Telegram channel case

Continuing its crackdown against entities allegedly involved in a front-running scam using messaging app Telegram, Sebi on Thursday carried out search and seizure operations at the premises of eight entities in multiple locations across the country.

These entities are reportedly operating nine Telegram channels with more than five million subscribers to whom they were making recommendations on selected listed scrips. Such recommendations induced the investors to deal in the said scrips, thereby creating artificial volume and price rise.

This provided opportunity to their linked entities to offload their shares at higher prices and make significant profits at the cost of unsuspecting retail investors.

In a statement, the regulator said the search and seizure operation was carried out against seven individuals and one corporate entity at multiple locations in Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar in Gujarat, Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, and Mumbai.

During the operations, Sebi officials seized various records and documents, including 34 mobile phones, six laptops, four desktops, four tablets, two hard drive disks and one pen drive from the custody of these persons.

Sebi said data, emails and other documents are being retrieved from the seized devices and detailed investigation is in progress.

The regulator took order for the search and seizure operation from Judge Purushottam B Jadhav, Sebi Special Judge / Additional Sessions Judge.

The regulator said it had received information that messages containing stock tips and other investment advice with respect to selected listed companies are being widely circulated through websites and social media platforms such as Telegram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.

Perpetrators of such fraud use various marketing techniques to attract subscribers on their social media channels.

In December 2021, Sebi officials had conducted a search and seizure operation at the premises of certain persons carrying out similar manipulative activities through Telegram channels.

Telegram adds stickers, improves message reactions

Encrypted messaging app Telegram has started rolling out a new update that brings easy-to-make video stickers, better reactions with compact animations and extra emoji, a button to review unseen reactions, improved navigation between chats and more.

Telegram said that its animated stickers have unmatched quality and efficiency — needing less than 30 KB of data per sticker. However, creating such stickers requires experience and specialised software such as Adobe Illustrator.

“Today, we are adding support for stickers converted from regular videos, so that anyone can easily create detailed animated stickers using any video editing programme,” the company said in a blogpost this week.

“Like always, you can publish your packs with the @Stickers bot — or add some of the new sets made by others,” it added.

Developers can use the Sticker Import API to build powerful apps for creating and importing stickers to Telegram.

Telegram Update Brings Live Streaming Features, Download Manager, Attachment Menu, and More

Telegram is getting an update that includes multiple new features. These include a download manager to control downloads, a new attachment menu to share documents and re-arrange media albums before sending, and new streaming tools to turn a Telegram channel into a TV station. In addition, the Android app is getting semi-transparent headers. Further, there is a new method to share t.me links to your phone number to open chats. The latest update also includes a redesigned login flow on macOS and Android and new t.me pages.

Telegram announced the arrival of the update via a blog post that includes details on how to use the new features. As mentioned, the update has added a new download manager. When a user is downloading a file on Telegram, a new download icon will appear in the search bar. This allows the users to pause or resume all downloads or individual items, and adjust a download’s priority. Moreover, there is a new attachment menu to preview, remove, and rearrange a media album before sending it.

In order to make searching easier, theFiles tab will display recently sent files as well. Transparent headers that work in night mode is also reaching Android devices now with the latest update. Another change is the login flow on both Android and macOS with new animations.