emails and was denied access several times after entering the verification code, with a simple message like “Sorry, this email cannot be used.” or something similar. Then, a pop-up window with the following contents in the attached screenshot. \n\nThe laughable fee has been paid, however, no week-long Telegram Premium subscription was activated. I, indeed, emailed them about this, but I doubt one email or one review would change the company’s greed and call to their senses. This simply is outrageous. The “Help” button itself is inherently useless, having prepared an automated template for some SMS department. Your personal messages blocked behind a micro-transaction. Corporate greed within Telegram reached a new height. \n \nIs this outrageous only to me? So many services message on What’s App and for my...",
    "sentiment": "negative",
    "subreddit": "Telegram",
    "event_date": "2026-08",
    "post_title": "Telegram asking for money to send a verification message",
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    "source_url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Telegram/comments/1w2wota/telegram_asking_for_money_to_send_a_verification/",
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curl https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/signals/8d985fc1-4d3a-56a0-a511-f7aa3425b463 \
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  -d '{"domain":"telegram.im","limit":20}'